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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 Martin MAC 101 The Martin MAC 101 is a small, lightweight LED moving head wash light featuring an light output of 2200 lumens with a 13.5° beam angle or wider with the optional wide angle diffuser. It has a calibrated RGB color mixing system, linear electronic dimming and strobe effects such as pulse and random effects. It weighs 3.7 kg (8.1 lb) and consumes 125 watts (0.6 A @ 230V or 1.2 A @ 110V). Power can be daisy chained between fixtures using PowerCon cables, and it is available in an 8-unit flightcase. Martin Professional • 954.858.1800 (HQ); 818.859.1800 (CA); 702.597.3030 (NV) martin.com Mega-Lite Bright Stripe Mega-Lite’s Bright Stripe is an LED strip fixture that also works as a graphics display medium. Features include RGB color mixing, macros, dimmer and strobe, and it can be controlled via DMX. Either eight or 16 segments can be controlled at a time, allowing multiple units to be configured in a matrix. It has built -in programs and on-board controls accessible via a digital display. Three threaded mounting points allowing rigging using a C-clamp. It weighs five pounds and measures 39.75 inches by 2.06 inches by 3.75 inches. Mega Systems, Inc. • 866.460.6342 • megasystemsinc.com Niscon Concerto Niscon’s new Concerto series of variable speed concert hoists has been engineered with the support and assistance of R&M Materials Handling using a Stagemaker Concert Hoist body and adding a rotary limit switch, load cell and three encoders. The two sets of safety limits act to prevent accidental overtravel. The rotary switch is monitored for rotation using an encoder which also functions as the backup encoder. The third encoder is attached to the load wheel to ensure the chain has traveled to its exact position. The values from each encoder are constantly compared against the others for errors. Niscon Inc. 905.828.5779 nisconinc.com Prism Projection Reveal Studio Prism Projection’s new Reveal Studio is an LED light source designed for TV studios, theatre, corporate events and concerts, film production, special events and architecture. It has an efficacy of 30.5 lumens per watt and outputs 7600 lumens. It features TrueSource optical and color LED management technology, a cut-and-shape beam, auto focus from 20° to 70° and linear dimming. It has a Micro- Louver beam-shaping accessory and an extended color gamut using a five-color mixing process: red, green, blue, cyan and amber. It has a CRI above 92 with a CCT range from 2700K to 8000K. Prism Projection 641.594.3356 prismprojection.com Sapsis Rigging ProPlus Rescue System Sapsis Rigging’s ProPlus Rescue System is designed to work anywhere a fall hazard exists and allow for the safe and rapid assisted rescue of a victim. The company calls it the first such system designed for the entertainment industry, and it meets the requirements of OSHA regulations for assisted rescue. It comes with the lifting/lowering equipment, rescue pole with clips, carabiners, additional rope and a descent device as well as gloves and a T-shirt. It also includes its own carrying bag with Velcro straps for attachment to a truss, beam or catwalk. Sapsis Rigging • 215.228.0888 • sapsis-rigging.com
FEATURE 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 Loyalty on Trial The Case of XL Touring Video vs. John Wiseman John Wiseman, CEO and founder, Chaos Visual Productions By Bryan Campbell Phil Mercer, MD of XL Video’s Los Angeles office Sitting in the public gallery of the Los Angeles Superior Court, it is easy to see why the trial scene has been the trump card of dramatists for centuries. From the ancient Greeks to The Merchant of Venice to Twelve Angry Men to A Few Good Men, a good trial scene is hard to beat, and Los Angeles has seen some of the best. It’s hard to enter an L.A. courtroom without thinking that it holds the dark spirits of the Manson Family, the Hillside Strangler, OJ Simpson or the Black Dahlia. It’s also hard to avoid comparisons — the courtroom is smaller and less pristine than its counterpart on The Practice, and the lighting makes everyone look guilty. Civil, but Contentious plsn We are running late, and the threeman team for the plaintiff is wheeling a huge projection screen into place, trying for the best viewpoint for judge and jury. After three attempts, the screen still obscures the view of the public crowded into the gallery. Judging sightlines and focusing projectors is not their strong suit, an irony not lost on the industry veterans on hand to lend moral support. They would do it all differently, but this is not their show. The set design may lack luster, but even though this is a civil and not a criminal trial, we expect the script to be dynamite. In case we think this will be a trial by PowerPoint, a metal bookcase containing no fewer than 40 black three-ring binders of analog evidence sits within easy reach. This is a full jury trial, with discovery, depositions, jury selection and a defense team. Pre-trial legal costs for either side could buy you a good-sized lighting rig with some video thrown in. There is talk that this trial might go a month or more. In this town, murder cases have been wrapped up in half that time. That the trial is taking place at all means that back-room settlements, plea bargains and off-the-table deals have all failed. A High-Stakes Contest plsn Most cases reach a negotiated secret settlement long before a court date is set. Disputes rarely get this far for good reason. A trial by jury is only exciting for the onlookers. For the plaintiff and defendant, it has all the appeal of taking your life savings, business assets and your reputation, pushing them into the center of the poker table, and waiting for the final card to turn. For XL Touring Video and Chaos Visual Productions, the stakes are no less