For schools
Run the gear cage without running a spreadsheet
ProductionPal gives film schools, media programs and university AV departments a private equipment-checkout system: students browse what the program owns, see what is genuinely free on their dates, and request it. Staff approve. Nothing is ever priced, because a school lends gear — it does not rent it.
The problem
What this replaces
The clipboard by the cage door
A paper log or a shared sheet tells you what left, eventually. It cannot tell a student on Tuesday whether the C300 is free on Friday, so they ask a technician, who checks, who is now the booking system.
Rental software that talks about money
Commercial rental tools put a day rate on every item and an invoice at the end. Handing that to a nineteen-year-old borrowing a tripod is confusing at best, and it puts numbers in front of students that were never meant for them.
No record when something comes back broken
Without a checkout trail tied to a person and a date, a cracked matte box is nobody's. Maintenance history and purchase records live in someone's memory or a drawer.
What you get
Built for exactly this
A private shop only your students can see
Students sign in and browse the gear you have chosen to list, with photos and real availability. It is not a public rental storefront — it is members-only, scoped to your program.
Request, then approve
A student submits a booking request for their dates. Staff see it in a queue and approve or decline. Approving is what actually reserves the gear, so the cage never commits to something a technician has not seen.
Availability that accounts for everything
Conflicts are detected across every approved booking and pending request at once. A student cannot request something already promised to another class, and staff see the collision before saying yes.
Every price hidden, everywhere
The education plan hides rates, quote and invoice totals, and the invoicing module across the whole app — not just on the student side. Your staff see inventory and condition, not revenue.
Expenses and maintenance still tracked
Hiding revenue does not mean hiding cost. Purchases, warranty dates, service history and repair spend stay fully tracked — which is precisely the number a department has to defend at budget time.
Unlimited students, free
Student accounts are not seats and are never counted. Enrol a whole cohort each September without the licence cost moving.
How it works
A week in the system
List what the program owns
Import your inventory from a CSV or add items as you go — camera bodies, lenses, lights, audio, grip. Choose which of them appear in the student shop; the rest stay staff-only.
Students request their dates
A student picks the kit for their shoot and the days they need it. If something is already spoken for, they see it immediately and pick an alternative instead of queueing at the cage to find out.
Staff approve
Requests land in one queue. Approve and the gear is reserved and off the availability calendar for those dates; decline with a note and the student knows why.
Out, back, logged
The checkout is attached to a named student and a date range, so when something returns damaged there is a record of who had it. Log the repair against the item and its service history builds itself.
Pricing
Your plan
The real launch price — not a placeholder. Waitlist members use it free until then.
Education
For film schools, media programs and university AV departments
Includes 3 staff seats, then $25 per extra staff seat. Students are always free and never counted.
Students book gear from a private shop and staff approve it. You pay for the staff who run the cage — student accounts are unlimited and free.
- 3 staff seats included, then $25 each
- Unlimited student accounts, free
- Private members-only gear shop with real availability
- Booking requests that staff approve or decline
- Every price and invoice hidden — schools lend, they don't sell
- Inventory, maintenance history and purchase tracking kept
Questions
Keep reading
Be running on it by October 2026
Join the waitlist and we'll set you up before we open to the public.