How do you become a motion picture armorer/ weapon safety officer?

[robstyle]

Short and simple, start your own company and get your name out there.

Getting an entertainment industry gig with weapons / Pyro fx without years of contacts and prior experience under the umbrella of an established name would be like hitting the powerball lottery. I know a few independent armorers that got their start as a specialist of an Era and/or specific military / LEO experience that was imperative to a production. End of the day its a niche field that's clicky, everyone knows everyone or is a phone call away. It's a brick wall without those years of experience or umbrella.

In regards to replica weapons, it's not uncommon for a prop person to have a cache on hand. That encompasses functional replicas, rubber and hard castings, various replica rifles, shotguns, smg's, pistols... At one point I had over one thousand in my kit. Needless to say a couple of the major armorers in Hollywood started out as prop people. Consider that with starting your own company.

 

[swgeek]

My recommendation would be to contact IATSE in your area and see what local covers armourers, and then get in touch with them.

 

[Pilum Murialis]

As someone who has family in the industry and being on set whilst they do armoury jobs, having the right connections is what matters most of all, having the knowledge at hand already is a bonus of course, since you have knowledge that will take you far, but you will have to start out as an assistant with a professional on sets, they will observe how your skill set is, what you can do and what you need help with, and you'll be on set at all times to watch how things go. From there you will want to make contacts with as much of the crew members in every department on set as well, that way you'll get hired more

 

[pm07]

Legitimate question, lots of veterans that would be ideal for this role. Thinking it might be a better option than other decisions that have been made. I would do it, I eat and breath this kind of stuff. As far as working on a film set, I have been on two while in the service, even had to pay for SAG dues for saying one word that cost more than I got paid. Trust me its not hard compared to some of the stuff I have done. I though maybe since prop masters have been known to work with armorers it would be worth the shot.

No lots of veterans would not be ideal for this role. A lot of veterans don't know squat about weapons other than what they learned in basic or yearly quals. .

 

[Riceball]

No lots of veterans would not be ideal for this role. A lot of veterans don't know squat about weapons other than what they learned in basic or yearly quals. .

I agree, not all veterans know that much about the usage and handling of weapons. If you add up all of the vets that are out there right now, only a relative handful will have served in combat arms. And, of those, only a fraction will have been infantry and have had a fair amount of time around weapons. Even then, your average grunt will have anywhere near the exposure and trigger time as someone in the spec ops community. This is because even grunts don't spend all of their time at the range, a lot of their time would be spent in classrooms taking various classes, not all of them having anything at all to do with closing and killing the enemy with your weapon. And at the lower ranks, they'll get tasked with misc. other duties like standing guard, picking up trash, painting rocks, and so on.

 

[squirrelstailor]

Robstyle is right on the money I think.
If you check out Tod's Workshop on youtube. He made the Witcher swords and has a video showing how many swords and different materials they need to be made off.
Also it would be worth checking out the videos about sword use on film as those experts explain why sword fighting is often so rubbish because they only have a very limited time to teach something to the actors.
As someone who has a fair amount of Health and Safety experience I would not hire you based on what you posted. I would be looking for a proven history of training others. Plus plans and procedures for weapon use on sets.
There was a documentary in the UK on Bodyguards and the thing that always stuck with me about firearm use was that they trained them until they made a mistake to hard wire just how dangerous firearms are.
Also film work would require travel and lots of it. People are talking about LA however you would be amazed how often a place is actually somewhere else or multiple places.