Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Van den Abbeele Stocks Watts RENTAL with Matthews Grip Ge...

30/10/2024

Gaffer Tom Van den Abbeele (D j Vu Alles is Voorbestemd, Renaissances, L'Op ra) is based in Belgium where he doubles as owner of Watts RENTAL. Twenty-five years of experience in the film, television and commercial industry has given Van den Abbeele a gaffer-first, problem-solving approach to stocking and running Watts. Over the years, as his company grew from a single truck to a warehouse and fleet of 14, he has embraced technology to help build a customer base of lighting professionals who trust Watts will prepare them for anything on set. When it comes to saving the day, nothing beats his two favorites from Matthews Studio Equipment: the stalwart MAX Menace Arm and Air Climber

In 2002, Van den Abbeele purchased his first truck, thinking it would just act as a personal kit. By 2007, Van den Abbeele and his gear were in such demand, he decided to buy a second truck. From then on, it was off to the races, and he was adding another 1-2 trucks each year.

His introduction to Matthews came via the C-Stand. Van den Abbeele says, In Europe Matthews is not the main grip company used. However, when I first got ahold of some Matthews C-Stands I realized they're much more convenient than other stands; you can even open them up with one arm. He adopted the C-Stand, eventually amassing a stock of over 500. After that Matthews started sending us their catalog. I started futzing around in the catalog and that's when I saw the Mini MAX Menace. I fell in love with it immediately. Its small footprint, easy maneuverability, and ability to boom an arm at a perpendicular angle was the perfect answer to current lighting trends. That was back in the days when we still used a lot of Kino Flo, Tungsten Lanterns usually rigged above a desk or as a top/backlight. The Mini MAX worked really well for that. Watts began equipping a Mini MAX on each of its trucks and vans.

One of the first TV shows Van den Abbeele used the MAX Menace on was a Flemish police procedural, Salamander. He describes, I was working with DoP Lou Berghmans, SBC. He always wants a big punch of soft light coming from one way. He likes to be able to adjust his main Key light fast in order to capture huge Dolly tracking shots. The MAX Menace, able to be adjusted and moved unobtrusively by a single crew person, was like the answer to a prayer. A big part of the show took place in an historic European town, filled with sensitive locations where the MAX's ability to boom a light in without additional rigging frequently made the day. From then on, every show I did with Berghmans we brought two MAX Menaces with us.

During one scene in a hotel room, Director David Horegue came up with a complicated shot using a Dolly Track with a Jib Arm and Ronin 2 attached. We would follow our main actress from the moment she closes the hotel room door to the bed, where she has a semi-panic attack before relaxing herself by putting on headphones and we end up in a top shot. Basically, we saw the whole room. Since rigging to the ceiling was out, the MAX Menace Arm was the only way to place and maneuver the Aladdin Fabric Lite 350 that acted as the key. We made a 6m boom and stood the MAX against the wall to keep it out of shot.

Later on the in the show, a huge rainstorm prevented the pre-rig for a house set. The rain the dirt road leading to location partially inaccessible and it was impossible to get a cherry picker in for the 12KW Maxi Brute needed to create sunlight. Abbeele had to think fast. I convinced the DP to give us 20 minutes. We brought the MAX Menace Arm to the second floor. We cleared a bedroom and attached the light to the Arm and boomed it down a floor. All this in less than 20 minutes with a crew of three. For the gaffer, having a pinch hitter like the MAX Menace was a no brainer.

Watts' relationship with Matthews Studio Equipment further developed at one fateful BSC Expo, when Van den Abbeele laid eyes on a game changing piece of equipment: the Air Climber. Easily transported in a standard grip truck, the pneumatic powered Air Climber enables lighting in hard-to-reach locations like rooftops, penthouses, and courtyards with narrow access points. It's super easy to explain why you need it: if the light needs to be placed higher than six meters, there's only one stand that reaches as high as 7.5 meters, and that's an Air Climber, explains the gaffer. Van den Abbeele worked with Matthews CEO, Tyler Philips, to acquire MSE's tallest stand.

He was quick to put the Air Climber to use when he was hired to gaff a very special project for his home nation: a televised interview with the Belgium Queen Mathilde celebrating her 50th birthday. The first time the Belgium Royal Palace was ever opened to a film crew, there were serious restrictions on the film crew's footprint.

We only got the Queen for half an hour, explained Van den Abbeele, and we needed to do two moves in that time. He decided to take advantage of the building's large windows, placing two FilmGear Power Beam Tungsten 12kW lights on Air Climbers in the front yard of the Royal Palace. A cherry picker or scissor lift would have been out of the question. We carried the Air Climbers up four stairs and then down another four stairs to position them. There was another door closer to the front gate we wanted to use, but apparently only the king is permitted to open it, he describes. It was the only way to light the scene. Each Air Climber was equipped with a Litemover universal remote head, allowing the fixtures to be easily adjusted by a lighting technician at ground level.

