American Grip Inc. was founded in 1984. We manufacture our own line of Lighting and Grip Equipment for the Motion Picture, Television and Still Industries. Since day 1, if you have a need for something custom or a special modification to an existing product to help you in doing your job, we can customize it or make something completely from scratch since we make it all in Sun Valley, California. We have in house, a Machine Shop with 3 CNC Machines, a Welding Department and a Sewing Department. Some of the past customized or custom items have been made for Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, MBS Equipment Co., Cinelease, Citation Film, Olden Lighting and Individual Grips and Gaffers…. that’s where some of our best ideas have come from… the people in the field. Custom Made items or Modified Items that we have made over the last 30 plus years are….
-Mombo Combo – Made for Dwight Campbell – Local 728 ( 1987* )
-12K Ear Extensions – Scott Floren – Local 80 ( 1993* )
-Center Head – Grip from Local 80 ( 2005* )
-Ladder Racks – Customer ( 1995* )
* These are approximate dates
These are just a few of the items that we custom made in the past that ended up becoming Industry Standards. Contact us for more information.
If you are interested about some of the history of American Grip Inc and how we started…. Please see below.
Where do I start…. I guess at the beginning. I’ll give you the short story as I don’t want to write a novel.
Hello, my name is Lance Snoke and I own American Grip Inc. I started my 1st company in 1975 called Motion Picture Sewing ( MPS ) at age 15. I sold Sand Bags, OpenEnd and Solid Frames ( Dots and Fingers and 18” x 24” thru 24” x 48” – Sun Arcs that were covered in Net, Imitation Silk and Commando Cloth. I also did 4’ x 4’, 6’ x 6’, 8’ x 8’ to 12’ x 12’….. to be continued.
Lance Snoke