Panavision having financial problems

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Rhinos on a Bus doesn't sounds right, I would think about calling it Rage Road: Rhinos.

[John Holland]

Back on subject Panavision have always been very supportive of small budget films in this country ! I am sure they will get through this hiccup.

[David Mullen ASC]

Most of my low-budget movies were shot with Panavision cameras -- they are generally cheaper to rent than going to a top-end ARRI rental house. "Twin Falls Idaho" was a $500,000 feature and shot on Panavision cameras. Their rates are always very competitive and their inventory is so large that they can make deals. Almost every show I do I have to submit a package to bid at Panavision and a couple of ARRI rental houses, and generally Panavision beats their prices and I end up at Panavision.

[Brian Drysdale]

For a short the quiet part of the year was always good for having a selection of gear.

 

Here's an article on the Panavision 70mm digital camera.

 

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/red-epic-dragon-arri-alexa-sony-f55-f65-panavision-70mm-camera/

[Keith Walters]

Most of my low-budget movies were shot with Panavision cameras -- they are generally cheaper to rent than going to a top-end ARRI rental house. "Twin Falls Idaho" was a $500,000 feature and shot on Panavision cameras. Their rates are always very competitive and their inventory is so large that they can make deals. Almost every show I do I have to submit a package to bid at Panavision and a couple of ARRI rental houses, and generally Panavision beats their prices and I end up at Panavision.

Yes, if you were a Panavision customer you certainly had little to complain about. Great service, unbeatable backup, a fantastic inventory to choose from, and at really competitive prices.

And all that doesn't come cheap.

Yes they sure made a lot of friends over the last 20 years, but they basically did it by maxxing-out their credit card to the tune of somewhere around $1 billion, virtually none of which is ever going to be recovered.

Now put yourself in the place of one of their competitors, who actually had to make an operating profit to survive.

If Panavision finally goes down the plughole it should by rights have gone down about 15 years ago, all your freeloading days are going to come to a sudden end.

[Keith Walters]

Rhinos on a Bus doesn't sounds right, I would think about calling it Rage Road: Rhinos.

Yeah,but Rhinos aren't particularly dangerous animals. Then again, neither are most snakes, sharks or piranhas.

Actually by far the most dangerous animal in Africa, based on the number human fatalities it causes, is the hippopotamus.

 

Then again an awful lot of people will sh!t bricks at the sight of a spider, but will ignore a garden full of bees. Which animal is more dangerous?

[dan kessler]

Yes, if you were a Panavision customer you certainly had little to complain about. Great service, unbeatable backup, a fantastic inventory to choose from, and at really competitive prices.

And all that doesn't come cheap.

Yes they sure made a lot of friends over the last 20 years, but they basically did it by maxxing-out their credit card to the tune of somewhere around $1 billion, virtually none of which is ever going to be recovered.

Now put yourself in the place of one of their competitors, who actually had to make an operating profit to survive.

If Panavision finally goes down the plughole it should by rights have gone down about 15 years ago, all your freeloading days are going to come to a sudden end.

Wasn't a lot of their debt the result of merger and acquisition mania?

Many a company ended up loaded to the gills with debt after deals

that made the dealmakers fat. Sort of typifies the present condition

of the entire world, and no, the story does not have a happy ending.

Edited June 14, 2013 by dan kessler

[Reuel Gomez]

I could see them selling off some of the older spherical lenses, like the Super/Ultra Speed's and the Standard Prime's as well as some of their re-housed zooms. They could probably also get rid of their older digital cameras like the F900, Genesis, F23/F35, Red One, etc. I can't see them selling of the Primo's and their anamorphic lens inventory though.

[Reuel Gomez]

I don't why Jim Jannard doesn't buy the place. The already have quite a few RED cameras and most of the rental infrastructure (where the real money is) is in all the accessories, which are generally format-agnostic and paid for ages ago. If they parachuted in a lot more RED products, got rid of most of their pointless management positions and relaunched the company, Jim could be a rich man :rolleyes:

From my understanding, Jim Jannard is a total D-Bag.

