It's amazing what a good grip can build you.

I’m a big fan of U.S. film crews.  I consider Los Angeles and Seattle my home bases for production–that’s where I work most often and have the fattest contact files–but I work all over.  Often, I’ll head off to direct a project somewhere else and pick up a local crew.  Wherever I fly around the country, I find that film crew quality is pretty consistent.  Sure, you run the risk of a bad apple once in a while, but on the whole, the crews I work with have an amazing can-do attitude, plenty of experience, and are almost never fazed by having to do the impossible in too little time with insufficient resources.  (In fact, it’s expected.)  Need to build a bicycle mount for the camera from just a hi-hat, two grip arms and a gobo head?  A good key grip will make it happen in about ten minutes (five if the sun is setting).  I often compare indie film crews to Marines–both have that “improvise and overcome” ethic.

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