Equipment checkout for film schools

Run your cage like a rental house.

FilmCage turns your film school's gear room into an online checkout system. Students reserve on their phones, you approve in a click, and nothing walks out the door untracked.

Free for film schools through the end of 2026
Built for every department Camera / Sound / Lighting / Grip / Electric / Expendables
Why FilmCage

The clipboard doesn't scale.

Paper logs, group texts, and a whiteboard of who-has-what work until they don't — and then a shoot is missing a camera at 7 AM.

// The old way
  • Double-booked gear and no-shows nobody catches until it's too late
  • "Who has the Alexa?" answered by memory and sticky notes
  • Overdue gear that quietly disappears each semester
  • A line at the cage window every single morning
// With FilmCage
  • Availability is checked for each student's exact window — no collisions
  • Every body, lens, and cable tracked as its own unit
  • Overdue gear surfaces itself, with a name attached
  • Students arrive to gear that's already reserved and pulled
What's inside

Everything a cage needs, nothing it doesn't.

Purpose-built for the way film programs actually lend gear — from the student's phone to the checkout window to the front office.

01

For students

self-service

Reserve from any phone

Students browse the catalog, pick pickup and return times, and request a checkout in a couple of minutes — no cage visit required.

Real-time availability

The schedule knows what's free for their exact window. If two students want the same camera, only one can book it.

Sign on the glass

Equipment agreements and pickup/return signatures are captured digitally and attached to every checkout.

02

For the cage

staff control

One-click approvals

A live queue of requests. Approve, deny, or check out on the spot — the inventory updates itself.

Barcode & QR scanning

Scan gear in and out with a phone camera, and pull up any asset's status instantly at the window.

Asset-level tracking

Cameras, lenses, and cables are tracked individually — you always know exactly which unit is out and which is on the shelf.

Overdue radar

Late gear rises to the top automatically, with the student and the shoot it's tied to — before it becomes a lost-equipment report.

03

For the program

administration

Rosters & classes

Import course rosters; students sign in with their ID and last name. Access follows enrollment, semester to semester.

Roles & permissions

Admins, staff, and faculty each see the right thing. Grant checkout approval to work-study students without handing over the keys.

Reminders & calendar sync

Automatic confirmation and return-reminder emails, plus checkouts pushed to Google or Outlook calendars.

Import & export

Bring your inventory in from a spreadsheet and export your data anytime. Your catalog is never locked in.

Up and running

From spreadsheet to online cage in three steps.

1

Set up your cage

Import your inventory (or the spreadsheet you already keep) and your course rosters. Organize by department the way your program already thinks.

2

Students reserve online

Share one link. Students pick their gear and times; FilmCage checks availability and holds the request in your queue.

3

You approve & hand off

Review the queue, capture a signature, scan it out. Returns close the loop and put the gear back on the shelf automatically.

Your data, your school

Every school, completely separate.

  • Walled off at the database. One school can never see another's inventory, students, or checkouts — enforced by the server, not just the screen.
  • Real accounts. Staff sign in with secure email and password; students with their roster ID. No shared logins.
  • Yours to leave. Export everything whenever you want. Your catalog and records are never held hostage.
The pilot
Free through 2026

FilmCage is free for film schools through the end of 2026. Set up your whole program — every department, every student — at no cost.

No credit card No per-seat fees Unlimited students All features included

After the pilot, pricing stays simple: one flat rate per school — a few hundred dollars a year, never per student. We'll always cost a fraction of what the big equipment-checkout systems charge. That's a promise.

Request access →
Get set up

Ready to uncage your gear room?

Tell us about your program and we'll get your school set up — usually within a day.

Request access →