05 Mar Philadelphia Organization Spotlight: Lightbulb Rentals

BY ERICK BARRAGÁN RAMÍREZ

The cinéSPEAK Journal publishes a monthly Philadelphia Organization Spotlight highlighting a local film or moving image focused organization, business, or collective doing unique and impactful work.

Founded in 2016, Lightbulb Rentals is a community-focused independent rental store for film equipment, cameras, photography, gear, and more, with locations in Philadelphia, New York City, and Pittsburgh. The organization strives to provide emerging filmmakers as well as filmmakers of all experience levels with the right equipment for their work. Their mission is to “help get interesting projects off the ground by teaching, building, and encouraging a community of filmmakers from diverse backgrounds.” 

cinéSPEAK talked with Andrés Spillari, Community Engagement Manager, about the core values that drive Lightbulb Rentals and how they would like to impact the film industry in Philadelphia.

cinéSPEAK: What is unique about your organization within the Philadelphia landscape?

Lightbulb Rentals: Something we strive to do in Philly (and all our shops) that I think we’re doing well is supporting minority voices and their projects. We particularly love to amplify LGBTQIA+ creators. Queer artists have led creative spaces across generations and continents, whether societies have been willing to respect them or not.

I’ve seen our rental agents, time and time again, go above and beyond to help people stay on budget and on time with their rentals. We have provided discounted (sometimes free) equipment, space, professional connections, and advice to hundreds of independent filmmakers and photographers that need help reaching their goals. 

Our motto is “Do work you’re proud of with equipment you can trust,” and we mean it. 

cinéSPEAK: What is one thing the general public might not know about your organization?

Lightbulb Rentals: Well, funny story, the company started out as Lightbulb Grip and Electric in New York City a little over eight years ago. During the pandemic, Lightbulb merged with an existing rental company in Philly and Pittsburgh named Resolution Rentals. Since then, Lightbulb Rentals has been operating successfully in all three cities and has a unified rental system between all the shops. If you rent with one of us, you have an account with all of us! 

Besides that, the Philadelphia location has two great filming studios for anyone looking to rent spaces for the week or weekend. Our larger studio is, at this moment, the largest white cyclorama studio in Philadelphia (a cyclorama is a curved wall used as a background of a stage). All that space plays really nicely with our state-of-the-art cinematography robot arm from SISU Cinema Robotics too. Feel free to email us any time if you ever want a tour!

cinéSPEAK: Tell us something exciting that is coming up for your organization.

Lightbulb Rentals: Since we expanded and grew so much during a global pandemic and an industry wide strike, we’re excited to enter a new year of success and upward momentum! We’ll continue planning mixers and workshops in all three cities while also nurturing the relationships we’ve been building this whole time.

Lightbulb aims to support and sponsor even more filmmaker events and festivals than we did last year. Gear storage opportunities, bulk equipment buys, and consistent discounts for returning customers are some of the ways we like to share the resource pool with our local communities. 

cinéSPEAK: What impact do you hope your organization has in the Philadelphia community?

Lightbulb Rentals: The impact we always hope for is to be the rental house you can trust and call home, because you know you’ll be taken care of when you’re here. Equipment houses, like Lightbulb, are cornerstones for the filmmaker community because on any busy day, it’s a hub of other filmmakers prepping for their next project.

We get to see so many talented people grow with every new job they bring to us and sometimes they make connections just by being there. It’s an awesome feeling to know we’re supporting someone’s personal and professional journey every day.

cinéSPEAK: What are some of the programs or opportunities at your organization that folks can get involved in?

Lightbulb Rentals: The best way to learn about us and our facilities is honestly to just come in and see them in person. We encourage everyone to reach out for studio tours, equipment prep days, or even gear testing. If you know we have something on the shelf that you want to try out but haven’t been able to, just let us know and, if it’s available, we’re more than happy to schedule a time for you to come in and play with that gear.

Questions are always encouraged here, so if you’re not sure what kind of insurance to get or what the difference is between two lenses, just ask! We will always work with you to make sure your pickup goes smoothly and you know exactly what kind of gear you’re leaving with. 

cinéSPEAK: Do you have any details of any upcoming events?

Lightbulb Rentals: We love to run filmmaker mixers in each city as well as sponsor and support film festivals from all over the map! In Philadelphia, we help sponsor Reel Talk Philly, which is a filmmaker networking event [that happens] the first Friday [of every] month. (Learn more about Reel Talk Philly through our organization spotlight.)

Keep an eye on our Instagram for updates on those and other upcoming workshops and educational events we organize with several industry-favorite vendors. In the past, we’ve done events with Sony, Quasar, Nanlux, and CoreSWX, to name a few.

Stay in touch with our work across all three shops by following our Instagram and Facebook pages and watch out on our Linktr.ee for new event links!

*Featured Image: Image of shooting an energy drink commercial in the large studio at Lightbulb Rentals. Image credit: Ben McLaughlin.

Would you like your organization to be featured in a future spotlight? Please fill out the  Philadelphia Organization Spotlight form. The cinéSPEAK Journal maintains sole discretion over  the publishing of any information provided via the form. Questions: journal@cinespeak.org.

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Erick Barragán Ramírez is an immigration specialist at Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia, PA.  In addition to being an avid cinephile he serves as a board member of the Association of Mexican Business Owners of Philadelphia. With a background in law studies in Mexico, he came to the US in 2017 and actively volunteers at various organizations supporting imm