100 SECONDS ON THE RED SOFA: J Rental Centre2 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesAbout 100 Seconds On The Red Sofa
100 Seconds On The Red Sofa shines the spotlight on movers and shakers in the Singapore film and media scene, with each episode featuring a startup or initiative that is making waves and contributing to the industry’s growth and enrichment.
The Red Sofa has come a long way and has a rich history, dating all the way back to Sinema Old School in 2007. It’s seen a generation of young local filmmakers come into their own; now we’re dusting it off for another round.
J Rental Centre (JRC) started as a Facebook page in 2015 to rent out camera gear after founder Jeshua Soh noticed there was something missing with the existing models of film equipment rentals. As a student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Film, Sound & Video course, he faced many difficulties in finding affordable rental options, be it camera equipment or shooting locations. The desire to solve these issues led to the establishment of JRC.
On this episode of 100 Seconds On The Red Sofa, we sat down with Jeshua Soh to learn more about JRC’s origin and growth these past four years.
During his time in school, Soh realised that other rental options were rigid in their costs, store accessibility and hours, due to the need to maintain physical assets such as space and staff. To combat this, JRC was created purely as a virtual rental store. Without overheads like space and staff costs, JRC was and is able to better offer lower prices and tend to customers’ needs.
What stands out with JRC is that it is a peer-to-peer rental platform that connects people on both the demand and the supply side. The need for such a rental network could clearly be seen as JRC grew quickly in the number of users on the website.
In 2018, JRC launched their new and improved platform — complete with e-payment options, account modules, and on top of that expanded to include event logistics and space as an option to rent. This was a huge improvement from their small start as a Facebook page, where everything had to be done manually, including writing the invoices as well as uploading the equipment one by one.
With a small local media industry, Soh felt that collaboration was much more beneficial than competition. This was where the rental network would come in to ease the process. By providing a common platform for both the demand and supply side, the process for renting filmmaking needs is made much smoother.
With over a hundred users in JRC’s professional network, the future for such a rental company seems bright. To find out more about their rental services, visit JRC.
