7 Extremely Weird Jobs On Movie Sets (That Are Crazy Important)

Making movies is often a strange gig. Movies reflect real life and create fantastical stories in a controlled environment. For big productions, this can mean literally hundreds and hundreds of people involved, some with specialized jobs that are extremely niche but completely vital to ensuring a smooth production and a flawless movie. These specialized roles are ones you’ve likely never thought about because they don’t exist outside the fun, creative, strange bubble of making movies and TV. But they do exist and they’re incredibly important.

If you’re a movie fan, then you might have seen this video about odd jobs on movie sets making the rounds last month:

Those jobs included

Clothing Animator
Food Stylist
Fake Food Artist
Contact Lens Designer
Bug Wrangler
Intimacy Coordinator
Blacksmith
Baby Wrangler

But there are so many more weird and unexpected jobs on a movie set than just those eight. Here are a few more of the strangest jobs you’ll find in movies.

1. Pyrotechnician

Stuff blows up in movies. Like, a lot of stuff. Cars. Buildings. Other objects. Someone needs to be in charge of all those explosions to orchestrate and execute them and, most importantly, to make sure everyone on set stays safe. That’s where pyrotechnicians come in. They do a lot more than just blow stuff up, though. As state and federally licensed experts, pyrotechnicians are also responsible for any sort of fire, flares or smoke in a scene, explosive weapons and fake bullets (known as squibs), or dangerous and destructive things on set, such as shattered glass in an action scene. They’re also the ones who train the cast and crew on safety, ensure all weapons are licensed and destructive props up to code, and generally make sure everyone is on the same page before shooting a scene in which widespread damage is possible. Sets will also sometimes utilize an armorer, or weapons master, which is similar to a pyrotechnician except they focus solely on weapons.

2. Bullwhip Trainer

When Catwoman smacks some bad guys around or Indiana Jones uses his whip as a weapon or to climb, it always looks incredibly cool. Every time you watch an action movie and the protagonist has to fight through a crowd of henchman to get to the main baddie, you know the final henchman boss will be wielding double knives or double whips – I don’t make the rules. But someone has to teach those actors how to use those whips so they look like badasses while avoiding injuring themselves or others. Enter bullwhip trainers. Bullwhip trainers are, as you’d expect, experts with a whip, and are often trained in other rarer forms of weaponry and combat, such as swordplay, archery or riding horses. As it’s a relatively rare skill and there are few master whipcrackers around, their expertise is sought after in Hollywood. In fact, the same man, Anthony De Longis, taught both Michelle Pfeiffer how to use the bullwhip for Catwoman and Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as well as a number of other movies. Here he is giving a crash course on whipcracking:

Now I want to learn.

3. Picture Car Coordinator

Where would Batman be without the Batmobile? Or Dean and Sam Winchester without Baby? Or literally everyone in Mad Max: Fury Road without their souped-up battle rigs? Nowhere. But they wouldn’t get there without picture car coordinators. They’re the people responsible for finding and modifying the vehicles needed for a movie or TV show, as well as acting as consultants to determine the appropriate kind of vehicle needed for that era or character in the first place. You know how you cringe whenever an expensive or rare car is destroyed in a movie crash? The picture car coordinator was the one who found that car. They’re also the ones who oversee painting and modifications, as well as any needed repairs. If a car needs to be altered, for example, to allow a camera rig to be hidden in the back but out of sight, the picture car coordinator and their team handle it. If a rusted-out classic car is found in a junkyard, they’re the ones responsible for restoring it. They’re also responsible for setting and handling the budget required for the maintenance and upkeep of the car, including shipment and fueling costs.

4. Drapesmaster

This is exactly what it sounds like. As part of the set decoration department, the drapesmaster on set is responsible for all things fabric-related in a movie that isn’t part of costuming. Curtains, carpets, rugs, pillows and blankets, upholstery on furniture or vehicle interiors of all kinds and blinds all fall under the set dressing domain of the drapesmaster. It’s a role that combines artistry with technical skill, as the drapesmaster is responsible for calculating the weight and particular drape and fold of a piece of cloth as well as overseeing the production and installation of them. They’re also masters of understanding how to set mood and tone with drapes and upholstery, as well as having a knowledge of history in order to know what fabrics, drapes and curtains were used during specific areas or in certain locations. It seems like an unimportant job, but the next time you watch a movie, pay attention to how much fabric and upholstery is in each scene and you’ll quickly realize just how important it is.

5. Focus Puller

Whenever we watch a movie and love the camerawork, we tend to give all the credit to the cinematographer. When a scene focuses, for example, on our protagonist only for the focus to shift to a background that reveals a person looming or shocking event unfolding behind them, it’s a memorable moment. But that’s not the cinematographer’s work you’re seeing. What you’re watching when you see those smooth shifts in focus is the work of the focus puller, also known as the first assistant cameraman or 1st AC. The focus puller does exactly that – maintains, or “pulls,” the focus of a shot. They’re responsible for getting the right lens for a shot and maintaining the correct focus distance settings as a camera’s subject moves around in the scene or the focus switches from foreground to background or from character to character, all without looking through the lens of the camera. The focus puller makes marks around the set so they know to change the focus whenever an actor crosses certain marks. It’s one of the most stressful and important jobs on set, as they must be able to change focus on a moving camera swiftly and if they make a mistake, entire takes can be ruined. As such, they work closely with the camera operator in rehearsals to ensure their shots are set up properly, marks are correct, and they can quickly pull the focus for certain tricky scenes.

6. Greensperson

If you’ve ever watched a scene featuring a lot of plants and greenery, say, one that takes place in a garden or forest, just know that every plant you see was carefully selected, maintained and cared for by a greensperson. More than just a mere gardener, they’re responsible for everything “green” in a movie: plants, flowers, trees, grass, shrubbery, etc., the natural materials used for landscaping such as sand, dirt, and gravel, and anything manmade that fakes these things, like styrofoam rocks or fake plants. It’s a difficult job to make a scene shot on a soundstage to look like a natural jungle, or to create a giant marijuana grow operation setting with fake plants, such as in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. All of that is down to the greensperson, who does everything from tending to the set nursery to grow plants from scratch, to transporting the plants, to returning them to various gardens or rehoming them if needed, to crafting realistic-looking vine draping, flower beds and groves of trees, to working with the camera crew to make sure lighting is correct for the natural setting. It’s one of the dirtiest and most physically demanding jobs on set, but absolutely vital for the success of any outdoor scenes being shot on a sound stage rather than on location.

7. Breakdown Artist

It might sound like “breakdown artist” is a term you’d use to describe your drama queen friend who always cries for attention, but no. The breakdown artist – also known as an ager or dyer – is an important part of the costume department. When an actor playing an 18th-century sailor stranded at sea must have a scene wearing the tattered remains of his uniform, or an actress playing a homeless woman must look like she’s lived in the grime of the streets for years, that’s where your breakdown artist is needed. Costumes like that aren’t exactly ones you can buy in a store – thus, the breakdown artist is responsible for the literal breakdown of a piece of costume or clothing in order to age it, weather it, and dirty it up to fit the scene. This can involve dying a piece of fabric, often in inventive ways, like using weak coffee to mimick sweat and dirt stains. It also involves manipulating and distressing the fabric to break it down and age it, such as tumbling it with a bunch of rough rocks or sandpapering to wear the fabric down quickly. At other times it involves painting or adding a patina, burning or ripping a piece of fabric, and otherwise manipulating textiles so that a brand-new piece of costuming looks like it’s been through years of wear and tear.