Until this announcement, the two biggest providers of  space and equipment to film were WfW and Sim\nInternational.  Both of these companies\nhad a national presence, primarily in Vancouver and Toronto, and could handle\nshows of any size. Sim\u2019s lighting and grip rentals used to be Production Services\n(PS) and little has changed there.  The\npeople running PS, including President Eleanor O\u2019Connor and VP Jeff Ramsay, are\nstill in place. In the past couple of years, Sim and WfW  have experienced relative success at something\nentrepreneurs in Canada have been attempting for decades.  That is, to be the \u201cone stop\u201d solution for\nfilm customers. The goal was, to be more like a Los Angeles studio and provide\nmost all of the equipment needed to make a movie, plus appropriate studio\nspace.  They are the only two companies that\nhave most of this comprehensive offering, as well as a Canada-wide\npresence.  Each has a large US presence,\nalso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunbelt entered the scene in the summer of 2015 by buying a\nsmall lift and construction rental company called GWG in Vancouver.  I was hired to build their film division and\nthe first film-only rental location in Coquitlam, near what became the Sunbelt\nHeadquarters.  I had previously been VP\nof Film for WesternOne which was absorbed by United Rentals (UR) late last year.\nI was a consultant for UR at the time. \nIt is unclear if United will continue to operate WesternOne as a film\nbranch, although staff there will tell you they are 100% committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By July 2017, I had been promoted at Sunbelt and we had\nbuilt 27 branches in western Canada. It was then that Sunbelt purchased\nContractor\u2019s Rental Supply (CRS) in eastern Canada which tripled Sunbelt\u2019s size\nto approximately 85 locations of various size and gave Sunbelt the Canada-wide\npresence it had been aiming for.  With\nregard to film, Sunbelt was always looking to expand their impact right across\nthe country.  With the purchase of\nWilliam F White, Sunbelt becomes a competitor of Sim International, as the one-stop\nsolution provider for film all across Canada. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, Sunbelt has not had much success with film, except\nin Vancouver. Attempts were made in Atlanta and Los Angeles but neither\nthrived. Herc Entertainment still dominates the lift rental business in the US,\nwhile there are several other lighting and grip companies down south such as,\nCinelease and Manhattan Beach Studios (MBS) both of which have explored and\nmade forays into Canada. Of course, LA also has the major one-stop studios\nParamount, Sony, Disney, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n