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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
Overall, the entire thing is BIG! 
