Go for Greg Flores

Tune in to this episode of The Walkie Check featuring Greg Flores, who went from turning a Facebook group elevating grip & electric departments. to a full blown business.

Host: Layne Marie Williams

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Graphics/Logo: Brynne Wassel
Music By: Devin Delaney & Noisefloor LTD

Transcript

Layne Marie: 0:10

Hello and welcome to the Walkie Check. Hey folks, welcome to the Walkie Check. I'm Layne Marie Williams, a film director in Los Angeles, California. We're super excited to be working with our friends at Noisefloor to bring you the most creative and talented people out there to share their experiences, knowledge, and power. Today we're gonna be talking with Key Grip and business owner Greg Flores, who is the founder of the popular social media Instagram handle@griprigs, along with gripsupport.com and The Grip Store. Greg started his career in 1997 at age 17 when he got an interview for an internship at a studio in San Diego called Stu Segall Productions. He found a passion for the film industry and learned every position from an onset grip, rigging grip, dolly grip, and best boy grip, and eventually it became a well-known key grip in the industry working on commercials, TV shows and feature films. The Walkie Check is sponsored by Media Exclusive, where you are the star of your own business. Your genius is what you are passionate about. It's the whole reason you have a business. No need to worry about social media posts and what is currently trending. Allow us, Media Exclusive, to take that stress away from your mind. Media Exclusive will work with you to create consistent, on-brand posts to increase your visibility, allowing you to focus on your passions. Learn more and give a follow on Instagram@the.media.exclusive. The Walkie Check is sponsored by Film Craft Studio Gear. Own the icon. Film Craft Studio Gear, the number one trusted brand of pro-grade director chairs in film and entertainment. The storyteller's choice.

Greg: 2:00

Go for Greg Flores.

Layne Marie: 2:02

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Walkie Check. Today we're here with Greg Flores. That's beautiful. Where are you from originally, Greg?

Greg: 2:12

I'm originally from Orange County, California, but now I uh, I'm in San Diego for the most part.

Layne Marie: 2:17

That's awesome. San Diego. What do you feel like is special there that keeps you creating and uh, working with filmmakers in that location?

Greg: 2:25

Well, that's where I started my career, which was in San Diego at a studio called Stu Segall Productions. What I like about it is that everybody loves it when you're filming here. I've noticed that when you go to other places, such as LA or stuff like that, people are over it in a way. Everybody has a good attitude here, it seems less congested, and overall the the weather's great. That's what I love about San Diego.

Layne Marie: 2:46

Yeah, it's definitely a really cute beach town. I've visited a couple times and you know, I know we grabbed lunch on that like boardwalk area. There's this like really cool mermaid sculpture or sign, I can't quite remember, but uh, it was really great.

Greg: 3:02

Yeah, a good thing about San Diego is it has everything you need. You can go an hour away and you can have snow if you want during the winter. It's literally the mountains or you can go the beach or regular city life. It's whatever you need. It's all here.

Layne Marie: 3:14

Yeah, I feel like that's why a lot of people stay in California, especially those that are born and raised from just the folks that I've encountered so far, which is kind of fun.

Greg: 3:23

I agree.

Layne Marie: 3:24

Yeah, I mean I definitely would love any excuse to return to San Diego, especially to film something there. So I'm very envious of the fact that you get to work there every day. So in regards to Grip Rigs, which is a very cool popular platform that you built, and now you have your own facility that you sell grip equipment and gear out of. From my understanding of it, you started Grip Rigs back in 2012 and you started it through a Facebook page called Grip Rigs. Tell us, what first ignited this idea and what was the actual follow through to get it to the place that it's in now?

Greg: 4:06

Well, when I was working in the industry, there was a lot of cool stuff that we did and I would always have a camera on me and I'd take pictures and do these videos and all kinds of stuff like that. But there was one time, I remember when I was doing this commercial in Los Angeles, A Carl's Jr. commercial, and it was a really tough rig we had to do. The director of photography wanted the camera to be mounted onto the car and as a car backs up out of a parking space, he wanted the camera to come off the car when it crashes into another car. So the camera would come off, float off of the car, and then reveal the whole overall scene in a wide shot. But he wanted all that to happen in one shot and I couldn't figure out how to do it at first. So I kept looking on the internet and things like that and trying to get ideas of what I could use to mount onto the car to be able to float off and stuff like that. But besides, I figured out the shot and it came out great, but that caused me to wanna make something where I put all my albums and all my pictures and videos onto essentially a gallery. And I started doing that by making a page called Grip Rigs. And once I did that, I figured, you know, what I could do is highlight all the grips out there and what they do and have them get credit for their work. And so I, that's when I built, grip rigs and started putting it out there, and it became popular really fast. That's the story.

