Careers A–Z · Grip
Key grip
The key grip heads the grip department: everything that supports, mounts or moves the camera, and a great deal of what shapes the light.
If the camera is not on sticks, it is on something a grip built, and the key grip is responsible for it being safe.
The basics
Also known as, and where the grade sits.
| Key grip | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Key grip; head grip on some units. Not the same as the US best boy grip structure. |
| Level | Head of department, working to the DoP and the operator. |
| Reports to | The director of photography. |
| Comes after | Grip, dolly grip, crane technician. |
| Leads to | More of the same on larger shows, or rigging and specialist mounting. |
The job
What does a key grip do?
You read the shot list with the DoP and the operator and decide how each move is achieved: dolly and track, crane, remote head, car rig, hand-held support, or something you will build on the day.
You lay track level on ground that is not, you rig cameras to vehicles and to buildings, you run the crane, and you sign off that the thing holding a camera above people will hold.
The unglamorous end: the department carries the heaviest kit on the unit, arrives early to lay track and leaves late to lift it, and does a lot of it in mud.
The requirement
What is a key grip good at?
Physics, engineering sense and an unshakeable attitude to safety.
Mechanical thinking
Loads, balance, leverage and what will fail before it does.
Precision
Level track and a repeatable move at the same speed every take.
Problem solving
Building the shot nobody hired the right kit for.
Safety authority
Saying no to a rig, in front of everyone, and meaning it.
Crew leadership
Running a small department that lifts heavy things all day.
Kit
Tools of the trade.
| What | The actual items |
|---|---|
| Dolly and track | Panther, Chapman and Fisher dollies, straight and curved track, wedges, levels, risers, seat and side boards. |
| Cranes and arms | Jib arms, telescopic cranes, remote heads and the counterweight to balance them. |
| Mounts | Suction mounts, clamps, hostess trays, low loaders, scaffold, magic arms, cheeseplates and speed rail. |
| Shaping | Flags, floppies, silks, butterflies, poly and the stands to hold all of it. |
| Rigging | Ratchet straps, safety bonds, chain hoists, sandbags, wedges and levels. |
The unit
Who does a key grip work with?
| Who | What passes between you |
|---|---|
| DoP | How each shot moves and what it needs to be built on. |
| Camera operator | Speed, arc and the feel of the move. |
| 1st AC | Focus and movement are one problem seen from two sides. |
| Gaffer and sparks | Stands, flags and who owns which piece of the set. |
| Construction and rigging | Floors, platforms, scaffold and load limits. |
Routes in
How do I become a key grip?
A department that hires on strength, sense and attitude far more than on paperwork.
Construction trades
Carpenters, scaffolders and riggers arrive with the useful half already learned.
Rental house
Grip houses prep, test and deliver, and hire people who show up.
Commercials
Shorter jobs with heavy rigging, and quick promotion for the capable.
No degree, ever, and nobody in the department will be impressed by one. Rigging, lifting and working-at-height tickets are the qualifications that count.
You are hired on whether a DoP trusts the thing you built.
Nearby
The grades either side of this one.
Grip work only makes sense next to camera and lighting.
Grip department guide
The short list for the least documented department in the industry, with the one book.
Never been on a set? Start here. Offered a first day? Read this first. Want to know where this grade leads? Where people have gone names people who trained here and the productions they went to.
