The two options on the table
Most studios we meet keep track of equipment in one of two ways. The first is a shared spreadsheet, usually started by a technical coordinator who wanted to know where the spare lens had gone. The second is a dedicated booking and maintenance record, where every camera, monitor and cable run has its own entry and every loan is logged against a programme.
Both can work, and I have seen each one run a busy week without trouble. The difference shows up when the pressure rises: a second studio opens, a live show borrows from the newsroom, or a person who knew the system leaves. This comparison looks at what each approach does well, where it strains, and which one I would choose for most of the crews we support.
I write this as someone who spent years on studio floors before moving into operations, so the examples come from ordinary routines rather than theory.
Where a spreadsheet earns its place
A spreadsheet is free to start, familiar to everyone, and flexible. A small studio with one gallery, a handful of cameras and a single person responsible for kit can keep an accurate list with almost no training. Columns can be added in a minute, and nobody needs to ask permission to change them.
It also forces a useful discipline at the beginning. Someone has to walk the racks, read the serial numbers and write down what actually exists. Many of our clients tell us that this first audit exposed items they had forgotten owning, along with cables that had never been labelled.
For a stable team in one building, with equipment that rarely leaves the premises, this is a sensible and honest starting point. I would not talk anyone out of it while it is still working.
- Low cost and no new tool to learn
- Easy to adapt to unusual items
- Good for a first full audit of what you own
Where the spreadsheet starts to fail
The trouble begins with simultaneous use. Two people edit the same row, one overwrites the other, and a camera appears to be in two places at once. A cell that says a monitor is available cannot tell you that it was promised to the evening bulletin yesterday afternoon.
Maintenance is the second weak point. A spreadsheet will hold a date, but it will not remind anyone that a lens is due for cleaning or that a cable has failed twice this month. Faults get remembered by individuals, and individuals go on leave.
The third problem is history. When a unit comes back damaged, you want to know who had it, for which programme and what state it was in when it left. A spreadsheet rarely keeps that trail unless somebody is unusually strict about adding notes, and strictness fades during a busy production period.
What a booking and maintenance record changes
A dedicated record treats each piece of equipment as an item with its own life. It can be booked against a studio and a time, it shows clashes before they happen, and it holds the repair and service history alongside the loan history. The floor crew sees the same information as the coordinator, so fewer questions travel by phone or message.
Studio Equipment Management at showlixir is built around that idea: cameras, lenses, monitors and cabling tracked across studios, with clear booking and maintenance records. It does not replace judgement. A coordinator still decides priorities when two programmes want the same lens. It simply removes the guesswork about what exists, where it is and what condition it is in.
There is a cost in time to set up, because every item needs an entry and sensible naming. That effort is real, and it is worth planning for rather than hoping it will take an afternoon.
How to decide for your own studio
Ask a few direct questions. Do two or more studios share kit? Does equipment leave the building for outside broadcasts or location work? Has anything gone missing or arrived unserviceable in the last year? Would the operation cope if the person who maintains the list were away for a fortnight?
If the answer to most of these is no, a well-kept spreadsheet is enough, and the money is better spent elsewhere. If two or more are yes, the shared record starts paying for itself in avoided clashes and shorter searches for missing items.
Size is a poorer guide than behaviour. A small crew that lends equipment constantly may need more structure than a large one that never moves anything. Look at how the kit actually travels through a normal week, and let that decide.
- Several studios sharing cameras or monitors
- Kit that travels to locations or other sites
- Faults or losses traced back too late
- Reliance on one person who holds the list in their head
My recommendation
For most crews working across more than one studio, I recommend moving to a proper booking and maintenance record, and keeping the spreadsheet only as the starting inventory you import from. Do the audit first, using the sheet, because a clean list makes the move far quicker.
Start with the items that cause the most disruption when they vanish: cameras, lenses and monitors. Add cabling afterwards, grouped by run and length rather than one line per cable. Agree who is allowed to change a booking, and write that down.
Review the record after the first month with the floor crew in the room. Their corrections are usually the most useful improvements, and they tell you quickly whether the naming makes sense to the people who handle the kit.
A spreadsheet suits a small, stable studio and costs almost nothing. Once kit is shared, lent out or maintained by several hands, a booking and maintenance record saves time and spares arguments about who had what. Begin with an honest audit, move the most contested items first, and let the people on the floor tell you where the system needs adjusting. The aim is simply to know where each item is and what state it is in.
