Overall, the entire thing is BIG!
Top Gaffer Tom Gates summed up what it's like working on HBO's mega hit television series Game of Thrones when he stopped by the Panalux UK headquarters earlier this year. Since Season 1 shot in 2010, Tom has been a mainstay on Game of Thrones, a nearly year-round job spanning more than five international shooting locations and six stages at the Titanic Studios in Belfast.
Tom is unquestionably one of the most successful Gaffers to come out of the UK. His work includes high-end TV Drama and film productions: Bridget Jones's Diary, 51st State, Your Highness, The Night Manager, The Jacket, Saving Mr. Banks and the list goes on.
Having gaffered for nearly 30 years, Tom has weathered the ebb and flow of TV and film production in the UK. He is known far and wide for his love for his work, moving from job to job all year long without downtime or holiday.
When we sat down, we wanted to know how the UK entertainment industry has evolved over the course of his career, what he still loves about work, some of his fondest professional memories, and of course his experience working on GoT. An excerpt of our conversation is below:
PANALUX: LET'S START WITH GAME OF THRONES. WHAT A MASSIVE PRODUCTION! TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE ON SUCH A PROMINENT SERIES.
TOM GATES: It's like five movies in one honestly! It's six to eight weeks of prep and then seven months of filming. We have two main units. We normally shoot for 22 weeks and then there is another full-blown unit [headed up by Gaffer Mark Rocky Evans].
Everything about it is just huge! There are five DoPs, whereas most productions only have one. Plus there are 1,200 other people working on this one show. That gives you an idea of the size of production.
THAT'S MASSIVE. HOW MANY FILMING LOCATIONS ARE THERE?
GATES: There are six stages all [in the Titanic Studios] in Belfast, lots of castles and locations built all over Northern Ireland Winterfell castle and Castle Black are in Northern Ireland King's Landing is also filmed in Northern Ireland, and the other unit shoots in Spain, Croatia, Morocco, Malta, and Iceland
Some years there have been new locations but normally there are about 20 locations in total.
THAT'S A LOT. YOUR CREW MUST BE REALLY GOOD.
GATES: My unit shoots everything in Northern Ireland and so far I've always used local crew they are fantastic! They're really, really good. I have an excellent crew around me their jobs are hard. Mine is easy! I just turn up to set and do what I'm told.
I've got two really good Rigging Gaffers Bret McCrum, Gareth Hetherington a great HOD Rigger Hugo Wilkinson and an excellent Best Boy Ger O'Hagan in charge of me and everything I do!
IN TERMS OF PANALUX, YOU STARTED OUT AS AN ELECTRICIAN AT LEE LIGHTING BACK IN THE DAY. YOU MUST SEE SOME FAMILIAR FACES TODAY.
GATES: I started in Lee Lighting in 1976 as an Electrician. I worked on all of the films at Lee Lighting back then. But this is my first job with Panalux. I have known [Panalux Sales Director, TV Drama] Sinead for many, many years, and a few others who I met beforehand.
For GoT, [Panalux Group Technical Director] Chris Millard and [Panalux Technical Manager] Jim Algar were heavily involved in all the technical aspects of the job, which, at some points, were tricky. And [Panalux Manchester General Manager] Colin Smart and [Panalux Account Manager, Film and Drama] Laura Thompson were an enormous help from the beginning of the job with logistics and planning.
The Panalux team is very good. I'm quite old fashioned and I tend to stick to old lighting. At Panalux, I've been introduced to a whole new world of LED lighting! I'm going through the entire process of learning the new LEDs I'm trying to convert slowly. But I'll get there!
Panalux have a lot of lights. There are a lot of different ways to light a set and get roughly the same effect a 10k is a 10k. I'm old school and am used to what I'm used to. But with HBO, we've had to be careful about the production footprint and we ended up incorporating quite a lot of LED stuff last year.
[Panalux kit] worked throughout the whole year. We didn't have hardly any replacements for the entire year! What I appreciate the most is that there is no ego at Panalux. Egos are a pain.
YOU'VE WORKED WITH SINEAD FOR A LONG TIME, WHAT FORMS THE BASIS OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP?
GATES: We have a complete circle of trust. Sinead is smart and accommodating. We talk and always work it out. In fact, we spend all year talking and working it out! It's up to me, Sinead and [HBO producer] Lisa McAtackney to keep everyone happy.
