During movie credits, there is always a 'best boy.' What exactly does a best boy do?

Answer 1

the best boy is the chief electricians assistant

Answer 2

In a film crew there are two kinds of best boy: best boy electric and best boy grip. In the simplest forms, they are assistants to their department heads, the gaffer and the key grip, respectively.

On films with very small crews, the electric (lighting) department often consists of only a gaffer, a best boy, and a few electricians. The grip department may include only a key grip, a best boy, and a few grips. On very large crews these numbers can hit up to 12 or 24 grips or electricians per department and include full time rigging crews and additional photography units, depending on the situation.

Best boys are responsible for the daily running of the lighting or grip department. This encompasses many responsibilities including hiring and scheduling of crew, the ordering and returning of lighting or grip equipment, workplace safety, timecards, expendables, loading production trucks, planning and implementing the lighting or rigging of locations and/or sound stages, coordinating rigging crews and additional photography units (if applicable), handling relations with the other production departments, overseeing the application of union rules (if applicable), and serving as the main daily representative of the department with the unit production manager and coordinator of the film.

The term "best boy" comes from the early studio days in which production crews were predominantly male. In modern productions, women serve in many of the different studio crafts. Female best boys are quite common, though they are still credited as "best boy".

As the gaffer is sometimes credited as the chief lighting technician, the best boy electric is sometimes credited as the assistant chief lighting technician.

Answer 3

I thought they made the tea! Aha, shows what I know!

Answer 4

Gets tea for everyone else.

Hope you get better soon george,those spots look nasty.

Answer 5

well thats obvious he ummmmmmmm .... well he does the best things silly..... makes the best tea.... wears the best clothes..... his ummmmmm ummmm best friends are the bestest...... and his sunday best is bester than anyone elses..... etc etc etc ...pffffft what a silly question.... i thought everyone knew that! duh !

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_boy