Grip Rentals

Grip Rentals Without the Mystery

Half of grip vocabulary sounds made up until the day you need a platypus clamp and nothing else will do. Here’s the plain-language version of what to order and why.

What’s in a basic grip package?

For a small shoot: four to six C-stands with arms, a combo stand or two for bigger sources, a 4×4 floppy and frame set for negative fill and diffusion, a dozen sandbags, apple boxes, and a clamp kit. That covers shaping light, flagging windows, and rigging the small surprises every location hides.

The ratio people miss is bags to stands. One bag per stand minimum, two when arms extend or wind exists. Sandbags are the cheapest line on the order and the most expensive thing to run out of.

8×8 or 12×12?

An 8×8 handles single subjects and tight exteriors with a two-person crew. A 12×12 controls sun over a real playing area, but it’s a sail: it wants more crew, more ballast, and a healthy respect for weather. When in doubt, take both sizes of rag for one frame and decide on the day. Wind forecasts decide more 12×12 questions than directors do.

Do I need a grip truck or will a cart do?

Interview and small commercial packages fit a cargo van or our carts. Once the order includes multiple frames, a dolly with track, and double-digit stands, you’re in truck territory, and loading it well matters as much as what’s on it. Send us the gear list and we’ll tell you honestly which side of the line you’re on.

What does grip cost to rent?

Stands run a few dollars a day each. Frame-and-rag sets go from $25 for a 4×4 to $150-plus for a 12×12 with multiple textiles. Clamp kits, boxes, and bags are cheap enough that skipping them never pays. A full working package for a small crew usually lands under $300 a day, less than reshooting one badly flagged scene.

Counter wisdom, free with every order

Every textile gets inspected and refolded when it returns, because a torn ultrabounce photographs like a torn ultrabounce. Knuckles and arms get function-checked so nothing creeps mid-take. And we’ll always ask where you’re rigging, since the answer changes the clamps we send. Grip exists to serve lighting, so order them together, with expendables riding along. The whole department is in the catalog, and a quote request gets a response from someone with gaff tape residue on their hands.