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Equipment hire

Equipment hire: who works there and what each of them does

Nearly every camera, lamp, cable, dolly and radio mic on a British production is hired. The rental houses are where kit is prepped and tested, where crews come before a shoot, and where a great many working technicians started.

Camera, lighting, grip and sound hire companies sit close to the studios and in every production centre in the country. Before a shoot the crew spends days there on the camera test or the kit prep, checking every item that will go on the truck; at the end of the job the whole package comes back and is checked in item by item against the list it went out on. MFJF's trainee courses all name the rental house as a way into their department, because it is the one building where you handle the kit every day and meet the people who book trainees.

  1. Hire manager or rental manager

  2. Camera prep technician

  3. Lighting and grip technician

  4. Driver and logistics

  5. Bookings desk and accounts

  6. Kit room junior, or prep technician traineeEntry-level job

Drawn from MFJF's own Foundations courses Camera Trainee (what the camera department does, and who is in it: prep and wrap; where experience really comes from: rental houses and kit rooms; and the map lesson on the rental houses), Lighting and Grip Trainee (where experience really comes from: the rental houses; and the map lesson on the rental houses) and Sound Trainee (seven routes into production sound: kit rental companies). The words are My First Job In Film's. © My First Job In Film 2026.

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Your recommended next steps

Picked for Camera Trainee. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: Camera TraineeTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. The career planner: Camera TraineeWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: Camera TraineeThe job, the day, the way in and the pay, in one guide.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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