A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
Pat Sweeny
Patrick Sweeney
Pat Sweeney is a British gaffer. A late starter in the industry, Sweeney began his professional life as a motor mechanic. Sweeney entered the lighting department in 1997 when he joined Lee Lighting in Glasgow. Initially tasked with maintaining lighting trucks and generators, he soon worked on set, gradually rising from generator operator to electrician, best boy, and eventually to gaffer. His first break came by chance while working on Gregory's Two Girls, where he connected with Steve Kitchen, who offered him a best boy role in London. That collaboration became a long-standing professional relationship, spanning over 20 feature films. Throughout his career, Sweeney worked on various projects, bringing his technical skill and creative vision to each one. Notable among his credits is War Machine, shot in Abu Dhabi with DP Dariusz Wolski ASC, where Sweeney worked alongside the UAE military in what he describes as a "boys' toys" shoot, complete with Black Hawk helicopter rides. Another standout experience was The Woman in Black with Tim Maurice-Jones, his first foray into horror and a masterclass in mood lighting using gas and candlelight. Sweeney embraced the evolution of digital cinematography, seeing digital cameras as a helpful tool that enables real-time feedback and adjustment. Yet, he remains grounded in the traditional skills of lighting, as evidenced by the creative challenges he's tackled, such as simulating daylight for a scene in The Theory of Everything at Lancaster House, where he built a 120-foot blackout tent to control light and avoid interference from natural sunlight precisely. Known for his leadership, Sweeney likens managing a lighting crew to coaching a football team—putting the right people in the right roles, whether on the floor, in rigging, or keeping generators running. He also takes pride in mentoring upcoming talent, giving opportunities to crew members like Jonny Franklin, who has since become a gaffer.
Best Boy Electric:
2004 Piccadilly Jim
2005 Man to Man
Electrician:
1998 Postmortem
2001 Large
2004 Piccadilly Jim
2005 Man to Man
Gaffer:
1998 Postmortem
2001 Large
2001 Last Legs
2002 Cowboys and Indians
2002 Solid Geometry
2004 Bride & Prejudice
2004 Piccadilly Jim
2005 Man to Man
2005 Revolver
2005 The Mistress of Spices
2006 Love and Other Disasters
2006 Penelope
2006 Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
2007 Broken Thread
2007 St Trinian's
2008 Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
2008 Easy Virtue
2008 The 39 Steps
2008 The Deaths of Ian Stone
2009 Into the Storm
2009 The Boat That Rocked
2011 Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me
2011 Foster
2011 Swinging with the Finkels
2011 The Decoy Bride
2012 The Woman in Black
2013 Kick-Ass 2
2013 The Christmas Candle
2014 The Theory of Everything
2015 Bill
2015 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
2015 Woman in Gold
2016 Bastille Day
2016 The BFG
2017 The Mummy
2017 War Machine
2018 Avengers: Infinity War
2018 Holmes & Watson
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2018 Patient Zero
2019 Avengers: Endgame
2020 Dolittle
2021 Locked Down
2022 Morbius
2022 The 355
2023 Poison
2023 The Rat Catcher
2023 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
2024 Speak No Evil
2025 Nuremberg
2025 The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Generator Operator:
1998 Postmortem
1999 Gregory's Two Girls
2001 Large
2001 Last Legs
2001 Late Night Shopping
2001 Strictly Sinatra
2002 Cowboys and Indians
2002 Solid Geometry
2002 Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
2004 Bride & Prejudice
2004 Piccadilly Jim
2005 Man to Man
2005 Revolver
2005 The Mistress of Spices
2006 Love and Other Disasters
2006 Penelope
2006 Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
2007 Broken Thread
2007 St Trinian's
2008 Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
2008 Easy Virtue
2008 The 39 Steps
2008 The Deaths of Ian Stone
2009 Into the Storm
2009 The Boat That Rocked
2011 Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me
2011 Foster
2011 Swinging with the Finkels
2011 The Decoy Bride
2012 The Woman in Black
2013 Kick-Ass 2
2013 The Christmas Candle
2014 The Theory of Everything
2015 Bill
2015 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
2015 Woman in Gold
2016 Bastille Day
2016 The BFG
2017 The Mummy
2017 War Machine
2018 Avengers: Infinity War
2018 Holmes & Watson
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2018 Patient Zero
2019 Avengers: Endgame
2020 Dolittle
2021 Locked Down
2022 Morbius
2022 The 355
2023 Poison
2023 The Rat Catcher
2023 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
2024 Speak No Evil
2025 Nuremberg
2025 The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Rigging Gaffer:
1998 Postmortem
1999 Gregory's Two Girls
2001 Large
2001 Last Legs
2001 Late Night Shopping
2001 Strictly Sinatra
2002 Cowboys and Indians
2002 Solid Geometry
2002 Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
2003 Young Adam
2004 Bride & Prejudice
2004 Piccadilly Jim
2005 Man to Man
2005 Revolver
2005 The Mistress of Spices
2006 Love and Other Disasters
2006 Penelope
2006 Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
2007 Broken Thread
2007 St Trinian's
2008 Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
2008 Easy Virtue
2008 The 39 Steps
2008 The Deaths of Ian Stone
2009 Into the Storm
2009 The Boat That Rocked
2010 London Boulevard
2011 Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me
2011 Foster
2011 Swinging with the Finkels
2011 The Decoy Bride
2012 The Woman in Black
2013 Diana
2013 Kick-Ass 2
2013 The Christmas Candle
2014 Good People
2014 The Theory of Everything
2015 Bill
2015 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
2015 Woman in Gold
2016 Bastille Day
2016 The BFG
2017 The Mummy
2017 War Machine
2018 Avengers: Infinity War
2018 Holmes & Watson
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2018 Patient Zero
2019 Avengers: Endgame
2020 Dolittle
2021 Locked Down
2022 Morbius
2022 The 355
2023 Poison
2023 The Rat Catcher
2023 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
2024 Speak No Evil
2025 Nuremberg
2025 The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Electrician:
2004 Lawless
2004 Sea of Souls
Gaffer:
2004 Lawless
2004 Sea of Souls
2005 Bones
2010 The Deep
2011 Game of Thrones
2023 Citadel
2024 Disclaimer
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.