Van den Abbeele's personal experience searching for the best solutions on set forms the foundation of Watts' RENTAL business principles. We have a different philosophy from a typical rental house which may not invest in new or uncommon equipme
LINK: https://kitplus.com/news/van-den-abbeele-stocks-watts-rental-with-matt...
See more stories from tvbay

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

27/08/2026

ESPN Adds College Football Saturdays to Disney+ This Fall

ESPN and Disney are launching College Football Saturdays, adding two college football games per week to Disney for U.S. subscribers as part of their existing ...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Zixi to Showcase Live Video Platform and Broadcaster v19

Zixi will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 5, Stand 5.A76, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating the Zixi Platform and the latest release of Zixi Broadcaster, ...

27/08/2026

NDI Surpasses 1.2 Million Hardware Nodes as IBC2026 Showcase Expands

NDI has announced that its ecosystem has surpassed 1.2 million NDI-enabled hardware nodes worldwide, spanning products from more than 200 hardware brands across...

27/08/2026

Clear-Com FreeSpeak Cell Trialed During Rio Carnival Before Commercial Launch

Clear-Com conducted a pre-launch field trial of FreeSpeak Cell during Carnival 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with Brazilian systems integrator Savana C...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: BVH SportsBox Remote Mixer Becomes Reality

BHV returns to IBC 2026 with an important milestone for its own SportsBox: the broadcast industry's smallest remote vision mixer and format processor has mo...

27/08/2026

TOGETHXR and Snapchat Announce Second Snap the Gap Athlete Cohort

TOGETHXR and Snapchat have announced the second cohort of their Snap the Gap content creator program, welcoming nine athletes as Snap Stars. The program provide...

27/08/2026

CNBC UK Selects MediaKind Beam for Live News Infrastructure

MediaKind has announced that CNBC UK has selected Beam to modernize its contribution and distribution infrastructure for live broadcast operations. The deployme...

27/08/2026

Monitor Engineer Chris Dwight Deploys Sennheiser Spectera on Puscifer and A Perfect Circle Tours

Monitor engineer Chris Dwight has deployed Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bi...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its UP cloud-native platform, adding capabilities for orchestrating Telestream services, third-party technologies, and ...

27/08/2026

Swerve TV Signs Multi-Year Partnership with GLORY Kickboxing

Swerve TV has signed a multi-year partnership with GLORY Kickboxing, bringing live GLORY events and library programming to Swerve Combat, Swerve TV's free a...

27/08/2026

AFP and Dalet Integrate AFP Content Into Dalet Flex Newsroom Workflow

Dalet has announced a new integrated content experience with Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Dalet Flex, designed to bring AFP's editorial metadata into the p...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: Grass Valley to Demonstrate Integrated Live Production Environment

Grass Valley will demonstrate an integrated live production environment at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), combining K-Frame, Maverik X, ...

27/08/2026

NWSL and Roku Expand Partnership with Sunday Night Streaming Package

The National Women's Soccer League and Roku have announced an expanded partnership, with the Roku Sports Channel becoming the exclusive streaming home of ei...

27/08/2026

Fubo Adds ACC Network Extra and SEC Network+ to Streaming Service

FuboTV has announced the launch of ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and SEC Network (SECN ) on the Fubo streaming service at no additional cost to subscribers with En...

27/08/2026

Moment Branding: Using Sound to Create More Powerful Fan Experiences

Sports marketers have entered the experiential age. Today, sports teams, leagues, and venues are increasingly using immersive interactions and real world events...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: MultiDyne to Debut MDoG-8800 12G Fiber Transport Module

MultiDyne will introduce the MDoG-8800 at IBC2026 (Stand 11.C12, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), extending its openGear portfolio with a high-density fiber tra...

27/08/2026

IBC 2026: JT-DMF To Host Ask Me Anything' Sessions

The Joint Task Force on the Dynamic Media Facility (JT-DMF), an initiative of AMWA and the EBU, will host a series of informal Ask Me Anything sessions during...

27/08/2026

Homestream Syncs Duke, Auburn and Georgia Tech Football, Basketball Radio Calls to Live TV Broadcasts

Homestream, a mobile app that automatically syncs a team's local radio broad...

27/08/2026

Spikes Under the Lights Brings Collegiate Volleyball to AT&T Stadium in a Made-for-TV Event Built for Scale

A packager for TNT Sports, Kwokman Productions is on hand for the unique event w...

