As a kid, I had an adult-aged cousin who was working as a touring sound guy for bands so, in a way, I’d known about entertainment production and being a “roadie” most of my life. My mum probably still hasn’t forgiven him for this introduction to what would become my career.
In my teens, I chased the ballet dancer dream swapping school for correspondence and attending daily dance classes in London and Paris. But a knee injury and being tall both were marks against my success. At 18, looking backstage I saw people wearing black and rushing about making sure we were on stage every night on time and in costume. I figured that as I knew what it took to get on stage, maybe I could work backstage.
A job in a Youth Theatre as the inexperienced Stage Manager put me in front of a whole crew including the show rigger. He was intimidating and technically proficient and he made me look like an ass in front of the entire production team. Motivation is sometimes a kick in the butt, I enrolled at TAFE and got an apprenticeship with an industrial rigging company.
I installed elevator counterweights in lift shafts, built swing stages for window cleaners and erected microwave dishes on a gas rig. At night, I was working on every concert or show that came to town. However, I was only a Roadie with a Rigging Ticket.
With the 4-year score, I got a job with JANDS which, at the time, were the biggest touring production company in Australia. Any and every act that wanted to do a show in Australia used them for the rigging, audio and lighting. It was a pedigree that opened the door for me to five continents and touring technicians from production houses across the globe.
Four years later, Roadie-me moved overseas and knocked on doors. When you’re on the road, touring techs will say anytime you’re in town hit us up. If I had a dollar for every time that was said! But essentially, apart from getting working Visas, that is the nuts and bolts of it. Risk-taking and deep breaths are equal parts to having the adventure. Cold calling and turning up on doorsteps was the only way before mobiles and email addresses.
It was time for Rigger-me to step up and be the confident technician. Making informed choices about how to suspend something over the performer with the biggest brightest light show is a calculated engineering marvel to be part of. Creating lifting methods for flying a singer over an audience is only a small element of a show but crucial to the creative vision for their work. You need to be confident to take on this responsibility as it’s a serious game. Acting carefully and safely is critical and a cool head is only something that comes with time.
I have lived in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Berlin and even Las Vegas with this job. I have toured with Michael Jackson, Robbie Williams and Rammstein around the world. I have worked on over forty films with some amazing crew in incredible cities. I have had great luck in meeting some fantastic crew and talented technicians. Together we have installed speakers for nightclubs in Ibiza, thrown inflated beach balls at a Metallica concert and swept a few stages. To this day, I still do this job because I love to hear applause. A teeny portion is for me, my crew and their accomplishments.
In my 30 years working in the entertainment industry, 25 of those years rigging, I still have so much to learn. My current job in Israel has me teaching a lot of different skilled riggers to work on a TV show using a methodology I have established as best work practice. My next position is running an SFX rigging department which is a role I have not yet done. So we grow every day.
It’s not all about being up high or walking with no hands on a beam. That’s the glory for the young pups. Being the Rigger is a respected position in a crew, they have gathered skills that work alongside an engineer and generally feel they know more than the people who dream up the concept in an office. If you can get through the bravado and the tarnished battle scars of most riggers, it’s apparent they are the ones who shoulder the most responsibilities on a concert apart from a site manager.
Weather is our enemy outdoors, we constantly look to the sky as if reading the clouds will tell us what is coming. Indoors we push venues to their limit for what can be suspended from their roof.
For younger crew coming up, male or female, I say that this industry is not for some. It’s hard, you will lose sleep and you may get injured. Your family and friends will have events that you will not be able to attend.
It’s a different game to get into now although there are courses and certificates. Honestly though, if you have a good work attitude you’ll last longer than some. Remember, there are no stupid questions. Some people are threatened by inquiring minds. And if someone you work with cannot explain with sense and reason about the method – consider that they are also learning.
Get licensed, many different licences enable our job to be easier. A crane licence will make a rigger better understand the lifting of a load. A Work Platform licence will enable a rigger to access areas with less effort than climbing. Learn Rope Access – there are places only a climber can go.
Lastly, when you’re working with someone more experienced than you, write down three things you learn that day. And the next and the next. I was told this when I started and I still have that book. I still write in it even though it’s a ratty, dogeared mess now, but it’s my textbook on how to rig stuff.
It’s a diverse job and truthfully I have never been the girl over there, or that woman who does this job or the token female. I am pretty certain I’m a rigger.