Layne Marie: 5:24

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I really do feel like grip, electric and camera teams are truly the unsung heroes of film production. So it's super cool to see the ways that, I feel like the social media presence even that you've started through@griprigs on Instagram. It's huge and it's, in perusing the page itself, it's been awesome to see everything from like really wild rigs, to things where I'm like"Oh God, the poor camera". You've definitely got a fun range of content.

Greg: 5:58

Yeah, it's fun to see what we do behind the scenes. We get so creative, and it's so cool to be able to see that in one page. It's brought a lot of opportunities too. There's like a lot of shows where like Chapman Leonard or Matthews or Jay Fisher will do these big shows outside and they've invited me to set up booths and we do like cool spots. Like I've done one for Matthews, we did two cars and we had five key grips rigging cameras all day and it was a live event. And then there was another one where we built the world's biggest apple box in an event, and we showcased all that what grips do. That was really cool. Along with the world's biggest sandbag, which was cool. It was a beanbag. We did a giant basketball court, kind of like when you see at the carnivals, where you can, you know, shoot the basket, but we made it all out of grip stuff, that was cool. And we always give away things at these events. The last one we did was a low rider. We had these brick walls in the back with graffiti, the set grip rigs and we did a low rider and mounted nothing but Matthew's car mounts onto the car. And then at one point during the event we brought everybody over and we had a DJ and we had the car hop with these cameras mounted on it. It was so fun. But yeah, I agree with you that the opportunities and what we do is so cool, but nobody gets to see it. You know, it's all behind the scenes. We see the movie, and we see the camera smooth on a car, but you don't realize how hard it was to do that. The lighting, you know, all that stuff. So it's fun.

Layne Marie: 7:22

Yeah, no, I completely agree. I mean that's definitely been one of the benefits of social media, you know, us being more in charge ourselves as content creators is, you know, now we can have a BTS photographer on set, and a videographer that's capturing the way that we made that car crash happen, that sort of thing. Yeah, right. So I love it.

Greg: 7:44

Yeah, I wish we could have somebody do something on us.

Layne Marie: 7:48

Yeah, yeah. I mean hey, we can! Like, just all we need is equipment. It's not like you and I don't have access to that, so.

Greg: 7:56

Oh no, I mean more behind the scenes if we could have like a camera crew following the grips doing car rigs and stuff like that. But the problem nowadays, with so many NDAs, you know, nobody wants to show anything so it's kinda hard. Ever since social media came came out. Yeah, back in the day it was okay, everybody had cameras and nobody cared cuz you weren't putting it anywhere. But now social media's out, it's kind of hard to do that. You know, you kinda have to show nothing regarding the shot.

Layne Marie: 8:23

Yeah, I mean it's like hopefully focusing on just the gear and not so much seeing talent, but totally depending on like your NDA or whatever kind of contract you've got on a shoot or something, I can see how that would be super limiting. Usually like at least for me, like I'm not able to share stills for a while and that sort of thing, so I'm more reliant on BTS, but I usually use BTS that's not showing a whole lot just because I want the stills to really be what shines later. In regards to the IATSE strike, the industry itself I feel like is improving. It has been improving. Do you have any comments on the strike itself, and how it's affected you and your company?

Greg: 9:10

The strike makes sense. We do a lot, and we've gotten to a point where we should get, you know, more benefits and more things for us. Since there's a lot that goes on, we lose a lot. We lose a lot of time with our families. We're always at work, you know, 12-16 hours a day. On Fridays, they tend to keep us till like 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, sometimes longer. So there goes our weekend. We just need to be compensated for things like that. So it makes sense that they're fighting for more. I agree with that. As far as the strike, and situations like that, I think everybody should be prepared in our industry for moments like that. You should always have something on the side where you can make income on the side so that when these things come in play, you're ready for it and you don't have to worry so much and your family's gonna be okay. But, you know, I know there are things like unemployment that help a lot, so that's good.

Layne Marie: 10:00

Yeah, absolutely. I'm in full support as well and there's obviously a lot more that needs to be done, but it was really cool to go be a part of the IATSE strike events here in LA and just be there in solidarity. You know, the way that I've always looked at it is like; I'm nothing without them. So I want people to feel valued and cared for and to have the time and the money that they deserve always.

