How long has your company been in operation?

Central changed its name from Component Ltd around three years ago. Component Ltd started as a facilities house/kit hire company in 1984 and was the first company in Europe to offer component editing. We changed our name after a merger but it hasn’t had any effect on our reputation and we haven’t altered our branding.

How has the nature of your business changed over the years?

In the late eighties and early nineties suppliers could charge a fortune for kit, but increased availability and reduced capital costs mean that it’s a lot cheaper these days. We provide our clients with the kit that they need at a price that they can afford. New kit is still a little expensive when it first hits the market but the prices drop noticeably fairly quickly. I haven’t seen any major price rises in the last seven years.

What has been your biggest job so far?

Providing camera hire and support to Teletext Holidays. The commission was for six months with multi-camera crews on location across Europe and USA.

What makes your company different from the competition? How do you maintain your edge?

Located in Newman Street W1, we are ideal for our clients who need cameras and decks ASAP. We also try to keep everything simple and uncomplicated because the majority of the people who book our kit are not the people who end up using it. We have a bespoke service and can offer a lot of added value through our relationship with sister companies whose services include encoding/digitising, on and off-line editing and grading, graphics and DVD authoring and replication.

It has also become harder these days to build relationships with larger companies. The production managers who order the kit are increasingly freelance and tend to move around quite a lot so it’s important to focus on developing relationships with those individuals.

In your time trading, what have been the most significant industry changes you have witnessed?

Since the advent of digital formats, there has been a marked rise in small independent filmmakers hiring kit and producing more content. I even get calls from students straight out of film school that are bucking the traditional path into the industry. Instead of going off to be a runner they’ll jump straight into their first production and there’s a lot of talent out there.

It really wasn’t that long ago that there were only four terrestrial channels. The proliferation of channels now has meant that producers are always looking for new content. That’s healthy for the industry because there’s more work available. Twenty years ago bookings were made significantly in advance whilst today’s bookings appear mad and last-minute in comparison. In some respects though the broadcasting quality has perhaps fallen a little bit. Whilst the ideas behind some shows might be fine, as an industry professional I can see that some channels are happy to put out content that has been created using lower-end cameras.

As far as your business is concerned, what do you consider to be the most significant industry developments of the past 12-24 months?

It has to be the rollout of high definition. Although production companies have been shooting on HD for some time now, HD broadcast on terrestrial and subscriber channels has had a pronounced effect on how people are shooting.

Similarly, what potential industry developments of the next 12-24 months are of most concern to you, in terms of the company?

I think solid state recording deserves more than an eye on it at the moment. Some of my clients are already saving time and money by not digitising; using XDCAM and P2 devices at the moment.

What does technology mean to the business?

This is a very fast-paced industry with technology advancing probably quicker than it ever has before. With major manufactures constantly bringing out rival technology it sometimes can be difficult to predict which way the user may go in the end. However, we still stock older formats: just because you have the latest hi-spec equipment for your shoot/edit it really doesn’t mean everything will go your way.

What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to someone starting up in your line of business today?

Try to predict what kit your customers may need as much as you can. However this is a reactive business, if no one is booking it, don’t buy it!

www.centralrental.co.uk