If you ’ve ever sat in the dark and watched the credits roll after a movie , you may have giggled at the " best male child " title and wonder what it mean . Well , for one , a good boy is really a full - grown adult and not a child – there are no little boys working on film crews ( at least we hope there are n’t ) . And best boys are ordinarily homo , but there are a few female best boy . They ’re not called good missy . unconnected yet ?
There are usually two best boys on a film set – they ’re the right - script world ( or women ) of thegaffer(head electrician ) and thekey grip(the leader of the grips , or camera gang ) . The theatre and moving-picture show diligence borrowed the term " in force son " from the seafaring world , likely around the turn of the twentieth C . On a ship , the " good boy " in the bunch would be tapped to be the captain ’s second - in - statement . boater and dock worker commonly helped out in New York theaters , building setsand lugging equipment . They made the natural passage into movie employment when the plastic film industry set off ( it was n’t until later that all the motion-picture show people cull up and left for California ) . The good boy name stuck , and it ’s still used on film sets today .
The gaffer and the central travelling bag work with the music director of picture taking , orcinematographer , to fulfill the camera and ignition visual modality for the film . The serious boys superintend the gang of grips that work under the foreman and key grip . The grip are responsible for most of the strong-arm labor that ’s needed on a shoot . Aside from building sets , they set up and aline cameras and lights , establish lighting tackle and camera dollies , and run errand for the cardinal handle and gaffer . The best boy stay in ceaseless communication with the gaffer and cardinal grip , assign tasks for the gang , handle paperwork , verify workplace hours for the crew , order equipment and keep in contact with the production agency .
Like just about everyone on a picture show stage set , best boys work long , unpredictable hour ( 20 - hour days and six - day workweek are not unheard - of ) . Grip jobs are union jobs , so so as to join you have to meet the union ’s rank requirements . Job security will probably be dicey until your foot is firm in the door , and even then work can be erratic . It takes at least a few years to build up enough experience as an electric or camera grip to be advertise to best boy . A halfway - of - the - route estimation for annual pay for a best male child is about $ 50,000 to $ 75,000 , with bounteous - budget flick paying more than that [ source : Roney ] .