Greg: 10:27

Yeah when I started my career, I was here in San Diego for about I wanna say 11 years or something like that, and we were all non-union so we learned how to do a bunch of crafts in one. And when I finally went to LA and I became part of the union, I couldn't believe that I missed out on so much. It helped me because you get benefits and it helps your family and you're able to put away for retirement and there's so much to it that I missed out on. I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to get in.

Layne Marie: 10:54

Yeah, yeah. So as far as joining the union, could you walk us through that, what that's like for folks that are considering joining IATSE? You know, obviously as a director that's not a union that I would necessarily join myself, so I'm curious as well to hear directly from you like what's that experience like and do you have any recommendations?

Greg: 11:17

Yeah, well the first thing you gotta do is contact the union cause they have a lot of programs to get you in as permits. They'll call you in and you can essentially go and work on a union show. And once you get 30 days working on a union show, they allow you to become part of the union, but you need to pay a fee. But it's definitely worth it because once you're in you can get all these benefits. And the one good thing that I love about it, is you have to go through all these safety course. And the safety courses can be long, but you go through like driving lifts, and going through sexual harassment classes, and there's so much that goes into it so that when you're on set you know how to behave and you know what's going on and you know how to work so you don't get hurt so much. But at least you're prepared for it and that's what the union does.

Layne Marie: 12:00

Yeah, love that. Some training. So tell us a little bit more specifically about the facility that you have and all of the gear equipment that you are in the process of selling, renting. I was looking at your Grip Rigs website, and it's super user-friendly by the way to our listeners. I found myself looking at the grip gifts and you've got some great stuff in there. Literally for any and every type of occasion. I'm not even a grip and I found myself being like"oh yeah, these are all tools that could come in handy for me as well".

Greg: 12:35

Yeah, I started a page called gripsupport.com, and what I wanted to do was bring the whole industry together. Because at the time I realized that the whole industry is all in it on themselves. Everybody has their own company and they don't really get along with everybody. They're each trying to do their own thing. So I wanted to bring them all together into one place so grips like myself can find what we need and all the information all in one place. And from there it grew and it became popular and then I realized"why don't I start a store?" Where everybody can buy the same stuff, but all in one store and it's called the Grip Store and I started that. It's all online and now you can get anything you want in one place. And from there we grew. We have a shop here in San Diego, we just acquired a small studio, so we're about to start on getting that going here in San Diego. It's fun just to be able to ship things out and get the grips what they need. The hard part about it is that a lot of these manufacturers are way behind and there's a lot of back orders. So I spend most of my day just talking to customers and letting them know that it's gonna be a while. And it's hard in our industry. Most of the time people buy something, they want it right away. So for the most part we do that. But a lot of the stuff, it's hard to do. That's what we have going on right now. We also have rentals. I have a five ton grip truck and a sprinter van here in town and I love to use that. That's what's going on right now.

Layne Marie: 13:55

Oh nice. That's amazing. What's like the most popular item that you see rented? or is it primarily just for purchasing or rentals as well?

Greg: 14:06

It's both, but for rentals it's always the C stand, sandbag, apple boxes for sure. For sales, the most popular ones are gadgets, like little cool things that people can buy. Like for some reason a lot of people are buying the small mini apple box, which you can put on your desk and a small mini C stand, which is cool. They're buying a lot of bigger stuff nowadays that are like stabilized arms that I sell. That you can, you know, shoot car to car and you have a stabilized image. We're selling a lot of that, and Rickshaws. Rickshaws are very popular because you can sit an operator or a stabilized arm on this Rickshaw. Essentially it's a platform with wheels that you can push around, and the operator can sit on it or he can mount the camera onto there and do it remotely. But that's really what's selling a lot right now. It's really fun to see. We're about to launch a few other things, which is an electric trike. We've used it quite a few times on commercials here. You can have the operator sit on the back with the camera, or you can mount a remote camera to it. It goes 20 miles an hour. That's what I got.

Layne Marie: 15:08

Wow, what would you say the difference between that and the rickshaw is? Because it sounds like they're both platforms or seats for ops and potentially other folks.

Greg: 15:16

Yea, one of them you have a grip pushing you around and the other one you have'em driving you around. So it's good for, let's say you're doing a bicycle shot, you know if somebody's riding a bicycle, you wanna be able to keep up with that speed. You don't want a grip running with you, pushing you, you know? It's easier if you run a bike just on the left. But it's really fun. I've used it quite a few times and it's really fun. We did an an Olympic runner that was fun, of course I had to get a headstart. And then we did one where a dog walking scene, they wanted to get a front shot of a dog walking and you know, you never know how fast he's gonna go, so you're just walking through the park and the good thing is that you don't have to worry about getting tired cuz you're on a trike, you're on an electric trike.