27/08/2026

25 Seasons of New York Yankees on YES Network: The Day 1 Crew Looks Back on a Quarter Century in the Bronx - and Stamford

After more than 3,000 games, five members of YES Network's original staff re...

27/08/2026

Dreamtonics unveil Instrument X orchestral alternative

Physical modelling orchestral instrument announced Following their recent cryptic hints, Dreamtonics have officially revealed the latest addition to their s...

27/08/2026

Apple update the Mac mini & Mac Studio

M5 Ultra-equipped Studio most powerful Mac to date Apple have just announced a design refresh which they say makes the Mac mini fiercer and more versatil...

27/08/2026

Bitwig Studio 6.1 now available

Sampler receivers major upgrades Bitwig's latest DAW update brings some major changes to the Sampler device, kitting it out with new slicing options, tw...

27/08/2026

Arturia release Pure Sub

Designed specifically for hard-hitting modern bass Designed specifically for bass-heavy electronic music, the latest plug-in from Arturia aims to offer an a...

27/08/2026

Gracenote's first DSP integration brings show-level content intelligence to The Trade Desk

Advertisers gain granular CTV targeting and turnkey reporting across eligible in...

27/08/2026

Boland Debuts ST 2110 Option for its 4K HDR Monitors

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Adele Hixon-Day Joins C-SPAN as Chief Development Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Profuz Digital presents intelligent AI workflow orchestra...

Profuz Digital makes a mark by launching a powerful upgrade to its Profuz LAPIS digital media management platform this IBC in Amsterdam at Stand 8.A88. The late...

27/08/2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Consol...

DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the launch venue for what it defines as one of the most radical advances in the companys 30 year history. Every broadcast trad...

27/08/2026

FOR-A integrates with CuePilot for dynamic automated prod...

Direct connectivity between planning, production and graphics for creativity and streamlined workflows...

27/08/2026

New Photoshop innovations bring you more choice and control at every stage of your creative process

New Photoshop innovations bring you more choice and control at every stage of yo...

27/08/2026

First Two Seasons of Vertical Series Vultures Shot on Blackmagic Design Cameras

First Two Seasons of Vertical Series Vultures Shot on Blackmagic Design Cameras Brie Clayton August 27, 2026 0 Comments Director and DoP of Vultures ...

27/08/2026

3Play Media data shows audiences are embracing AI dubbing

For years, the media and entertainment industry has hesitated to use AI-voiced dubbing due to concern for audience experience. New data from 3Play Media, a glob...

27/08/2026

Starfish adds voice synthesis support to Advantage AD in...

Starfish Technologies has announced the forthcoming V9 release of its Advantage AD workstation, adding support for voice synthesis services and giving Audio Des...

27/08/2026

Lightware UBEX Helps Rental Teams Deploy Faster And Saf...

Lightware's UBEX is a powerful AV-over-IP product well suited for rental and staging workflows where systems must be fast to deploy, easy to repurpose, and ...

27/08/2026

Lightware extends TPN platform to 100 endpoints with TPN-...

Lightware has expanded the scalability of its 10G TPN AV-over-IP platform with the introduction of the new TPN-MMU-X100 Matrix Management Unit, enabling systems...

27/08/2026

Federal Appeals Court Blocks Some FCC Political Ad Discount Rules

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Zixi To Demo Hybrid Workflows At IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Study: Americans Spend More Time Watching YouTube Than Live TV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

Magewell To Highlight Newly Released Director Plus At IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/08/2026

PlayBox Neo continues to shape the media landscape by ini...

PlayBox Neo Stand 7.C29 IBC2026 - 11 14 September Well-established global specialists in media playout, automation, and streaming solutions, PlayBox Neo ...

27/08/2026

Rise Academy Invites the Industry to Join Race 4 The Futu...

Rise Academy, the broadcast and media skills charity dedicated to delivering practical media technology learning experiences, careers resources and work experie...

27/08/2026

Mediagenix Takes Title Management Beyond the Catalog at I...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase the latest evolution of its ...

27/08/2026

Screen Australia opens applications for Global Fellowships Program

Screen Australia opens applications for Global Fellowships Program 27 August 2026 Applications are now open for the Screen Australia Global Fellowships progra...

27/08/2026

Sir Grayson Perry and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem) to host the third annual Sky Arts Awards at the Roundhouse on 13 October

Thursday 27 August 2026 Sir Grayson Perry and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Est...

27/08/2026

Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market Organization

Wuppertal August 27, 2026 Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market OrganizationRiedel Communications is strengthening its leadership and global go-to...

27/08/2026

Exciting updates for Sneaky Sasquatch come to Apple Arcade - UPDATE - Posted on 27 August 2026

More Sasquatch, more fun: Today, the sneakiest crossover of the summer lands exc...