A cooperative is owned by its members and exists for the benefit of its members. It is a for-profit venture and those profits are used to grow the coop and shared with the members through dividends. REI is a good example of this.
What's different about this coop?
Your main benefit is owning your own equipment: you can buy equipment and then rent it out to other members of the coop, turning your former liability into a money-making asset that can work when you don't.
You also benefit from the coop's larger inventory of equipment. You'll have access to a much more diverse selection of equipment for your productions. You can bid on projects that require special equipment you don't have because you have ready access to that equipment.
MOPAC MEDIA has been operating as a coop for many years, testing the model with a few select clients. Among them Shane Kelly, prominent DP, and Bradley Beesley, popular documentary filmmaker. Both have been renting their equipment through MOPAC MEDIA for the past 5 years and are happy with the results.
We haven't been able to expand beyond these few clients because accounting was difficult with the old system. With the launch of this new website, the accounting is much, much easier and the equipment owners have full visibility for their equipment, they can see their equipment status, past and future rentals, and income generated.
But there's more.
There's so much planned for the new coop. We'll announce those details as we finalize the business plan. Things like allowing clients to create quotes online, request reservations, and make changes to reservations 24/7. Can't sleep because you need to schedule equipment at 3am in the morning? No problem.
And community-building features like connecting producers with crew and connecting crew with projects. Like internship training, community events, and education outreach. These are just a few of the ideas we're developing for the new film coop. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what we can do for you, so please !
This won't be a quick, overnight transition. There's a whole bunch of details to work out. But this website is the first, critical step in the process because it provides better accounting and more transparency for equipment owners. We'll be working around the clock to bring all the new, fabulous features online.
It's gonna be great.
As we work out the details of the film coop, we'll publish that information here in these posts and solicit your feedback. In the meantime, you can browse our current inventory of equipment by clicking the Equipment link above or find out what's next in store. Welcome to your new film coop, Austin!