Layne Marie: 15:57

Yeah. I feel like I'm so accustomed to like dollies and jibs and that sort of thing. So hearing about other ways for the camera folks to move themselves is very fun. I'm very into grip gear, despite that not being my department. It is such a necessary aspect of creating something. And again, like we've been talking about today, the people that work in the grip and electric department are truly the unsung heroes because the the complicated technical things that y'all pull off, I mean it's amazing. It really is.

Greg: 16:30

Yeah, and just trying to find better ways to do things is what's going on. You know, trying to get things that are lighter or the lights these days are lighter and you can get more punch out of'em, which is cool. Cameras are getting lighter. I mean the rigging is still the same but it's, it's really cool to see all these innovations coming out. I wanna say like a year ago they came out with the apple boxes made out of foam and everybody thought it was gonna be weird but it's actually great. It weighs nothing and you can use it the same way and it's more comfortable and it's just as sturdy, you know? And I didn't think you can screw into it, but apparently you can. I tried that and it works. But it's things like that that are making our industry better, and that's why I do the things that I do, and I have the store, because every time something cool comes out I get to focus on it and show everybody, and that's what it's all about.

Layne Marie: 17:15

What do you feel like about gear and the technical aspect of it draws you in so much? I mean, you really have to have a very curious and certainly a lot of patience in order to be able to figure out the mechanics of that. What do you feel like makes you so interested in it?

Greg: 17:36

You know, ever since I started buying equipment, you buy the stuff that you need always. You know, the c-stand, the apple boxes, the sandbags, all the flags, and all the stuff you need because you know you're gonna use that. But where it gets cool is when you start thinking about all the stuff that you don't have, that you could possibly use one day and you don't know you needed it. So it's cool to have all those little gadgets, and all the little arms for mounting cameras on cars, and doing all kinds of cool little things around cars or bikes or anything that you're rigging, you just never know what you're gonna do. This industry, that's one cool thing about this industry, is that you never know what you're gonna do. You're always in a different place, always in a different situation. You're mounting cameras, you're coming up with different creative shots, and if you have that equipment you can help the production so much because not only are you gonna save time, you're gonna have the right parts. It's gonna be safer, it's so much better. So that's why I love having all the right gear and all the right parts so that we can make it happen.

Layne Marie: 18:30

And do you yourself, when you're working on productions Greg, you charge like a rental fee I imagine?

Greg: 18:36

Yeah. You charge rental for your parts, usually you negotiate that before. But a cool thing is if you have all these extra parts, you always let them know,"hey I got these things in case you need'em", you know. Sometimes you don't have a dolly on set but you have a camera slider, you know, a camera slider can do so much and that's a good rental, or you have something else that you need like a rag, you know, a different flavor that you needed that you have just in case. There's all kinds of things, but that's the cool part about an industry is that they allow you to also have a business within your industry. So if you're a key grip you can have your own side business where you could rent from yourself, unless you're working for a studio. If you're working for a studio, usually they take on all the rentals and the cool thing about that is that you don't have to worry, but if they don't have it they allow you to bring it and rent it.

Layne Marie: 19:20

Awesome. So yeah, for any potential grips, aspiring grips, folks in that department, do you have any advice or like go-to things that you feel like they should consider purchasing and you know, sounds like they would make their money back and then some if their kit is getting used regularly.

Greg: 19:40

Right. Well what I recommend if they're trying to get in the industry, they should first get the right tools, right? The right wrenches, the right parts that they need. And then once they have all that, they should try to get in with somebody that's in the industry and offer their services. Try to work for them even if it's for free. You're getting in there, you're not really working for free cuz you're getting paid with experience. But most of the time people call you and they wanna work but you don't know them and it's hard to hire somebody you don't know or you don't know their work ethic, how it's gonna work out. So it's best if you can get them in. For example, somebody just called me yesterday, they emailed me yesterday and they said:"I just moved here from New York and I'm starting a family here, my wife's pregnant and I would love to figure out how I can get in the industry". And the first thing I told him, I said"Hey, come on down and help me unload my truck". And he came on down, he helped me unload my truck, I introduced him to a gaffer and two other electricians. He didn't get paid. We bought him lunch and everybody loved him. Everybody got his number and I'm pretty sure that he's gonna get hired here in town now they know his face, they know who he is, they know that he knows what he's doing and that's what it's all about. You gotta try to figure out how to get in there without just sending an email and just thinking that that's gonna do it. Try to go face to face and let them know that you're willing to do whatever it takes to get in there. Because once you're in there, it's a good industry. You get paid more than most industries out there and you don't have to have much experience. Like you don't have to go to college for it. You learn mostly on the project and that's what's fun about this industry. You want to get in there and do what it takes. To be honest with you, nowadays we're in a need for grips and electrics and camera people. Everybody seems to want to be a DP or director and there's a lack for everything else. So the more people the better, you know. So bring it.

