Best Boy

What is a best boy in film?

On a professional film crew, the lighting and rigging work is split between two departments, and each has a best boy. The best boy electric is the right hand of the gaffer, who designs and runs the lighting with the cinematographer. The best boy grip is the right hand of the key grip, who leads the grips that build rigs, move the dolly and cut light with flags and silks.

The title is a rank, not a specialty. A best boy is usually an experienced electrician or grip who knows the gear as well as the head of department does, but whose main job has shifted from the set to the department itself: who is working tomorrow, what is on the truck, what needs to come from the rental house, and whether the paperwork matches what was used. On union productions in the US, the electric version is formally titled assistant chief lighting technician; the grip version is often called second grip or second company grip.

What does a best boy do on a shoot?

The work follows the production calendar, and most of it happens away from the camera.

Prep. The best boy reads the script and the department head's plan, then turns it into lists. For electric, that means lamps, cable, distribution boxes, generators, gels and diffusion; for grip, stands, flags, frames, dolly track, rigging hardware and expendables like tape and clothespins. The best boy negotiates the order with the rental house, checks it in, and loads the truck so that the most-used items are reachable first.

Staffing. The best boy books the day players, the extra electricians or grips hired for big days, and makes sure the crew count on the call sheet matches what the plan needs. They also keep timecards, track meal penalties and overtime, and pass everything to the production office.

Shooting days. The head of department stays at the camera with the cinematographer. The best boy splits time between the set and the truck: sending people to pre-light the next setup, pulling gear, keeping the cable runs tidy, watching fuel and power loads on the electric side, and making sure nothing the crew needs later is buried under something they need now. When a pre-rigging crew works ahead of the unit, the best boy coordinates with the riggers so their gear and the shooting crew's gear don't collide.

Wrap. Everything gets counted back in. Lost or damaged items are logged and reported, sub-rentals are returned, and the final inventory has to reconcile with the order. A careful best boy saves the production real money here.

Best boy electric vs. best boy grip

The two jobs mirror each other; the difference is what their departments touch.

| | Best boy electric | Best boy grip | |---|---|---| | Reports to | Gaffer | Key grip | | Department handles | Lamps, power, cable, distribution, generators | Stands, flags, silks, rigs, dolly and track, cranes | | Typical truck | Electric truck, often towing a generator | Grip truck | | Safety focus | Electrical loads, grounding, cable routing | Weight, rigging points, sandbags, wind on large frames |

On a small production, one person may cover both, or the job disappears into a two-person department where the gaffer's only electrician does the ordering at night. The grip and electric best boys still coordinate constantly, because nearly every lighting setup involves both departments: electrics power and aim the lamp, grips hold and shape its light.

Best boy vs. gaffer: who does what?

The gaffer is the creative and technical head of lighting. They work out the look with the cinematographer, decide which units go where, and direct the electricians during each setup. The best boy electric makes that plan possible: the lamps the gaffer calls for have to exist on the truck, the power has to be there, and there have to be enough hands to move it all before the camera is ready.

A simple way to see the split: the gaffer thinks about the next shot, the best boy thinks about tomorrow and next week. The gaffer rarely leaves the set; the best boy is often the person the production office calls about crew, rentals and budget overages. The two usually work as a pair from job to job, and many gaffers came up as best boys first. The same logic applies on the grip side between key grip and best boy grip.

Why is it called a best boy?

Nobody knows for certain. The most repeated explanation traces it to sailing and whaling crews, where a captain might ask another for the loan of his best boy, meaning his most capable young hand; the story goes that the phrase carried over into early theater and film crews. Treat that as folklore rather than documented history.

What is certain is that the title is used regardless of gender. Many women work as best boys and are credited that way; a woman in the role may be called best girl on set, and some credits use the formal titles instead. In end credits you'll find it listed inside the electric and grip blocks, right after the gaffer and key grip.

How to become a best boy

There's no school for it; the path runs through the department. Most best boys start as set electricians or grips, learn every piece of gear on the truck, and get promoted by a gaffer or key grip who trusts them with money and people. What separates a good one is organization: clean inventories, accurate timecards, early warnings when a day will need more crew or a bigger generator.

The prep stage is where the best boy's lists come from, so it pays to see the gaffer's plan clearly. On a FlashBoards board, a cinematographer can keep lighting reference frames and generated previews of key setups next to notes on each scene, and the gaffer and best boy can read gear needs directly off it: a night exterior with a large soft source means a big frame, a lift and a generator long before anyone is on location. More on how the departments fit together is in the filmmaking process hub.

Further reading

Harry C. Box, Set Lighting Technician's Handbook (Focal Press). Michael G. Uva, The Grip Book (Focal Press).