AND WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK FOR HBO?
GATES: I would be happy to work for HBO forever! They are a fabulous company to work for, probably the best. I have a long association with the same company and the same people.
Here's an example: Just before Christmas, an HBO producer asked me if there was any way to make my life easier! That is unusual.
Producers, especially these producers, have to deal with so many things. Me and lighting is just one of those things. I'm always humble of that fact.
Here's another example: For the long night shoots, one of the producers are always there all night. That's unusual.
TAKING IT BACK A LITTLE BIT, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR CHANGES YOU'VE WITNESSED IN OUR INDUSTRY SINCE YOU STARTED?
GATES: It is slightly different now than when we were starting out. GoT is evidence of that change. It was more of a social thing before; there were fewer people and a lot less money. Today, there seem to be so many people I've never met before and I've done this my whole life.
IN LIGHT OF THESE EVOLUTIONS, HAS YOUR LOVE FOR THE JOB CHANGED AT ALL O
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 23rd, JULY, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), stitched 11.57 billion one-to-one addressable advertisem...
23/07/2026
Quickly creates reverse reverb effects
Low End Candy have recently released a new plug-in that offers a quick and simple way to create reverse reverb effect...
23/07/2026
New engines, resonators, effects & more
Expressive E's versatile soft synth has just been treated to an update that greatly expands its sonic range. Noi...
23/07/2026
SGL Carbon has further expanded its photovoltaic capacity at its Ort im Innkreis site in Austria. With the commissioning of new PV carports, the sites solar sys...
23/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents new software for three-phase power analysis on MXO seri...
23/07/2026
In our latest blog, Laura Rognoni explores how the launch of Play Snooker reflects a wider shift in sports economics - from monetising peak broadcast audiences ...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Partner to Advance Digi...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
New Samsung Galaxy Foldable range available now to pre-order on Sky Mobile
Sky Mobile, the award-winning network voted this year by Expe...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
Jason Statham leads Sky Original action thriller MUTINY in explosive new trailerTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy optio...
23/07/2026
Wuppertal July 23, 2026
Riedel Implements RefCam and Easy5G for the First Time...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
High-end analogue channel strip boasts plug-in recall
Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a b...
21/07/2026
Relies on same DSP as plug-in range
Musik Hack's line-up has been influenced heavily by founder Stan Greene's work as a mixing engineer, and their M...
21/07/2026
Official collaboration with boutique builder Dirty Boy Pedals
Warm Audio have just announced the launch of a new guitar pedal range created in collaboration...
21/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases broad range of EMC test solutions at EMC SIPI 2026 in ...
21/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and NIFT Partner to Build Color Management Skills for India's...
21/07/2026
Harmonics cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform and Pearl Remote OLTs Enable Flexible PON Migration, While SeaStar Optical Node Powers Cost-Effective Multi-Gigabit...
21/07/2026
160 hours of Irish storytelling for 2026
KIN and The Walsh Sisters return
RT has today unveiled its most ambitious drama slate ever, with a record-breakin...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
19/07/2026
Channel strip plug-in gets upgraded
Acustica Audio's vintage-inspired channel strip plug-in has just been treated to an update that expands its tonal ra...
18/07/2026
Captures nine sought-after Fender amps
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX expansion captures a selection of nine rare Brown Panel' Fender amps that were ...
18/07/2026
Latest batch ships alongside firmware update
Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools' debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, a...
17/07/2026
Full engine access with reduced soundset
Sonuscore have steadily been introducing a selection of reduced-cost and free versions of their flagship products r...
17/07/2026
Two new special-edition models revealed
Over the past week, Arturia have launched special-edition versions of both their premium MIDI controller and stage p...
17/07/2026
Original founder now back at the helm
In a message posted on his personal social media accounts, Dirk Ulrich has announced that both Plugin Alliance and Bra...
17/07/2026
From intimate acoustic settings to large-scale festival stages, her focus has remained constant: preserving the true natural voice of the violin in every perfor...
17/07/2026
New and returning series, live festival broadcasts, powerful documentaries and major sporting moments headline RT Radio 1's summer schedule
RT Radio 1 is...
17/07/2026
Up For The Match - Live From Croke Park this Saturday at 8pm on RT One and RT ...
Overall, the entire thing is BIG! 
