“My entire life has been about timing, I always seem to be in the right place when I need to be,” said Greagrey Waldrop, Transportation Coordinator for the hit HBO show “Entourage.”
Waldrop joined Local 399 in 1997 after a few years working in various motion picture industry positions. After joining the Teamsters, he felt a sense of camaraderie that had been lacking in jobs he had previously held.
“Prior to this I had never continued doing the same thing for very long, as I would easily grow bored,” he explained. “I was finally at home with a career when I joined the Teamsters. It was great to belong somewhere.”
In 2002, Waldrop worked on the feature “S.W.A.T.” where he met Tommy Rizzo, who introduced him to a new group of Teamsters, including Wayne Williams. Williams, the Coordinator for the feature “Coach Carter,” inspired Waldrop to continue pushing his career forward.
Through these new Teamster contacts, especially Mike Davis from the “Coach Carter” set, Waldrop landed a job during the first season of “Entourage” driving the camera truck. In season two he moved to the wardrobe trailer, and by the third season he was an alternating Captain. Waldrop become the only Captain for seasons five and six, and developed an efficient working relationship with his Co-Captain Greg Benedick.
This season, the seventh for “Entourage,” has seen Waldrop move into the Coordinating position, with Benedick as Captain and Jason Chamberlin the new Co-Captain. “We have a great crew,” explained Waldrop, “a family, if you will. They are my dream team.”
His Teamster crew keeps the hit show running like a “well-oiled machine.” Sometimes they visit three or four locations in a day, and have had to endure many sleepless nights. But, according to Waldrop, “they work their tails off and are always willing to go the extra step to keep things moving.”
The Transportation Department currently employs 32 Teamsters, although Waldrop and Benedick are the only Teamsters left from season one. “At the beginning none of us knew what to expect,” Waldrop said of his years on the “Entourage” set. “It’s great to have an opportunity to work on a show at the ground level and take the long journey upward. With hard work, any Teamster out there can push their career forward.”
