Gear Rentals & Edit Lab Access
Our cinemas, workshop room, and project-ready edit lab are available for rent, as is our collection of video, audio, stabilization, lighting, and other filmmaking gear.
Equipment Rental
Equipment must be scheduled by email in advance. Pick-up and drop-off are by appointment. Rates subject to change. Visa or Mastercard required.
View/download a PDF of our current equipment rate sheet for members, students and volunteers here.
Gear Rental FAQs
Definitely! Our workshop room, Cinemas and Lobby have been rented for various film and photo shoots, casting sessions, table reads, meetings and work in progress screenings. Read all about venue rental here.
We do not currently offer film to digital transfer services. DV camcorders are available to rent through our equipment department for digitization projects, however for anything more than a couple tapes we recommend using a transfer house.
We are always interested in acquiring filmmaking gear to help serve our community! If you have questions about our inventory, or are interested in donating equipment or volunteering, email Jonah Kozlowski at jonah (at) nwfilmforum.org.
For gear beyond what we have, we recommend the following community partners:
Koerner Camera Systems – A proud supporter of Northwest Film Forum!
Glazer’s Rentals – Forum Members with a valid membership card receive a 20% discount at Glazer’s Rentals.
Victory Studios Rentals – Forum Members with a valid membership card receive a 10% discount at Victory.
Edit Lab
Do you need access to an editing-ready computer for post-production? Need an hourly co-working space option in Capitol Hill? The Forum has you covered!
EDIT LAB HOURS
EQUIPMENT & RESOURCES
- Six 27” 5k Retina iMac editing stations with Final Cut X, Adobe CC 2018, Red Giant Shooter Suite, and DaVinci Resolve
- 1 PC capable of editing 4k and higher or 360 footage.
- DVD SuperDrives (free)
- Headphones (free)
- Projectors for reviewing Super 8mm footage (free)
- Black and white printing (free, limit ten pages per user per day)
CLEANING INFO
- We are cleaning the space, surfaces, and equipment regularly during open hours.
- We ask users to wash their hands before using machines, and provide disinfecting wipes for cleaning equipment before and after use.
COST
- Payment is voluntary, and easy to do in the lab via an online form. We recommend these rates: Members – $5/hr; Non-members – $8/hr
- Your donations help us maintain the space, computers, software and provide programs. If you can contribute, please do! Help us keep this resource available to artists and filmmakers who need them.
- You can also contribute by helping us keep the space clean and orderly, and helping fellow lab users in need of technical support.
LONG-TERM ACCESS
If you are interested in long-term lab use for a particular project, you can apply for access through our grant program which offers sliding scale and free access to local filmmakers. You can apply through this form. Or, for more information, email education (at) nwfilmforum.org.
Open Lab FAQs
Open Lab times are postponed as the edit lab is closed temporarily.
The NWFF Edit Lab and restrooms are wheelchair accessible.
A volunteer will greet you, provide login information, and share the wifi info. Volunteer staff are there to provide additional help and troubleshooting should you need, but their experience levels will vary.
NWFF members may use the Edit Lab during the hours posted above, for $5/hour. The non-member rate is $8/hour.
The entire Edit Lab is available to rent by the day for groups or organizations. Email venuerental [at] nwfilmforum.org
Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc.), Final Cut Pro x, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Express, Red Giant Shooter Suite, and more!
No. Please bring a mac compatible external hard drive or save your projects to the cloud. Computers in the lab are cleaned frequently and you will lose your project if you do not back it up externally.
Food and drink are NOT allowed in the lab. You are welcome to eat in the lobby- it’s a great place for a lunch meeting too 🙂
The Artist Services Help Desk
The Artist Services Help Desk at the Northwest Film Forum gives you access to a local filmmaker to work with you through an obstacle that you may have with your film or video project.
- Script feedback
- Talk through storyboards
- Workshop a scene
- Identify equipment needs
- Review budget
- Explore grants
- and more!
The Help Desk is currently on hiatus.
If you are an experienced filmmaker interested in mentoring others through Help Desk, email jonah (at) nwfilmforum.org. This is a volunteer position with flexible scheduling.