TBO.com: By all appearances, it was another hasty stump stop, with President Barack Obama arriving in Tampa before dawn, rousing a crowd at an Ybor City park and jetting off a mere three hours later.
Just don't describe Thursday's campaign event as hasty to John Scarelli.
The owner of Trade Specialists Productions in Orlando had been in town since Tuesday overseeing workers who were setting up stages, risers, barricades, decorations and the other components of a successful political appearance.
7 comments:
Crazy the amount of work and money go in to rallies. Glad these people get work and I know it just for a small period of time but work is work.
I am blown away by all the money that is spent for both candidates. 10s of thousands of dollars to set up small rallies is crazy to me. I just can not believe it. It does sounds interesting the logistical part of organizing all the different elements into one fluid event. Just think it is pretty crazy that whole thing, and I bet you could have the same interview from some one from Ohio and many other states as well.
The amount of money is pretty staggering, but remember that the location of the rally is most important to the organizer, followed by getting the perfect television shot. Whatever that means, campaigns seem willing to spend for it. Whatever happened to speaking in a school auditorium anymore?
I found it really interesting that these jobs only come into the company two days before and then they have to scramble to get the show up in time. I understand the concern for secrecy of the candidates' locations, but it's a ton of elements to bring together so quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if PRG has a set of trucks set up with all the platforming gear ready to fly out whenever the call comes in. Just wild.
I'm not very surprised how much time goes into making these events be the best they can be and as complete as possible, but I wasn't aware of the degree to hich every element is completed, for example making sure every flag is lit appropriately and the lighting and sound is perfect so that both the audience in real life as well as the audience on TV can both receive the highest quality result possible. I was surprised at the final cost of each of these locations' setups
Event planning for campaigns is an incredibly crazy industry with more factors than some events- most notably security. You have to add that to the balance of equipment you need to provide and the order in which you do things. Oh, and with only two days to do it you better not make any mistakes- there's no time to fix them. Not to mention that your work is probably seen on national television. There's just so many factors happening so quickly, and budgets are tight. Its not like the campaigns give you an unlimited account- they are EXTREMELY tight on their money, so you have to take that into account as well.
Filling a request like this for a company like PRG may be under-the-gun and rushed with a 2-day lead time but the company is organized in such a way that all their gear is organized and inventoried very specifically. They have a department just for rentals at most locations with 2-3 people managing the inventory, and even though it's not nearly as easy as "hey, let's role that trailer out and go" (because they gig is never the same making that nearly impossible to predict) they can fill a request in less than 48 hrs no problem. I'd be willing to bet that at least half the time is spent with the bid in the office and circulating for approval before the guys in the warehouse even see it.
It doesn't really surprise me at all that it is such a short time schedule for these things. Exhibit and event planning such as this have a significantly shorter span than anything that we are used to working with in theatre. They are generally much more organized in their approach to it, as Joe said with PRG. It doesn't take them as long for some of that kind of stuff because a lot of what they need is pulled from stock somewhere. When there is custom fabricated things, that's when the bill really starts racking up.
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