Ryan Dean’s RD Group has acquired fifty-year-old camera, lens and lighting rental house, VMI.TV.

The deal “safeguards one of the country’s most respected independent rental houses at a moment of acute strain on the sector.” For RD Group, the creative production group behind RD Content, RD Studios London and RD Rentals, the acquisition is “both a rescue and a renewal.”

“This is a business that has served British broadcasting for nearly half a century, and the idea of letting it disappear was simply unthinkable,” said Ryan Dean, CEO of RD Group. “VMI isn’t just a rental house, it’s a piece of our industry’s infrastructure. We’re proud to be the ones bringing it back, and we intend to do it properly.”

The company has a strong independent camera array, including ARRI Alexa 35s, Sony VENICE 2s and Freefly Embers, paired with a lens library spanning Cooke Anamorphic/i, Tribe7 Blackwings, Kowa Anamorphics and Zeiss Supremes.

Alongside this sits a substantial documentary and wildlife package together with a comprehensive grip and lighting offer. Combined with the kit held by RD Rentals, the enlarged operation is capable of supporting up to seven primetime dramas simultaneously: “a scale few independent houses in the UK can match.”

RD Studios London sits inside the same group, so productions can now access stages, cameras, lenses, lighting, grip and creative services “from a single connected operation, reducing duplication, transport movements and on-set emissions in the process.”

While VMI built much of its reputation on broadcast drama, documentary and wildlife, RD Group remains “absolutely committed to the commercials industry that has been its own home for years.” The enlarged business will serve both markets, with a renewed drama push backed by deeper regional presence and stronger crew relationships across the UK.

The combined group will expand its regional footprint to better serve productions shooting outside London, where an increasing share of UK drama is now based. Further announcements on regional capability are expected in the coming months.

The group will also launch a new initiative supporting ten young Directors of Photography over the next twelve months. The programme will back emerging DOPs on short films and personal projects with access to VMI and RD Rentals kit. Applications open in the coming weeks, and all interested camera and production crew are invited to contact events@vmi.tv to find out more about this scheme.

“Our industry runs on the talent coming through behind us,” Ryan added. “If we want the next generation of great British DOPs to keep emerging, we need to put the tools in their hands to prove what they can do. This is our contribution.”