Primetime Emmy Awards

It is television’s biggest night, and Pete’s Big TVs was there for the first time to support The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards Show with host Seth Meyers. The high profile event, held annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, was broadcast live on NBC Aug. 25 from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. “The televised event required the high resolution video equipment that we specialize in,” said Pete’s Big TVs Vice President Guy Benjamin.

Pete’s Big TVs provided nearly 500 of the CS5 5mm LED tiles, two Barco HD-W26 projectors (double-stacked at the FOH) and their crew to fulfill the set requirements from Production Designer Keith Raywood. The 500 CS5 LED tiles were fashioned into five screens in the set. Two tracking screens mid-stage at stage left and stage right measured 20 ft high x 11 ft wide. Two “tower” screens at the proscenium were each 14 ft wide x 23.5 ft high. The fifth screen was a small curved screen center stage on a circular, elevated set piece, using 12.5ft wide by 6 ft high.

Although the CS5 LED video tiles are high resolution - each tile measures 96 pixels in a 480mm frame - Pete’s Big TVs wanted to ensure an even, smooth appearance on camera by stretching RP (rear projection) material across the screens. “The RP sheet stands about a quarter-inch downstage of the tiles, smoothing out the image by evenly distributing light across the area,” Benjamin said.

The screens made up a major part of the set, displaying video clips from the nominated TV shows, names of nominees and award categories, and close-ups through I-mag of the action onstage and in the audience. Screen producers were Raj Kapoor and Allan Wells. Art Director Kristen Merlino and Senior Video Control Guy Jones in the broadcast truck worked most directly with Pete’s Big TVs crew, which included Brent Jones, Rob Villalobos, Jody Lane and Charlie Vanwinkle.

Veteran TV producer and multiple Emmy Award winner Don Mischer along with Charlie Haykel of Don Mischer Productions served as executive producers of the telecast. DMP's Juliane Hare was co-executive producer and Glenn Weiss directed.

Said Benjamin, “The Nokia Theatre is a beautiful venue, home to many prestigious awards shows, and an experienced crew who helped us on our first Emmy show. Also it was a pleasure to work again with executive producer Don Mischer Productions. We’ve done three other shows with Don Mischer this year including the Comedy Awards, Million Second Quiz and the dedication ceremony for the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York, so they are familiar with our work."