Hotcam expands to support growing client base

Kit rental company Hotcam has revealed an expansion of its services and staff, against a backdrop of widespread industry volatility post-Covid.

The company says that over the last two years it’s grown to a scale that can now handle any fact ent, music or entertainment capture requirements.

Hotcam provides camera, audio, comms and lighting equipment hire from Park Royal, London and Glasgow.

The company specialises in complex non-scripted entertainment and multicamera formats.

It also supplies technical services needed on location, from technical project management, flypacks, OB vehicles and systems engineering, through to crewing and logistics.

Whether cine or system-based workflows, the company caters to a broad range of content production across TV and digital.

Hotcam employs a team of in-house project managers to tie all the technical elements together, acting as a production partner working alongside the production team and crews.

Joint Hotcam managing directors, Henry Coulam and Peter Green, and technical director, Ash Starr, says its growth is down to the sense of community its crews bring to each production.

Coulam said: “We recognise the UK as a world leader in non-scripted and entertainment programming. Hotcam has sat at the heart of this space for 25 years. It’s been a wonderful experience taking the company from working almost exclusively in entertainment TV into adjacent spaces such as events, music and experiential.

“The same principles that govern a complex entertainment TV show apply to many other types of production, particularly in the ‘new’ space as digital content becomes more sophisticated. This has allowed us to considerably broaden the work we do as the market evolves.”

Investment in staff

Green adds: “Even in the most difficult times, we continue to invest in upcoming talent and are a major employer of in-house and freelance technical crew. Our staffing levels have increased from 14 off the back of Covid to 47 currently across five departments and two locations.

“Many of our team are trainees and junior technicians, who are supported and mentored by our more experienced staff and the broader community. We aim to strike a balance between offering opportunities for the next generation whilst also giving our clients access to the most skilled, established crew - whether in-house or freelance.”

Coulam and Green took the company over through a management buyout in April 2022 from prior owner and founder Trevor Hotz, who founded the company with Alistair Cameron in 1999 (the original Hot and Cam in Hotcam).

Since then, they have made a conscious decision to meaningfully impact the future by investing in the TV community and have sought to bring focus to gender diversity in the industry.

Laura Neal, Hotcam senior project manager, said: “It’s extremely rare to come across women holding technical positions in broadcast – I had never met a female engineer before joining Hotcam last year. It’s so refreshing after nine years to find an engineering department with a 50/50 gender split and see strong, independent and successful women running their own projects in the warehouse and on location.”

Through hands-on training, focused on new technologies and the sharing of ideas, in-house assistants and technicians are trained to problem solve on location. Green explains: “We provide our team with constant opportunities for vocational skills development, across all departments at Hotcam. Our team gains industry experience that you can’t get anywhere else and it’s so inspiring to see some of our young talent excel and go on to be nominated for industry awards.”

Hotcam technical manager Lucy Moore, and junior camera assistant Charlotte Mills were recently nominated for the Broadcast Support Engineer and Rising Star Award at the Rise Awards.

Coulam said: “The old ways are not lost. They are still here and more relevant than ever before, especially during a skills shortage and when the world is looking to the UK as a leading producer of high production value, high barrier to entry programme making. We need to train up the next generation to safeguard our global position, and in a way that reflects not just our community but the UK as a whole. As company owners in this space, we recognise that we have our hands on the tiller of long term progress.”

Working across different genres

Hotcam’s television projects include Netflix’s Love Is Blind, for which it supplied 17+ high-end camera packages, audio, comms and crew including camera assistants, tech, logistics, support and project management at locations across Europe.

Its credit list also includes Five Star Kitchen, The Jury, Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars, The Repair Shop, Made in Chelsea, Britain’s Got Talent, Married at First Sight, and US projects The Drew Barrymore Show and The Problem with John Stewart.

Recent live music and events projects include Kylie Minogue at the British Summertime Festival Hyde Park, Girls Aloud at the O2, Chase & Status and Stormzy at the National Bowl, Cypress Hill at The Royal Albert Hall, The Rolling Stones and The Who, as well as facilitating coverage for Youngblud’s Bludfest and supporting The Teenage Cancer Trust for six nights of performances at The Royal Albert Hall.

Coulam said: “Our clients don’t just hire equipment, or even solutions from us, they are hiring an on-location culture. A culture of approachable expertise, of teamwork, creative problem solving, community. It’s a culture that serves as a touch point for our clients to the craft of technical television making and perhaps sometimes, I like to think, serves as a reminder as to why they chose this profession in the first place.”

Green adds: “Two years on, we are continuing to invest in all of the tools needed for producing high production value programme and content making. Whilst we have experienced growth, we are still very much ‘sticking to our knitting’. Expansion has not been for the sake of it - the non-scripted production space needs a dedicated company of our size to tackle the more complex briefs coming from the international streaming market. If the UK is going to continue to be a global leader, the facilities need to reflect this. Each project is incredibly unique, and we love the challenges this brings. Our ability to provide a truly bespoke, tailored service makes all the difference.”

Trevor Hotz, co-founder and former owner of Hotcam said: “Under the leadership of managing directors, Henry Coulam and Peter Green, and technical director, Ash Starr, Hotcam continues to provide clients with the exceptional, seamless boutique service that the Hotcam name has come to be known for since we founded it in 1999 in the early days of Pop Idol. It’s great to see the company go from strength to strength. Good TV people will always need good TV people, and that is what Hotcam has always been about.”