Layne Marie: 21:18

Yeah, I love hearing you say that Greg. Especially for women, gender-nonconforming folks, and people of color. We really need to see more of those folks in the grip, electric, and camera department. You know, when I'm in a place where I'm recommending people, I always try to push those people to the front. But I do think I'd like to ask you, what do you think the discrepancy is there and how do we provide more opportunities or maybe spread the word of these positions that are available to those folks? You know, there's gotta be some kind of way to build the bridge.

Greg: 21:58

Yeah, I honestly think people don't know much about it. They don't hear much about it. I don't think people know about grips and lighting and all that until they start looking into the industry. But most of the time people just know acting and directing and directors of photography, and the rest of it just gets lost. We need prop masters, we need wardrobe, makeup: there's so much in our industry; transportation. There's so many industries and they just don't know. I don't have an easy way to tell them. I don't know how we can get that out there. I know that it's needed, and we gotta figure it out. I have thought about making a kind of training program where you can learn everything, how to be a grip in some kind of a program. I've started that slowly. But it's hard to do, you know, because you have to teach them each part of every equipment, and how it can be used, and then how to use it, and set etiquette and, you know, how to act on set, how to know what to do when you're on the set, you know, when you see a camera going on the ground, what are you gonna need? You know, there's so many stuff to it. I wanna figure it out. I'm with you.

Layne Marie: 22:57

Yeah, I love that. Back when I was living in Chicago, I produced a couple of working with cameras and lenses and that sort of thing. Training programs for women, non-binary, and people of color to attend. And it was like the most fulfilling work that I've probably ever done. I feel like creating a safe space where people can firsthand get access to the tools and be led by an expert in that field. It is necessary and, you know, creating perhaps a sliding scale for the ticket price because you know, I understand these things take time, they take money. Probably wouldn't necessarily need to be led entirely by you. Like it would be great if you had other people to help you, but no, I love that. Keep me posted.

Greg: 23:47

Yeah, for sure. We gotta do something like that. You know, I've seen a lot of different types of people in the industry. You know, there are all kinds of races. I've worked with a lot of women that are grips and it's always good to see that it is for everyone. You just gotta know what you wanna do, and what you like, and as long as you're happy doing what you gotta do, you're in a good place. You know, I just feel like there's a lot of people out there that think that they can't do something because they see a certain, you know, race or they see your men or women or there's mostly men or, but it's not true. You can get into anything you want. It's just, you just gotta want it and everybody notices that you want it and they get you in. That's all what it's all about, you know?

Layne Marie: 24:22

Yeah. Well and I do think that this industry, it's ultimately all about relationships and the connections that you have with other folks and even, you know, my early days of PA-ing, which I'm so grateful that that was the way that I came up in the industry, like forever and ever will be so grateful that I started like at there, you know? Yeah, tt is a tough job and it's a great job to figure out if you really wanna do this or not!

Greg: 24:51

Yeah, well at least you get to support all the different departments, so you get to figure out which one you wanna do. Yeah. That's a good entry level.

Layne Marie: 24:59

Exactly. And you know, that's honestly like if anybody asked me like what I would recommend for trying to get into the industry, is I would absolutely start out PA- ing. Because I think that is where you get to kind of be like a hawk and watch everybody and be involved and stay alert and discover if you know, do you hit it off with the grip department and if you do maybe they can kind of start showing you some things when you have a downtime moment or not. There are ways to get on set experience while PA-ing and kind of keeping an eye on the department you yourself are interested in. Maybe it's more than one department.

Greg: 25:41

Yeah. I've seen so many PAs become other things. Usually, all the other departments, they start to see them and they go,"oh you know, he shouldn't be a PA that's a grip" or"he shouldn't be a PA that's an electrician right there". And they start to bring you in and help you out. It's good to see, the sad thing about becoming a PA is that they don't get paid enough for what they do. They do everything. They're there before everybody, and they do so much, and they don't get compensated for it. That's the sad part about that. But hopefully it changes, you know, with the unions and everything else.

