Have another educational blog post for everyone looking to work in the grip and electric departments. We just wanted to break down the hierarchy of both of these departments. We will be talking about positions for the biggest show we can think of, but as things scale down you can still take these positions and figure out how to make them work for you.

Set Lighting

Gaffer – This position is also referred to as Chief Lighting Technician or CLT for short. They are the head of the lighting department. They will be in charge of executing the DP’s vision by selecting lighting units and lighting the set. On pretty much every set you’ll have a gaffer.

Best Boy Electric – This position is also referred to as Assistant Chief Lighting Technician or ACLT.

In simplest terms the best boy electric is responsible for gear and labor. If the gaffer wants to put an 18k on the roof, the best boy will talk to locations to secure the rooftop, they will order the necessary equipment to achieve that, and hire the labor to get it up there. They will negotiate with production to make sure the electric department has what they need to carry out the Gaffer and DPs vision.

Electric – Also referred to as Set Lighting Technician or SLT.

The electricians will be the ones to physically light the set. They will get orders directly from the gaffer and then set up the fixtures from their direction. As the DP and Gaffer tweak the lighting, the electricians will make those adjustments.

Lighting Console Programmer – Also referred to as board operator. This is the person who will control the lighting console from the Gaffers direction. Usually they are just around for stage work, but it’s becoming more and more common for them to come on location to control LED and conventional units. They will just stay at the console all day to make sure they can quickly make any changes needed.

Rigging Electric

So up until this point we have just been talking first unit, on smaller shows that may be all you have. Then just bringing in more electricians to fill in the gaps of the positions that were not hired. We’ll move into the rigging crew now, which has a few more specialized positions, but overall the hierarchy is very similar.

Rigging Gaffer – They will work alongside the gaffer to figure out what power runs will be necessary to carry out the gaffers plan to light the set. They will develop a plan for the rigging crew to put into place. While the first unit best boy usually deals with their own budgets, the rigging gaffer is usually the one who will be taking over that role, while the rigging best will handle labor. This will change depending on how the rigging gaffer likes to work. Most of their job centers around power, but they will also work with the gaffer and best boy to rig certain units that would be too time consuming for the first unit crew to put in.

I like to think the Rigging Gaffer has a huge role to play in safety for the electrical department. They are the ones who can order GFIs and set them at all the boxes to make it easy for first unit, they will run the cable to protect against line loss, bond the ground to the house. All of these procedural things that first unit might not have time to think about. It’s their job to make sure things are rigged properly to begin with.

Rigging Best Boy Electric – They will be the ones out there carrying out the notes of the rigging gaffer. They’ll direct the crew where to run the cable, where to land generators, where to place units, etc. Sometimes the rigging gaffer will join in on this, but a lot of times they are working to figure out the next location. They will also be in charge of hiring the necessary crew for the upcoming work.

Rigging Electricians – These are the ones doing the hardest work out of anyone. They’ll lay in the cables and put in the rig from the direction of the rigging best. Everything they work with is heavy!

Head Fixtures Technician – On some shows fixtures can be enough to be an entire department of it’s own. Fixtures can refer to practicals on the set, or also practicals that are built into the set. The head fixtures technician will be the point person for the fixtures department, but it’s not uncommon for them to have to do the work themselves along with the other fixtures technicians.

Fixtures Technician – Mostly on rigging crews you’ll find that there is one dedicated fixtures technician. They will work with the set decoration department to get practicals wired and make sure all of their lighting and electrical needs are taken care of.

DMX Tech – This position is again not seen unless it is a complicated rig or potentially something where the programmer is not able to be as involved. They will work alongside the rigging crew to handle all of the DMX, addressing, and carry out any needs of the programmer to make sure that the rig functions the first time.

Lot Best Boy – This position is often someone that is assigned to your production. They are a representative from the studio you’re shooting at to act as a liaison between the studio and your department. They’ll often times be the ones turning on and off power at the stage and will know how to make things happen around the lot. Sometimes you’ll hear the term parallel best boys, and the fact that you not only have a first unit best boy, but also a lot best boy, is what they’re referring to.

Grip

Key Grip – Head of the Grip department. The grips are responsible for shaping the light with diffusion and flags, they’ll work with the electric department to rig lights in hard to reach places, and then finally they are in charge of all camera movement like Cranes, Dollys, and other specialty camera rigs.

Best Boy Grip – This is very similar to the best boy electric. They’ll be the ones in charge of labor and gear. The key grip decides what they want to do and the best boy grip figures out the logistics to make that happen.

Grips – The grips are the ones who will actually use all of the equipment. They’ll set the flags, the frames, and rig the lights. They are the ones you need to ask for a sandbag and an apple box.

Dolly Grip – They are the ones who move the camera and often times people will call them an honorary member of the camera department. They will be the ones operating the dolly for each shot as well as help to place the camera for the DP to their specifications. If a crane is ordered for the day, they will operate the crane as well.

Rigging Grips

Rigging Key Grip – You’ll see that these positions start to repeat themselves a bit. The rigging key grip is the one who will work with the key grip to put in the rigs before the shooting crew arrives.

Rigging Best Boy Grip – The rigging best boy is again the one in charge of making it happen. Labor and gear. Again depending on the crew the rigging key and the rigging best boy may alternate on those jobs.

Rigging Grips – The rigging grips are the ones who put in the black out tents for day for night work, they rig chain motors, and build the grid before the show begins.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking, well, if I had to read this there’s no way I can use the info! I’ll never be on a show that big! Well, keep these positions in mind even on your smaller jobs. Even with just 2 people in the grip and electric departments you can really make your lives a lot easier by having one person focus on grip while they other focuses on lighting. Maybe a movie you’re doing is going to have a lot of small LED’s and work with practicals, assign one of your first unit electricians to be your fixtures tech. Once you know how it’s done on larger productions, it’s always easier to scale it down. Hope this article was helpful!

Bolt Lighting Rental Inc is a lighting rental house located in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re committed to training the next generation of technicians everywhere. Check out our instagram for daily educational content.