Why We Exist

Everyone on set deserves to go home safe. Too often, the gear meant to hold things up is the thing that lets a crew down: it spins, slips or snags at the worst moment. We believe equipment should earn a crew’s trust, not test it.

We design lighting and camera gear that works quicker, easier, and most importantly, safer.

Vision

Sets where every piece of grip and lighting hardware stays exactly where it’s put, so crews can work with confidence.

Mission

Through practical engineering shaped by our own time on set, we design gear around the real risks crews face and work past the limits that hold back the safety and usability of existing equipment. Safety comes first, with speed and ease right behind it.

Values

Safety first, always. Honest specs, with no borrowed ratings and no claims we haven’t earned. Built for real sets, with crew feedback first. Simple beats flashy. We only ship gear we’d trust on our own sets.

Meet the Founder

Matthew Nelson, Founder

RigSafe is founded and run by Matthew Nelson, a filmmaker who has spent his career on set. He started right out of high school at Water to Wine Productions in Bryan–College Station, working as a gaffer, camera operator and video editor.

Matthew graduated from SCAD in 2024 with a major in Film & Television and worked in the film industry in Savannah. Today he’s back in Bryan, Texas, where he is the Director/DP and owner-operator of BCS Creative.

RigSafe grew out of the gear Matthew and his crews use every day. On set, safety matters most, and he kept seeing gear that put crews at risk: hardware that can slip, snag or injure someone when it’s rigged overhead, baby pins that spin under load, and setups that need a second point of contact just to stay put. RigSafe gear is built to make sets safer while also making the work faster and easier.

Every RigSafe product starts as a fix for something Matthew has dealt with himself, and gets tested the way crews actually work.

Safety

Every RigSafe product exists to reduce a specific risk, starting with PinLock, and we tell you exactly what each product does and what it doesn’t. Gear is only part of it. The best way to stay safe is to recognize and prevent hazards before they become a problem, whether that means using equipment exactly as it’s designed or saying no when a situation puts you or your crew at risk.

Be aware of every energy source around you.
Assume the worst case will happen, and plan around it.
Know the consequences of your actions at every moment, for yourself and everyone around you.
Communicate calmly, clearly and thoroughly whenever critical information needs to be shared.
Take preventive action during planning, before you ever step on set. Understand how each decision affects safety, and decide accordingly.