Layne Marie: 26:12

Absolutely. I hope so too because they are an instrumental part of keeping the ship moving, that's for sure. Okay, so, Bring It On, the movie Bring It On. Is truly like one of the most iconic movies of all time, in my opinion. I feel like I need to rewatch it now, especially after getting to talk to you about it today. Tell us about your experience with that. It feels like it was probably so much fun to make.

Greg: 26:42

I was a grip on it, but you know, it was at the beginning of my career it was about I wanna say like the third job that I did, and there was a key grip called Marcus'Roo' Flower. He's done so much stuff now. What he did is he got this movie and he came into town, it was called Bring It On. And it was so much fun to work on. You know, there was so many camera moves that we did and so much stuff that I never realized that we could do. Cause it was early in my career. And what's funny about it, is nowadays you hear all these people singing the songs from it. And when we were on set they were stuck in our head also. So we were filming and we were listening to these songs over and over and they were just stuck in our head and a couple cool things happened on that show. I remember asking the key grip why he ordered a Technocrane, and for those that don't know, a Technocrane is a telescopic camera where you have a camera at the end, it's remote, and it's on this base, and it's able to telescope out to certain amount of feet. You know, at that time I was new to the whole thing, it was actually new in our industry. And I was asking,"why did you order this piece of equipment for this movie? How do you know to order that piece of equipment?" And he was saying that, you know, when you're reading the script, it told him that they wanted a shot where the camera goes through all the cheerleaders and at the very end ends up on the top of one of the pyramids with the cheerleader on top. And he was thinking,"there's no other way I could think of doing that". And so I was like,"ah, I see. So you visualize from the script what you need, and then you go and you rent that equipment and you get it". So it was a key moment in my industry where I realized, okay, so everything that gets ordered prior is because of what you're talking about in pre-production. There's so much goes on in pre-production to be prepared. So when you finally get to the set, everything's already been ordered, everything's already there. You know what colors you're gonna use on the lights, you know what equipment's gonna be used, you know when you're gonna use it. There's so much to do, and how many manpower you're gonna need. So it was a good experience. There was one scene in Bring It On where they were gonna have an ambulance coming down the street. It was lit up and what happened was one of the electricians cut his leg and it was bad. He was cut, he needed to cut some gel, and he put it in front of him and another electrician he had his knife and he cut the gel and they were in a hurry and they ended up slicing his leg like quite a bit. And so the ambulance that actually came down the street was actually for us and they sent him away, and he ended up getting 80 stitches that happened on that movie. But there was a lot of fun stuff that went down. We built scaffolding to shoot all the closeups on the cheerleaders on the tops of the pyramids. We did a lot of cool lighting. It was a good experience, you know, like when we did the frames for outside for exteriors, you see the shadows on the ground from the frames, and we were doing the car washing scene and they had all those little, it's kind of like little triangle flags that you see at like, you know, car dealerships. They had'em all over the place there for that scene for some reason it was that, that lot that they were at. And so the key grip out of putting those on the edge of the frame, so when you'd see it in the shadows on the ground, it would look like it was part of where you were at. Which that's what we do nowadays, is we make'em look like trees. We'll actually put branches on the sides of'em or we put what we call socks on the edges of frames so that it looks like a building. Cuz you know, you don't want the audience ever to think that you're filming, you don't wanna take away from the story and you know, them see something that they shouldn't, you want them to be involved in that story and get into it. So it's fun to see all those things and learn all those little tricks of the trade.

Layne Marie: 30:10

When I think of Bring It On, the first scene that comes into my head, well there's a couple but the very first one because it had such an impact on me as a little girl watching this movie, is the scene where Kirsten Dunst comes home and puts in, I can't remember if it's a tape or a CD, I think it's a CD. And she puts it into her boombox, and hits play, and it's a song that he like records a song for her. And she like just jams out on the bed in her underwear. And I just, I remember that scene, you know, like I just watched it because it was so iconic. What was that like?

Greg: 30:52

Yeah well, most of the scenes like that, the director and the director of photography they've had a really good eye, and it was fun to see all these different projects and different scenes that we did on that movie. I don't quite remember exactly what went down on that scene, but I know that every scene that we did on that movie took time and took a lot of effort. And what I noticed coming from TV world and from the commercials and things like that is that when you work on the feature, it's much different. You're working on television shows and you're doing, you know, a lot of pages in a day and when you go down to a feature, you're doing like one scene a day. So you're taking your time and you're doing it right. That's why when you see movies, you're really seeing the quality of the movie because there's so much time and effort and love that goes into that scene. And that's what's cool about that. Yeah, I remember that scene too. I don't remember working as part of it. You know, when you're on set, everybody can't be in there at the same time. Especially me, I was just feeding the set, you know, you're giving them the equipment they need and stuff like that.

