Part of renting equipment is L&D; lost and damaged. We all do our best to take care of equipment. Occasionally things happen. Equipment gets damaged.
Lost equipment happens, too. Ideally, we do "counts" on equipment and check that everything gets loaded back on the truck at wrap. Often though, wrap is not under ideal conditions; insufficient crew, fatigue from long hours, pressure from production to get "off the clock", inclement weather, etc. These things lead to lost/missing equipment.
All my equipment is well marked with identification labels which include my phone number. The hope is someone will call if they find any equipment left behind.
Presumed Stolen
This is my DMXit 512ew; a wireless DMX controller. I don't know when it was lost. I'm assuming I left it on a set. Someone found it, saw it was valuable, and kept it. In effect they stole it.
Most of the time, I bill the production company for lost (or damaged) gear. Unfortunately, I didn't know this was missing. I did not get reimbursed for the loss.
The device had an id label on it. It is serial number 0816.
I wish I knew when it was lost. I seldom have used it since I got an Exalux Control One last year. I would occasionally use the DMXit as a remote control for my SpaceX or to control a light or two. I had it on "The Tower", a movie in the Bentonville, AR area last summer. I can't specifically remember having it after that movie.
There's a small chance I would have used it on a Bose commercial at WCET studios in Cincinnati, but I had a board operator there. I don't think I got it out. It's possible I may have used it one day on "Nowhere Men" in Birmingham, AL, but I don't recall getting it out.
I didn't know it was missing until I opened a case of DMX accessories that the DMXit was kept in and it wasn't there. That was in November 2023. I reached out to possible locations I may have left it at, but no one could find it.
I doubt that someone on set would have opened the case and stole the DMXit. I think most likely, I forgot it on a set somewhere. Someone found it and kept it.
I consider it stolen.
More Missing Equipment
Of course the DMXit 512ew is not the only equipment I've lost. Many of these items were not well marked with id labels. I think if someone found them, they would think, "what the heck is this?"
Shot bags are a relatively frequent item to get lost. I've lost 4 or 5 the last few years. I don't have these well mark with id labels. They are easy to misplace in the dark.
I lost an American c-stand at the University of Cincinnati Hospital. I could never figure out what had happened to it. It is maybe the oddest thing I've lost. It did have an id label.
I lost a snap grid to a LiteMat 4 in Arkansas. I called and even went back to the location we lost it at; never found it.
Lost a pancake in Arkansas to a jib operator. He borrowed pancakes for the jib. We only had one location by the trucks. At wrap, it was missing. He insisted it wasn't on his truck. Oddly, he did not look. I'm sure he took it, either intentionally or maybe accidentally, like a PA put it on his truck.
I lost a 4-1/2" gobo head while rigging a horse drawn wagon at a base camp in Arkansas. We all looked all over but could never find it. It was very strange because we were only at one place. I'm sure it couldn't have fallen off the wagon.
The last movie, Nowhere Men, I lost a couple of cardellinis. These had id label. Someone found them and kept them.