Wire Harness/Rig for Stunt Work

Is there a place that sells a harness and what not for wire stunt work, or is this usually made by a stunt supervisor? Playing with the idea of shooting a 60 second short featuring it just to get my feet wet with it. Google hasn't been helpful, but I may be wording it wrong.

Thanks.
 
In theatre work (where I spent 15 years), we had a strict policy regarding stunts and harnesses. If it requires a harness, hire a certified rigger. My guess is the reason you're having a difficult time finding the gear is because vendors do not market this stuff to the general public. And please, please, please do not substitute climbing harnesses for stunt harnesses. Two years ago a young woman fell to her death after her climbing harness failed while being used for aerial stunts. To make matters worse, this happened in a church during a church theatrical production which included flying actors.

One option is to find a local rigger and ask to intern under them, and once trained, you may be allowed to use the gear with the rigger supervising.

Is there a place that sells a harness and what not for wire stunt work, or is this usually made by a stunt supervisor? Playing with the idea of shooting a 60 second short featuring it just to get my feet wet with it. Google hasn't been helpful, but I may be wording it wrong.

Thanks.
 
Your best option is to hire someone familiar with and
experienced using the equipment. Very few will sell
rigging equipment to unqualified people because if
something goes wrong there is a very real possibility
that they will be sued. They will win, but it's expensive
to defend yourself in a law suit.

Are their any stunt associations in Dallas/Ft. Worth area?

I use Matt Sweeney Special Effects and Team Velocity
 
I've ordered Sweeny products before. I use one stunt group for many things, but they haven't don't much wire work before. The Texas Film Commision directory is a little cumbersome as well. They just switched to online only recently and most stuff isn't listed.

Any stunt stuff we did with a wore anyway would be pretty tame. No leaping off buildings or anything, just some hand to hand fighting that would be mostly impossible for anyone to do without.

Going to look at the Sweeny stuff again.

Thanks guys.
 
I know a grip/rigger who learned his cabling work back when he worked as one of those guys that climbs into really really tall trees and maintains them. I mean like redwoods and such. Another guy used to build out ropes courses.

Not sure how much of the former you have in Texas, but the latter you might be able to find. As great as it would be to have a stunt specialist, what you need is someone who can rig safety cables competently. That experience can come from other industries sometimes. ;)
 
These are the guys I'd trust for wire work. They have all their own equipment, stunt players, and stunt coordinators.

Their services don't come cheap. But, they are the best around.

http://www.stuntmen.com/

Even for my small fry production, I'm grilling people hard for certifications and licenses because I want qualified people for my actors.
 
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Is there a place that sells a harness and what not for wire stunt work, or is this usually made by a stunt supervisor? Playing with the idea of shooting a 60 second short featuring it just to get my feet wet with it. Google hasn't been helpful, but I may be wording it wrong.

Thanks.

Hey - I just want to add that doing stunts is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be DIY'ed too much without professional help and guidance.

I say this because I know a pro stunt-man who only had ONE thing unlatched and unsecured before the shot (he was being shot by a shotgun and pulled by a cable really hard to crash through a window) and he broke 4 ribs, and this was on a hit TV show on the Warner Bro's lot.

Just be careful, k?
 
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