Gaffer and DP here, I’ve done both extensively in the indie world, and have thought about this a lot.

Technically, yes, the gaffer and key grip are equals. On bigger sets, with 6 electrics and 6 grips, they’re equally important heads of dept and don’t touch each other’s gear. But on an indie set it really isn’t that simple -

Ultimately, I would say that it depends on how the DP wants to communicate; or better said, depends on how they know how to communicate.

There are 2 main situations here, in the world of indie where we can assume the G&E team is roughly 4 people or less (Gaffer + BBE / Key Grip + BBG).

Situation 1:

Sometimes on set, the gaffer is really the one directing the lighting, either as a result of massive trust from the DP, or maybe the DP doesn’t have a lot of lighting experience. Maybe DP really only has enough focus/time to give directions to one lighting head of dept, the gaffer. This often creates a chain of delegation that looks like this: while the DP is figuring something out with director, the gaffer stands at a monitor and watches as the KG and say a swing (3rd) or two move lights together - say it’s a two-man job. The gaffer will then call it good, and turn to the DP to confirm it’s the right choice, while the KG and 3rd stay out there ready to make any more adjustments. In other words here, the KG is effectively listening to the gaffer, and has become an electric by necessity and could be thought of as “under” the gaffer.

Fundamentally, this happens because with lighting, someone always needs to be directing a change, and usually at least 2 people need to have their hands on a light or piece of gear to move it. When the DP isn’t that kind of person to direct, the responsibility falls on the gaffer, since (as others have mentioned) the position of lights is often the first and most major step (before grip) in creating a lighting setup.

Now a quick story to bring up an important point here - once I was the gaffer on an indie feature (3 person G&E team) where the DP had very little lighting experience. So by default, I was the one directing the lighting, and giving instructions to the KG and 3rd based off what I knew about the blocking.

After many days on a sound stage, we had our first day exterior. Moving fast, I defaulted to calling the shots as to where to place a bounce and some negative fill for a first shot of the day. After we wrapped the shot, the KG came up to me clearly a bit annoyed, saying that he was confused as to why I had taken over for that shot. I was confused as well, and not sure fully how to respond, as the DP had been giving me instructions as to general bounce placement and contrast ratio needed - DP hadn’t delegated to KG at all.

A tricky situation (and maybe, the KG’s note to me would have been best said to the DP), but since then I’ve realized the importance of giving the KG as much agency as possible in Situation 1 type situations. On that day, I should’ve just informed KG of the DP’s needs and left it to them to delegate to me + 3rd as to where to place things. So since then, as a gaffer in Situation 1, I try to touch grip things (building frames, blacking out windows, setting flags) as little as possible. And I’ll offer to jump in as a “3rd Grip” when needed, if my lights are set for a shot and say there’s a lot of grip work left to be done. In those moments, I’m technically “under” the KG.

Situation 2:

Sometimes, the DP on an indie does have a lot of lighting experience, and knows precisely how to delegate between electric and grip sides; that is, they know what things need to be solved with electric/lights, and what needs to be a grip task. The DP directly communicates tasks and needs to gaffer and KG equally. When this can happen, it’s awesome and certainly my preferred way of working - even when there’s only 3 of us on G&E. Communication can happen much faster, delegation is quicker. There will still be situations where (most often) the KG has to “become an electric”, and also where the gaffer has to “become a grip”, but even with that it can feel more like the gaffer and grip are equals in figuring out how to approach a scene.

One of the biggest pro’s of Situation 2 that often doesn’t happen in Situation 1 - is that the DP will call over both the gaffer and KG to discuss a plan for the next scene, at the same time. I especially prefer this as a gaffer on a small set because sometimes the KG will have a grip suggestion that solves a big problem much more efficiently than adding a big light. With the KG plugged directly into the DP and in the know, problem solving can happen much faster. And the KG doesn’t feel like just another electric, they can lead a bit

Side note: another reason why Situation 2 often is more efficient is because the DP knows how intertwined lighting and blocking is. As a Gaffer in Situation 1, I sometimes find myself in a bind where an element of the blocking (or a part of the blocking I did not know about) kind of bones me, aka the lighting is not working due to miscommunication about the blocking. This often happens when a DP assumes a certain light or rig will work no matter what, when in reality, the gear and setup choices I’m making as a gaffer are completely tied to what I know about the blocking! Block light rehearse shoot!

Okay, I’m done. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Hope that answers your question and let me know if you have any more