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By DanDaley P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S THE BIZ The New Dynamics of Tour Insurance Last year, John Mayer’s Battle Studies tour was humming along globally. Chaos Visual Productions, winner of the 2010 Parnelli Award for Video Company of the Year, had assembled a complex 50-by-20-foot LED video wall composed of 45 Martin LC 2140 panels with four Barco 20k projectors that shot onto a custom screen, as well as a four-HD camera system to capture and play back the concert to the audiences. A Fateful Day biz The Battle Studies tour included 122 shows in 331 days and traveled through the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. But it was a stop at 30,000-seat concert venue located on the grounds of Hershey Park Stadium in Hershey, PA on July 25, 2010 that suddenly elevated a decision about insurance to be the most critical one made on the tour. That day, just as the wall was up and ready to go, the sky turned black and a massive rainstorm and high winds literally blew in and destroyed the $1-million video wall in a matter of seconds. The call went to Chaos’ insurance carrier, Take1. Adjusters flew in and got the show back on the road, literally, replacing the damaged equipment. This is a scenario that might have seemed extreme at the time, but in the wake of Mississippi River flooding in May, a lethal tornado outbreak in the Southeast in April, the March earthquake/ tsunami/nuclear reactor disaster in Japan, and a devastating earthquake in New Zealand last year, natural disasters seem to be on the rise, regardless of your feelings on global warming. And, unfortunately, these catastrophes come at a time when the entertainment industry remains in a bit of a revenue slump, with music touring down 15 percent in North America last year, the second down year in a row, as per Pollstar. A Unique Business biz I had a chat with Scott Carroll, executive vice president and program manager at Take1 Insurance, which is the entertainment-industry specialist division of insurer U.S. Risk. The first thing that emerges is that the entertainment business is unique enough to warrant a highly specialized insurance response. In other words, the multi-city tour, new club venue or theatrical production some are about to embark on isn’t the kind of thing you can tack on as a rider to your Allstate homeowner’s insurance, though that kind of underinsurance is rampant when the underwriter doesn’t know enough about the fine points of those endeavors. Reviewing all the sectors that Take1 covers, from underwriting film and television production, companies, DICE (Documentary, Infomercial, Commercial, Educational) productions, touring, concert/ playhouse venues, concert promotion and specialty rental operations focused on audio, visual, lighting, sound, grip, and production, Carroll makes it clear that whoever is insuring these kinds of activities and entities needs to know a little about what they entail. More insurance companies are entering specialty markets like these, in part because they’re also feeling the pinch of the recession and are seeking new markets. That has an upside and a downside. Those paying the insurance premiums are benefiting from added competition, but not every insurer is necessarily familiar with the ins and outs of show biz. “We’re seeing a slowdown in insureds across the board, in all the entertainment sectors that we underwrite,” says Carroll, attributing that to businesses closures and to other businesses trying to reduce costs by self-insuring themselves (essentially relying on their own assets to cover any damage or liability claims). That might actually work for some smaller companies, but any service provider that wants to work in conventional halls, arenas and hotels will generally be required by law and regulation (and, in some instances, by union contracts) to be able to show proof of minimum liability insurance and workman’s compensation coverage. Keeping Costs Down biz Carroll says that he and other insurance companies have had to become more competitive on rates during the recession. “In a recession, people still want their entertainment, and concerts and shows are a big part of that,” he says. “There’s more and more competition out there to underwrite the bigger shows, the ones that are selling tickets, so promoters and service providers are benefiting from that.” Also helping hold down rates is the fact that Live Nation and AEG Live have consolidated a larger percentage of the concert touring business, and they can apply their pricing power to insurance as well. To differentiate his company from the increased competition, Take1 has developed a more comprehensive insurance package that’s tailored to live event production, and he cites the Battle Studies incident to back up assertions that the servicing of claims is equally top-of-the-line. Features of the policies include that it automatically applies everywhere in the world, without the need for additional riders or endorsements; it eliminates co-insurance, thus protecting 100 percent of the insured value of the equipment covered; it provides automatic replacement cost valuation; it allows for separate limits in