Layne Marie: 31:54

Feeding the set. I like that. That's a good, a good way to put it. It's a good phrase. How do you stay healthy and well outside of work?

Greg: 32:03

Well, I started doing a thing where I just try to eat good stuff. It's really hard on set, but it seems like everybody's catching on now, right? When you go to craft service table, there's more healthy options. It looks like they're buying at Whole Foods and stuff like that. It's really good for you. But I agree it, it's really hard on the film set cuz there's so many snacks and so many things that they're giving you. And then you always get pizza at the end of the day and I mean, you have to care about yourself and you gotta work on those things. You know, I started doing a thing where I would just eat things that came from the Earth, and that helped me a lot. So, you know, nuts and fruits and vegetables and stuff like that. Meats, but try to stay away from all the other stuff and that, that actually helped a lot. You know, stay away from sodas and stick with the water or other stuff like that.

Layne Marie: 32:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It definitely can be a challenge sometimes when you know you're not quite in control of what you're gonna be eating. What about like, outside of work, do you have any tips and tricks for things that you've found that help you stay mentally and physically and all that good stuff?

Greg: 33:10

Well, I definitely go out for walks every day with my wife and my child. But we try to do cool things. We try to go on hikes or we'll go down to the park and walk around and do all kinds of things. But you really gotta stay physical, and as a grip you're always staying physical, especially if you have a rental company. You know, going and getting equipment, and moving it, and doing stuff like that. These rickshaws are really taking a big toll on me cuz they come in these huge cases. So when I have to ship'em out, I have to open up the case, make sure all the stuff is in there, I gotta wrap'em up, I gotta plastic wrap'em and then, ship'em out and they're not light. So there's a lot of things that we do in this industry that keeps us going. I don't know what you do. Do you have any tricks that you do?

Layne Marie: 33:50

Well, uh, I was just thinking about it while you were saying that. Just one thing that I've found is I really try to focus on being as well-oiled as I can be, particularly leading up to a shoot. So, you know, I do a lot of running outside. I also have like an outdoor gym that I go to. I think it's important for me to be in the best shape that I can be, because I'm expecting everybody to be able to perform at a really high level on set. So, you know, I think it's only fair that I'd be right there next to them, able to offer up the same. What I found is there's a lot of manual labor that goes into working on set, and even as the director, it's sweat equity for me too. Like I don't gain anything by standing around and not helping when we are trying to hustle and we've got a million more shots that we wanna do. So yeah, I'm gonna jump in and help move something. So, you know, that's one thing for me that I found is like I do feel like a responsibility to keep myself trained.

Greg: 34:59

Yeah, it's definitely important. Another thing that's important is being mentally fit. I try to read something every day. Always setting goals and doing things that you can move forward. That you're always one step ahead and your mind's getting stimulated, because it's really easy to become complacent and just do the everyday things every day that you're doing. A lot of times you wanna keep learning something new, something you wouldn't have known, and it's so fun to find things out and to become better and to grow. I love all that aspect to it. You know, I try to wake up early and read and do all kinds of things, but it's fun and I think that's what keeps me going.

Layne Marie: 35:37

Yeah, reading. Such a simple thing, but it does have a big impact especially, you know, there's so many different things I feel like that you can read in order to stimulate your mind and your work in a plethora of different ways. And maybe you're reading a book about intimacy and maybe you're also reading a book about the latest equipment to be introduced to camera, you know? Like I have the tendency to read several books at once, because I feel like I need to constantly be exploring different things. Now that doesn't mean I'm always great about reading all of those books all the time, but I do find myself needing more than just one topic to devour.

Greg: 36:22

Right, I agree, I do that too. You know, there's also Audible in case you're busy. When I'm doing things, sometimes I listen to Audible, you can pick a book, and it helps you that way. But it's so good to be able to know anything. We're really blessed now to be living in this time where we can find any information we need when we need it. We can get anything we need as fast as we want it. It's pretty amazing, and I think we gotta learn to take advantage of that and not just get so, you know, wound up in this world and in ourselves, and forget that there's so much more out there and that we can become so much more. I love seeing myself grow and other people grow and businesses being created and you know, it's hard when I see people that've been in the same place for a long time and I wanna help them, but I know that they don't know how and there is a way, but they don't look for it. They just think that what they know is what they know and I really wish they would seek more and find it cuz it's there.