[Phil Rhodes]

 

 

Rhinos aren't particularly dangerous animals

 

Says the man from the land where everything, including seashells, packs enough venom to floor a horse.

 

And yes, yes, I know, you'll try to tell us all that Australia isn't all that dangerous, because your mate Noel was bitten by the deadly vindscreen viper but it's OK now because he's off the ventilator and they've discovered he can communicate with eyeblinks.

 

Aaargh!

 

P

[Keith Walters]

From my understanding, Jim Jannard is a total D-Bag.

I'm not sure what that is, but it sounds derogatory.

Actually I'm not enitrely convinced that he is in fact a real person.

Oh sure, there are numerous reports of people claiming to have seen Jim Jannard, but lots of people claim to have seen flying saucers, and they seem to be of a similar mentality, so what does that prove?

In any case, it might just be an actor he hires to fool would-be kidnappers. Oldest trick in the book.

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing in the so-called "body of evidence" that couldn't easily be dismissed by any competent conspiracy theorist. You know, the same way every so-called piece of "evidence" to support the supposed existence of UFOs is man-made...

I mean, give me a break; he's been at this camera thing now for over 8 years, and despite his alleged enormous wealth and resources, his cameras are still getting sand kicked in their faces by products turned out by a gaggle of octogenarians in a century-old Kraut company. Even Sony are snapping at his heels, and they started out making rice cookers in 1948. I'm sorry, but the whole thing just sounds like a scam to me...

[Keith Walters]

 

Says the man from the land where everything, including seashells, packs enough venom to floor a horse.

 

And yes, yes, I know, you'll try to tell us all that Australia isn't all that dangerous, because your mate Noel was bitten by the deadly vindscreen viper but it's OK now because he's off the ventilator and they've discovered he can communicate with eyeblinks.

 

Aaargh!

 

P

I don't know, the grandfather of the latest addition to your Royal Family spend two terms at Timbertop in Rural Victoria in the 1960s and he seems relatively unaffected!

 

If I recall correctly, apart from Zoos and reptile parks, I think I've seen two (2) venomous snakes in my entire life, despite spending a good proportion of said life in semi-rural districts surrounded by bushland.

One was a common Eastern Brown snake which rarely attack people, and usually only when someone stands on it it long grass, the other was a red-bellied black snake which will most likely just slither around you and keep going. The interesting thing was the last episode occurred on a commercial shoot out in the country, largely populated by a New Zealand film crew. There are no snakes in NZ, and the population over there are unshakably convinced that there is a venomous snake every ten feet in Australia, and they all freaked and started running for the nearest tree.

 

I was wondering why they kept asking if I was all right, until I realized they must have thought I'd had a seizure or something because I seemed completely oblivious to the horrendous danger. In reality, with most venomous snakes the best thing to do do is just pretend that they're not there, and they'll normally extend you the same courtesy. The worst thing you can do is try to kill it with a stick, and that's how most people wind up getting bitten.

 

I've never seen a Funnelweb spider in my entire life, and while there are Redback spiders all over the place in my backyard and under the tiles over my roof eaves, none has yet seen fit to bite me. They do however, make a splendid job of chowing down on any cockroaches that try to sneak in, which is why after 14 years in this house without once letting an exterminator near the place I've never had a single "german" cockroach in my kitchen. Occasionally one of the garden-dwelling variety blunders in, but they have no interest in my food or setting up house.

 

Generally, if a snake takes up residence in your house, it's after mice or rats, which can't be a bad thing.

 

The sad thing about Rhinos is that because they're so formidable, no animal in its right mind would attack one, so they normally don't need to be aggressive. Usually only females with calves will actually charge you,and they're usually happy if you just run away. So poachers can simply walk up to a rhino at the waterhole and blow its brains out.