Hey, Dolly Grip...*

From "Breathless" (1960)

Lighten up.

I'm sure that there's no doubt in your mind that your job is one of the more important ones on set and one of the hardest. You're responsible for the thing the camera is mounted on 99% of the time and it must be a bitch to maneuver it around a set full of director chairs, stands and piles of cable.

But you know what? Everyone thinks their job is the hardest/most important job on set. Yet if any one department is gone, all hell breaks loose. There'd be no set without an Art Department; no place to shoot without Locations; no trucks without Transpo; nothing to see without lighting; etc, etc. Which goes to show, EVERY job is important so just get the fuck over yourself and stop acting like an entitled douche.

Yeah, I get that while you're trying to lay down a piece of dance floor, it can be a pain the ass when people keep accidentally stepping on it. But look around you. Is the set tinier than two parking spaces? Is your plywood taking up every inch of available floor? Then guess what? You're gonna have to just deal with it. Just like I have to deal with moving my already-perfectly-placed-light out of the way every three minutes for another cart that's trying to squeeze in the room or (ahem) your dolly. Acting like a diva and throwing a hissy fit every time there's a new footprint on your dance floor isn't helping.

And on that note, can you try to be considerate? Yeah, pieces of track and plywood can be heavy and awkward to carry, but is that any reason for you to come plowing at me with them with no intention of stopping?? Believe me, the last thing I want to do is get in your way when you're carrying that shit, but if it's a crammed set, I can't exactly dodge out of the way as quickly as you'd like me to (especially if you don't announce that you've got "points" coming though. I don't have eyes in the back of my head, but I do have ears). Sorry if those of us with job titles that are beneath you can't part like the Red Sea fast enough for you, but that's no excuse to come charging at us full speed with a "get the fuck out of  my way" scowl on your face.

And maybe you can show us the same courtesy that you expect from us "unimportant" people? For example, the other day when I was carrying that super heavy light (plus a stand!) that's bigger than I was and the only way for me to get to where I needed to go was to step over the dolly track you were leveling? Would it have killed you to stop leveling the damn thing for two seconds so I could pass by without body checking you with the bottom of the stand? Could you really have not just let that wedge sit on the floor untouched for just a tiny moment longer? Did you really have to keep gently nudging it with your toe while I stood there with a really heavy light, patiently (as much as possible anyway) waiting for you to finish so you could step aside and finally let me through?

No? Well, fuck you then.

Every department has to make concessions for everyone else and not one of us is more important than the other. We've all got our own jobs to do and you can give us all the dirty looks and eye rolls you want, but we can't stop working just because you'd like a roving six feet radius of clear space around you, the dolly and your carts at all times. It's not all about you. It's about us.

And the more we work together, the faster we'll be able to shoot and the sooner we'll be able to wrap and go home. So please stop being a dick about everything.




* More specifically, the asshole Dolly Grip I worked with for a few days. Which is odd, since they're usually some of the nicest guys I'll meet on set. Also, shout out fo D from Dollygrippery who is definitely not in the asshole category.