Layne Marie: 37:16

Ugh. Yeah, you're really passionate as a person. And I remember feeling that when we had lunch too, and you're incredibly passionate about the work that you do, and I'll tell you what, that contagious. It absolutely is contagious. Like other people's enthusiasm, I feel like-

Greg: 37:34

I see, I see it over and over when I'm on set. Everybody comes up to me with their ideas and they're always giving me these- what they wanna do and they're asking me for advice, for anything that they're trying to do at the time, which is really fun to help people. To me, the best thing ever is if you're asking me for advice or you want help, because that's what I'm all about, I'm here to help. That's actually the coolest thing about gripping is that you're there. You're kind of like a person that's just helping every department you know? The camera wants to go higher, you figure it out. The camera wants to go on a platform, you figure it out. Actor needs a platform, you know. You're just constantly troubleshooting and fixing all these problems and it's very cool. I mean, it could be something as easy as making a wardrobe rack for wardrobe. But this industry is so fun and it's so awesome to be able to help everybody. And if you ever have any questions or if anybody needs anything, please reach out to me. I'm there. I answer every email. I actually have a team now that helps me; they send me the emails that I need to read and the ones that are just spam, but I'm here. Let me know.

Layne Marie: 38:33

That's great. Yeah. What's the best way for folks to contact you if they're looking for advice or recommendations for how they can get involved more in the Grip and Electric department specifically, or even in general?

Greg: 38:47

Well, you can always DM me on any of the social media platforms on@griprigs or griprigs@gmail.com. I'll definitely contact you back and we'll talk and we'll figure things out. I'll help you out. I've helped so many people and I love to do so. It's so fun to see all the people I've helped and they've moved on, they've done so many big things nowadays. It's really cool. That's what we should all be doing and we can keep growing and maybe they'll pass it on.

Layne Marie: 39:10

Yeah, the film industry is certainly an industry that you can grow in it, and you can grow in it in so many different ways, and it definitely feels really beautiful to have that growth with the folks around you. So for anyone thinking about breaking in, we probably need you.

Greg: 39:27

Yeah, we need you. We need you more than ever right now, so if you're looking to get in the industry, let us know.

Layne Marie: 39:33

Yeah we need you! Yes Greg out here selling it! I love it. Cool. Well, do you have any big future plans for yourself or for Grip Rigs that you wanna leave us with that we can look forward to?

Greg: 39:44

Oh yeah. I'm coming out with so much cool stuff. This trike is about to launch. I think it's gonna help so many people be able to get those moving shots creatively. I'm launching a new thing that I haven't really told anybody, but it's a base that's gonna be able to wheel your apple boxes around. It turns any apple box into a butt dolly so that camera operators can use it. I worked really hard on it because the hardest part about it was making the wheels completely silent. So these wheels are gonna be silent. They have precision bearing in both directions and you can put any apple box in any direction really fast. The thing is, when you're on set, and you're a cameraman, and you're about to shoot something and you gotta squat down, and you gotta move left and right, it's really hard. So you gotta figure out is there something out there for you? And there is some things out there for you already. There's like three different people that make these things called butt dollies. Those costs over$1000. They're great pieces of equipment, but what I think could be more beneficial is if you can go up and down fast so you can adjust the height really fast. And that's not what you have in the ones out there today. So I figured if I make one for an apple box, you can flip it in any direction and you're ready to go. And you know the store's getting bigger, every time that you need a new piece of equipment or anything, it's there. All these manufacturers are there, and they contact me and they let me know that they're about to launch something and we put it on there and we launch it. Like when they came up with the miniature C Stand that just launched, we were the first ones to get it out there. It's really fun to be able to help everybody in our industry. And that's what I'm doing day after day. So if you need anything, let me know and we'll get it going.

Layne Marie: 41:14

Love it. This episode of the Walkie Check is sponsored by Camera Ambassador, a one-stop shop carrying everything from cameras and lenses to grip trucks and production supplies. Their equipment roster includes high-end brands such as ARRI, RED, Cannon, Cook, Zeiss, O'Connor, SmallHD, Teradeck and more. They've also got you covered with specialty items such as anamorphic lenses, gimbals, and grip trucks. Founded in 2014 by Erica Duffy, Camera Ambassador is one of three equipment rental houses nationwide owned and operated by a woman. Providing excellent service with quality gear, Camera Ambassador now carries both of the newest RED cameras, the Kimodo and Raptor. Learn more about Camera Ambassador scholarship opportunities at cameraambassador.com. Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of The Walkie Check. Be sure to give us a like and follow on Instagram and Facebook@thewalkiecheck and@legacymariepictures. Special, special thanks to our executive producers Noisefloor LTD, and we look forward to the next episode.