key individual coverage areas like owned equipment, equipment rented from others, equipment in the insured’s Care Custody and Control (CCC), and equipment in transit; it offers flood coverage for equipment in transit; and offers blanket limits that eliminate the need for clients to itemize each and every cable and LED panel. Insurers have some advantages, though, too. For instance, they can track the success of various artists and tours using a variety of reporting sources, including Pollstar and Billboard, targeting the most profitable ones. Insurance rates and premiums for shows and tours are calculated, Carroll explains, based on a projected headcount, which itself is often based on past performances. The laws of supply and demand apply: tours and venues that consistently do well at the box office get more, and more competitive, rate bids while more marginal clients may have fewer carrier choices and higher insurance premiums. Learning from the Past biz Another factor that’s helped make liability coverage more accessible and affordable for the entertainment industry in general has been better self-policing of regulatory compliance and more sophisticated risk management by venues. “They’ve gotten much better at having the proper barricading, better mosh pit security, traffic flow, credentialing,” he says, singling out Lollapalooza for especially improved risk-management skills. “The entities that can do well with their insurance rates are the ones that engage risk management professionals and listen to them.” The Station nightclub tragedy in 2003 was a wakeup call and a turning point for the concert touring business and the insurance industry that covers it, Carroll agrees. “People have become much more vigilant in the wake of that,” he says. The bottom line is, take advantage of some of the pricing dynamics in the insurance market at the moment, but do it with companies and brokers that have an actual understanding of what you do for a living. E-mail Dan Daley risk-free at ddaley@ plsn.com. 2011 JUNE PLSN 47
FEEDING THE MACHINES P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S Do You Know Your State? By BradSchiller Automated Lighting Programmers must be aware of many concepts when programming a show. One of the most important concepts with any automated lighting console is known as tracking. I have written many articles and even devoted a chapter in my book (The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook) to explain this concept, as it is essential that programmers completely grasp the tracking idea. Once tracking is understood, the ability of the programmer grows tenfold. However, there is another concept that goes hand-in-hand with tracking known as state. A Little Background Please ftm In order to fully understand the idea of state, we must first look back at tracking. Tracking on an automated lighting console simply means that the cues you write only store the changes you have made for your fixtures and not ALL parameters of all fixtures. Data that is not changed from one cue to the next will remain the same, since no new values are present. This is where the tracking comes from. In Figure 1, you can see that fixtures 3 and 4 have no data recorded within Cue 2. So their current value from Cue 1 will track into Cue 2. In Cue 3, they each get a new value and the previous values are no longer tracked. So What About the State? ftm Lets continue to look at Cue 2. The actual cue only contains data for fixtures 1 and 2, so this is the cue data. However, Cue 2 on stage looks much different than just fixtures 1 and 2. Due to the result of tracking, Cue 2 also results in fixtures 3 and 4 doing something. The state of Cue 2 is the data recorded within Cue 2 plus the results of data tracking into this cue. It is vital that programmers understand the difference between Cue 2 and the state of Cue 2. Have a look at Figure 2. Now you can see the difference between the state of Cue 2 and the recorded values within Cue 2, because I have displayed the tracking values in blue-colored text. Not On My Console ftm You might be asking yourself why you cannot find a mention of the word “state”  in the user manual for your console of choice. Well, this is because the terminology is different on different consoles, but the concept is there; I assure you. Some consoles simply refer to state as tracked values, status, or resulting values. In addition, most consoles will display the tracked values (state) in a specific color within the screens. As always, it is important to read your user manual to determine how your console refers to state. Some consoles even let you toggle on and off the viewing of the state of a cue. I Understand; Now What? ftm With an understanding of the concept of state, there are many tools that an automated lighting programmer can put to use. First and foremost, it is because of the state of a cue that it appears as it does on stage. So if you play a cue and it does not appear as you expect, you should ask yourself if this is due to the state of the cue. For example, imagine you record Cue 5 with all fixtures in a particular gobo and no color. Then you play the cue back and see that the gobo looks good, but it is a green color. You