Best boy

Job Responsibilities

– Responsible for day-to-day operation of lighting or grip department
– Hire, schedule, and manage crew
– Rent, order, inventory, and return equipment
– Ensure workplace safety and maintain discipline within department
– Complete timecards, paperwork, and stock expendables
– Load and unload production trucks
– Plan and implement lighting or rigging of locations and/or sound stages
– Coordinate with rigging crews and additional photography units
– Handle relations with other production departments
– Serve as day-to-day representative of the department with unit production manager and coordinator

Etymology

– Unclear origin of term as a job title on film sets
– Speculations include it being a term for a master’s most able apprentice or transferred from use in a ship’s crew
– Earliest known appearance in print is in 1931
– Sometimes credited as assistant chief lighting technician
– Accepted for use in credits by the BBC

Usage Outside English

– Many French language films made in Canada use ‘Best Boy’ in credits
– Some French films made in France also use the term
– Not known to appear in Belgian or Swiss films
– German film ‘Auf der anderen Seite’ uses ‘Best Boy’ in its German credits
– Icelandic movie credits occasionally refer to best boy as ‘besti drengurinn’

References

– Taub, Eric. (1994). ‘Gaffers, Grips, and Best Boys’. New York: St. Martins Press.
– ‘Being Human’ end credits
– ‘Blue Heelers’ (TV Series 1994–2006) – IMDb
– ‘Capote’ (2005) – IMDb
– Film job profiles/best boy – creativeskillset.org

Job Responsibilities (continued)

– Coordinate with rigging crews and additional photography units
– Handle relations with other production departments
– Serve as day-to-day representative of the department with unit production manager and coordinator Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_boy