ShareGrid, a marketplace that helps creatives safely rent out their equipment to other local creatives (think Airbnb for cameras), is live across the country beginning today.
For the past three years, ShareGrid has been a service available only to creatives in Los Angeles, NYC, and five other cities. Now, everyone in the country will be able to join the platform to earn extra money from their gear investments, which can help them make a living and still be able to focus on their craft.
“I've been renting out my gear with ShareGrid ever since they launched in Atlanta”, says Wes Browning, a ShareGrid member since 2016. “It's been a fantastic way for our company to get a little extra income on days we're not out on a shoot.”
In addition to the exchange of equipment, ShareGrid will be used as a platform to network, find jobs, and learn about new opportunities in various production markets.
Daryl Auclair, a web developer and videographer in San Diego, describes ShareGrid’s networking effect this way, “ShareGrid not only has enabled me to earn income from my gear, but has allowed me to meet and network with new people in the photo/video industry in my area, which has led to working together on projects and other opportunities.”
Renting gear from the ShareGrid community is great too, because by sharing gear with each other, members save 30-50% on rentals.
Graham Jones, a ShareGrid member in Los Angeles, tells how the service landed him a bigger job, “Last year, I had the chance to bid on shooting a large music festival. With the gear I owned, I could offer them one small package, only shooting 1080p. But after learning about ShareGrid, I put together a much larger package shooting with more cameras, in 4K. I won the bid, and the client ended up going for the larger package. Because of the low cost of the rental, I was able to earn far more on the job than I would have with my own gear.”
“I am passionate about ShareGrid because it democratizes production,” says CEO and Co-Founder Marius Ciocirlan. “People can now afford to shoot on equipment that was out of reach before, while others are making a return on their equipment investments.”
ShareGrid originally launched in Los Angeles in 2015. Since then, the company has expanded to New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, and Seattle. In all, ShareGrid now supports over 50,000 members and manages more than $500 million of gear, making it the largest peer-to-peer production marketplace in the country.
ShareGrid has paid out millions of dollars to owners who have listed their gear on the platform, with some owners earning over $100,000 a year. Gear owners can use this sliding calculator to see how much they can potentially earn with their equipment.
Nationally, there are over 10,000 filmmakers and photographers on ShareGrid’s waitlist who have already listed millions in gear, with hundreds more signing up every day.
In addition to the exchange of equipment, and building professional networks, ShareGrid has also helped personal relationships. “ShareGrid helped me out in paying for my wedding”, says John Holland; and member Anthony Nguyen, a recent college graduate, credits his rental revenue model as, “making my parents happy because I'm finding financial stability on my own.”
“ShareGrid may be the Airbnb of equipment, but I have met over 100 filmmakers through rentals. Some of them have become good friends of mine. For me, it has made the big city smaller”, says Yuki Noguchi, poetically describing his ShareGrid experience.
ShareGrid is the first service of its kind to provide instant insurance, bank level fraud protection, and the digital tools necessary to make rental transactions as easy as sending a text message.
