If you’ve been bitten by the film-bug or just want to get that dream screenplay made into a movie, you already know that making a movie involves a lot of people. It takes a lot of money to make a movie too, but in my opinion, the most valuable resource is the cast and crew that it takes to bring your vision from the page to the screen.
It takes a lot more than just throwing money at an idea to make it any good, but if there’s one thing I know about money it’s that the less there’s around, the more you find that the people who work with you are there because they believe in what you’re doing.
LIFT is one of those organizations full of talented people in love with making movies. What I like about LIFT, is that they reward volunteers with a discount on equipment rentals based on how many hours they’ve volunteered. Volunteering involves anything from doing work around the office, general maintenance or transporting actors and equipment to productions currently underway. You pay a small membership fee and then you’re off to do your hours. To get the greatest discount available, you have to complete twenty hours (it used to be more: forty, if I recall correctly) after which you can be eligible to rent equipment from them at up to 60% less than you would pay at a retail supplier of film and video equipment!
Just to give you an idea, a popular Sony HD camera rents for upwards of $300 a day at most video shops, but if you do your twenty hours at LIFT, the full member’s discount gives it to you for $120!!! Download the equipment catalogue here.
LIFT also offers workshops for those who want to learn how to operate film cameras, write their first screenplay or write a grant proposal to get some funding for a project from the Canadian government. All of these courses have been useful to me, but I must admit, I keep missing the Grant-Writing one because it fills up so fast! That’s the only drawback to some of these places is that demand can be quite high for equipment, so you have to be flexible in your production’s needs and schedule. It helps to have everything planned out, so that if the camera you need is not available, you can work on some other aspect of your project. Also, when you do get your equipment, get down to business and don’t waste time, as you can get fined for late returns!
Other organizations that offer similar services are the University of Toronto’s Hart House Film Board; membership is cheaper for students, but non-students can use their services at a premium price. To use UofT’s equipment, you might have to take a proficiency course so that you can learn the more expensive units–it’s a form of insurance that lessens the chance of breaking anything out of sheer ignorance.
So there you have it, if you have any names of volunteer organisations, (other than Mandy.com we all probably know that one) that can help you with your film. Let me know!
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Tags: Camera, Film, George Panayotou, LIFT, Rentals, Screw You Recession, Toronto Film, Volunteer
