Mobile Camera Platform Operator Lifetime Achievement Award Mike Moad My story is not your typical one. I didn’t grow up with visions of making films; I grew up in Nampa, Idaho, a small town of maybe 20,000. We would go to movies and get into the fantasy of the picture to escape our reality for a bit. Never did I realize how many people it took to make a film. In 1980, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to be a P.A. on a film being shot around Boise. I thought I would do it for a story I could tell later, so I showed up for a couple of days work. Alan Blomquist was the key grip and he told me that he and the gaffer flipped a coin and he won. He was the one who taught me how to be a grip, hired me several more times and basically started my career. Soon after, I decided I wanted to be that guy pushing the dolly. I started asking the operators about what to do and they helped me. They were the ones that taught me how to do the job correctly and actually gave me a career. I believe I’ve worked on near 100 feature films. I would like to thank all the people I’ve worked with along the way. I think the biggest thanks goes to my wife, Catherine, and my daughters, Osana, Amaia, and Aisea. They are the ones that would give me a hug and a kiss and allow me to go out and do the job that I love.
Courtesy of Mike Moad
Lifetime Achievement Awards 2017
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