than their economic survival. Their internal practices and the characters of their executives will soon be laid bare. The plaintiff, Phil Mercer of XL Touring Video and defendant, John Wiseman of Chaos Visual Productions, dress rock ‘n’ roll formal (boots, jeans, dress shirt, crumpled jacket.) They stand out in a sea of suits and uniforms. At the heart of the XL Touring Video suit is the claim that the defendant, John Wiseman, now of Chaos Visual Productions, used company time and resources while he was still CEO and president of XLTV to set up a competing company, into which he siphoned tour business and clients. The Plaintiff’s Case plsn In a clipped monotone against a background of production stills and e- mails highlighted in yellow, the attorney for the plaintiff paints a picture of Wiseman as a man more concerned with his own business interests than those of his employer. The team for the plaintiff lays out the detailed timeline of Wiseman’s creation of Chaos in the months prior to his resignation from XLTV in November 2008. Strong on Hollywood elements, the case includes secret meetings with tour managers, lavish meals with video designers, an NBA basketball star and a billionaire angel investor. One jury member seems to be writing it down verbatim. It is alleged that Wiseman used an ex-XLTV chief financial officer to craft a business plan to pitch to investors. The plan included the acquisition of CW Productions (an automated lighting company) and the creation of a video company with the extremely unfortunate name of Double Cross Video. The financial projections show immediate revenue from touring acts, whom the plaintiff claims were persuaded by Wiseman to commit to the new entity he was forming while still CEO of XLTV. Additionally, claims were made that Wiseman approached XLTV employees with job offers, one of whom reported this to XLTV’s Belgiumbased owners. The plaintiff’s lawyer takes pains to explain the efforts and expertise it has taken to recover deleted e-mails from Wiseman’s laptop. Ironically some of the e-mails instructed the recipients to delete and destroy the incoming mail. An impressive client roster, including Beyonce, Keith Urban and Jay-Z, were alleged to have been illegally diverted from XLTV to Chaos. The suit claims, amongst other things, the loss of revenue from seven tours. An additional suit claims that Wiseman shared secret proprietary information about artists and their tour plans. The opening statements fell short of attaching a dollar amount to the allegations. By now the sight of all that “deleted” e-mail has everyone in the courtroom re-considering the long term effects of hitting the “send” button too hastily and the woeful misnaming of the delete command. Speaking for the Defense plsn After a brief recess, the attorney for the defense strikes a more folksy tone exploring the themes of loyalty in its various guises. Loyalty to employer, to coworker and to customers is examined. In a presentation more impassioned but less polished, the defense presents Wiseman as a man hired for the very qualities that XLTV so badly needed. A climbing graph chronicles the immediate sales success that Wiseman scored, taking XLTV from $3 million in U.S. revenue in 2004 to over $25 million by the end of his term in 2008. Wiseman also showed his stripes as a company man by cosigning lease guarantees to the tune of $2.8 million during his term as CEO. His industry and loyalty take XLTV from nowhere to the big time in four years. The point is made repeatedly that Wiseman was hired for his sales skills and his Rolodex (a circular rotating device containing white cards, for those born after 1990). In one of many colorful sports analogies, Wiseman is variously described as the MVP, team captain and, finally, the reluctant free agent. In a town obsessed by local teams, he is looking less like Manny Ramirez and more like Kobe Bryant. Stretching the sports metaphors to the limit, the defense attorney asks if the Cleveland Cavaliers should sue the Miami Heat if the loss of their star player gives them a bad season. (Let’s hope there are no Cleveland fans on the jury.) It seems that, in the rush to get the shows on the road, Wiseman’s threeyear management contract with stock options has expired, and may not be renewed. Wiseman is then, according to the defense, left with no choice but to look out for his own interests. The defense has deposed, or intends to bring as witnesses, a team of Wiseman’s longtime designer, director and producer friends, who will confirm that the concert industry is service- and personality-driven, and they like what Wiseman has given them for the past 25 years. They will follow him regardless of his employment status. In this game, that is the loyalty that is bankable, unlike that other loyalty that is merely expected. Customer service and tech support is everything — the rest is just gear in road cases. The defense concludes that XLTV neglected their star player, even trying to fire him seven months after he resigned, allegedly to avoid payment of stock options, and has a terminal case of “sour grapes.” They are trying to recover lost touring revenue through the legal system. The concert industry is characterized as a free market environment where no proprietary secret can live for long. The defense does not so much deny Wiseman’s actions as seek to explain them. It takes a “wouldn’t-you-dothe-same” tone. Not surprisingly, recovered “deleted” e-mails return to play a starring role in the defense strategy. The Gray Zone plsn Regardless of the outcome, this case will shine a light into the gray ar- This is a full jury trial, with discovery, depositions, jury selection and a defense team. Pre-trial legal costs for either side could buy you a good-sized lighting rig with some video thrown in. 18 PLSN NOVEMBER 2010
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