should be able to understand that this is due to the state of Cue 5. You more than likely did not record a color, thus the green color has tracked in from a previous cue. You can quickly solve this by adding in a white color value for your fixtures in Cue 5. When you are editing cues, you might open or load a cue to view it on stage. If you simply view Cue 2 from Figure 2, then you will only see fixtures 1 and 3. If you view the state of Cue 2, then you will see fixtures 1-4. Most consoles have a method to view or load a cue for editing. Usually there will be an option or selection that you can choose to either load the cue normally, or load the state of the cue. By loading the state of the cue, you get what it actually looks like on stage instead of only what has changed within that particular cue. The decision as to when to load the state versus the cue is one that you will have to make on a case-by-case basis. The Power of Copying State ftm One of my favorite uses of state is to copy values or cues using state. In Figure 3, I have shown the difference of copying Cue 2 to Cue 4 with and without state. When Cue 2 is simply copied to Cue 4 (without state) then Cue 4 looks nothing like Cue 2. This is because values from Cue 3 have tracked into Cue 4. However, if Cue 2 is copied to Cue 4 with state, then it will look identical on stage to when Cue 2 was first played. I find copying with state an essential tool when working on any production. Often an LD will ask for a cue to be repeated later in the list. I may or may not remember how I built the original cue, but it does not really matter. As long as I copy the original cue using state, then I know that my copy will appear exactly as the original. Keeping the Peace with State ftm Most tracking consoles also contain a function that allows programmers to record a change to a cue, insert a cue, or delete a cue without affecting the state of the next cue. This is often known as “cue only” or “track forwards off.” Figure 4 shows the insertion of a Cue 2.5 where the values of Cue 3 shown in red are the result of tracking before the insertion of Cue 2.5. If Cue 2.5 is inserted between Cue 2 and 3, then Cue 3 would track the values from Cue 2.5 instead of Cue 2 and look very different. However, by using “cue only” to record Cue 2.5, then the console automatically took the results of Cue 1 and 2 tracking into Cue 3 and hard-coded this information into Cue 3. This way Cue 2.5’s changes only affect Cue 2.5 and do not disrupt the tracking information that existed before Cue 2.5. The state of Cue 3 remains unchanged by the insertion of Cue 2.5 By using the concept of “cue only” or “track forwards off” you can safely make changes within your cuelist without disrupting the previously built cues. For instance, if you suddenly were to delete Cue 1, then the rest of your cuelist will be different, as certain values would have nothing to track from. However, if you activate the cue only function on your desk as you delete Cue 1, then the tracked information will become part of Cue 2 and the list will not be affected by the deletion. Put Your State to Work for You ftm The power of state within your cues and programming procedures can save you hours of work. By understanding the differences of a cue with and without state and by using the tools of your console, you can easily view, record, extract, copy and delete data without making huge changes to the look of your show. As you learn the state related functions of your console, you can apply these tools to increase your programming speed and efficiency. Make a statement to Brad Schiller at bschiller@ plsn.com Spot 1 Spot 2 Spot 3 Spot 4 Cue 1 100% 0% 100% 0% Cue 2 50% 100% Cue 3 0% 75% 100% Figure #1: Four fixtures Spot 1 Spot 2 Spot 3 Spot 4 Cue 1 75% 100% 100% 50% Cue 2 100% 100% 50% 50% Cue 3 100% 100% 50% 100% Figure #2: The cue data is black. The state of the fixtures that have no new (black) cue changes is visible in blue. Spot 1 Spot 2 Spot 3 Spot 4 Cue 1 Blue Green Blue Red Cue 2 Green Green Red Red Cue 3 Green Amber Red Blue Cue 4 w/o state Green Amber Red Blue Cue 4 w/ state Green Green Red Red Figure #3: The power of copying state. When Cue 2 is copied with state to Cue 4, the values for Cue 2 and Cue 4 match. When Cue 2 is simply copied without state to Cue 4, values from Cue 3 track into the look on stage. Spot 1 Spot 2 Spot 3 Spot 4 Cue 1 Blue Green Blue Red Cue 2 Green Green Red Red Cue 2.5 Orange Orange Orange Orange Cue 3 Green Amber Red Blue Figure #4: By using “cue only” to record Cue 2.5, the changes from Cue 2.5 don’t track into Cue 3 from Cue 2. 48 PLSN JUNE 2011
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Page 9 and 10: NEWS P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T
Page 11 and 12: NEWS P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T
Page 13: INTERNATIONAL NEWS P R O J E C T I
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Page 18 and 19: P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S
Page 20 and 21: P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S
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Page 35 and 36: COMPANY 411 P R O J E C T I O N L I
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