Movie professional from Co Tyrone tells students about his ‘gripping’ career
Tyrone man Donavan Gallagher has been talking about how he went from working in a video rental store in his home town of Cookstown to the production crew in Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2.
He recently shared his skills and passion for film production with the next generation of movie crew through Into Film's ScreenWorks, which is funded by Northern Ireland Screen.
This free career experience workshop series gives young people aged 14-19 unparalleled access to industry professionals across all five screen sectors - film, television, animation, gaming and visual effects.
“Working on Gladiator 2 was a once in a lifetime experience. The scope and spectacle of this film was truly awe-inspiring and it’s something I will never forget,” said Donavan, who travelled to Morocco and Malta last year to work as a grip on the camera crew for this major production starring Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal.
He told the young people at the ScreenWorks session how he came to be a grip, one of the film industry’s lesser-known professions.
After completing a degree in Media Studies at Ulster University in Coleraine in 2009, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do and later took a job in a video rental shop in Cookstown. He eventually took a job at Belfast City Airport working in the bar as he searched for other opportunities.
“I was so lucky as just then a trainee scheme with Northern Ireland Screen came up and there were a number of departments offering placements on Game of Thrones in 2014. I’d never heard of a grip before but I researched it and decided that’s what I really wanted to do,” he said.
Over the past ten years, he has honed his skills and has worked on The Northman, Overlord, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledor, Line of Duty, Succession and Blue Lights.
On the job, he learned about the role of the grip which involves helping to set up anything that the camera goes on whether that’s a tripod, dolly on a track, a crane or even rigging onto a car. Recently, he was setting up equipment on a boat between Rathlin and Ballycastle for Greg Davies’ sitcom The Cleaner.
ScreenWorks is run by educational film charity Into Film with workshops running in a various locations.