“No two days are the same,” says Maja Jensen of her role as a grip working across film and television in the UK. “One day I’m on a recce in a grotty toilet cubicle seeing if I can fit a slider between the loo and the sink - the next I might be hanging a 50ft techno crane over a cliff in Northern Scotland.”
Born in Denmark, Maja came to Britain in 2011 to study Film and Television at university and “after three years of studying the theory of film I wanted to get my hands dirty”. Having also obtained a master’s degree in film, she joined a ScreenSkills trainee programme with Grips Branch and has been working consistently ever since stepping up to grip in 2019.
Maja is in something of a unique position working as a grip. The role has traditionally been a male dominated one, with Maja well aware of the scarcity of women in her department. “I am currently finishing up working on my Level 3 Qualification and when finished, I will be the first ever female Level 3 grip”.
It’s a great achievement for Maja, is it one she thinks will herald some industry changes? “Change is hard. The industry has been around for many years and therefore has some deeply ingrained ideas and working patterns. These have shifted slightly over the years, but some prejudice and unconscious (and conscious) biases still exist.”
This has been apparent in some of the experiences Maja has had on productions. She explained: “I have been on shoots where the DOP refused to believe I was the grip; I have had my knowledge questioned many times; I have had people go over my head to my male trainee to ask what we should be doing. On a practical level, we face things like a lack of a bin in the toilets (if you know you know, if you don’t; ask me) or PPE not fitting correctly because it was designed for men.
“I have been called names, my abilities have been criticised, and I’ve been told that I should go back to the kitchen, but, as much as I do love baking, I am still here.”
Maja knows impact these behaviors have on those across the industry: “My life has not been greatly affected by these lower-level insults, but I do know some female colleagues, across all departments, who have experienced sexual harassment and assault so severe that some of them have had to leave the industry.”
Thankfully, she has noticed some positive changes across departments since she first joined the industry. “A lot has changed since I first started in the industry! I see female crew carving paths in departments that were exclusively male. The number of female grips has more than tripled since I started, and people seem to take better care of each other, and that gives me hope for the future.”
These welcome changes are another step in improving the screen industry for everyone working within it. Closer relationships between those working on different departments can only be a positive as, as Maja explains, “filmmaking is a collaborative art, so no department is completely stand-alone”. It’s certainly true for grips, a role that relies on working alongside “basically everyone! We work most closely with the camera department, specifically the Director of Photography (DOP) to facilitate their vision, but we also work with many other departments such as lighting, art dept, props - mostly through pooling resources and helping each other out when needed.”
And for those looking to follow in her footsteps – male or female – Maja is well positioned to share some tips: “Being a grip is a rewarding and exciting job that can take you all around the world but it takes time and hard work. Do your time, be nice, and be curious”.
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