If you’ve ever sat through credits at the end of a film, maybe you’ve noticed titles such as Best Boy Grip, Key Grip, Dolly Grip, etc. and wondered, what the hell is that? Or maybe, like me, you said, “Dolly Grip? That sounds like fun! I’ll do that when I get into film.” I had no idea what a Dolly Grip did, but I was positive it involved something cute and really fun…like a birthday party with ice cream cake.

Key Grip: Head of the grip department

Gaffer: Head of the electric department

Best Boy Grip/Electric: 2nd in command of the grip/electric departments, in charge of the equipment (maintenance, reordering expendables, etc.) and paperwork (timecards, etc.)

Basically, the Grip and Electric departments are the two halves of the lighting department. The Electric department creates the light and then the Grip department shapes it. I once heard a grip tell an electrician: What you create, I destroy.

Dolly Grip: The grip that moves the dolly. A dolly is a beautiful metal contraption that moves along the dolly track and carries the camera, some of the camera crew, and sometimes the director.

Technically, being a Dolly Grip can still be super fun, but it’s also super tricky. It may look easy to just push the dolly back and forth, but your speed has to be exactly right and you have to be able to stop at the exact right spot. That shit is hard!

Armorer: The armorer is responsible for the weaponry on a show. Duties include providing the appropriate weaponry for the film, advising actors on the correct usage, making sure all the weapons are properly licensed and ensuring a safe set when the weapons are used.

My favorite armorer is Harry Lu. The story goes that Harry Lu got his start in the business back in the day when a director spotted him at a firing range. According to legend, Harry Lu was standing with his back to the target, rifle on his shoulder. He had his arm raised in front of him and was aiming using the reflection from his watch. The director almost crapped in his pants and said, “That’s the guy I want.” Legend or not, Harry Lu still scores a million on the bad-ass scale because not only does he know just about everything about all different kinds of weapons, but he also builds them...from scratch.