PLSN: Epic Production Technologies, once a major North American provider of concert and theatrical lighting and staging for Billy Joel, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Green Day, The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera, appears to have sharply scaled back its operations. Press reports noted layoffs at company locations in Winnipeg and Burnaby Canada and in Oxnard, CA. Senior executives including Marc Raymond, Ted Fowler and Brian Konechny are also reportedly no longer working for the company.
2 comments:
Well that just doesn't sound good at all. This is a company in big trouble- struggling to hang on to business. And it sounds like this all came about due to bad investment choices some time ago, and then not being able to sustain those choices into the future. It sounds like this company may also be struggling for contracts- many of the things they have listed are older shows that may not be providing a lot of funding anymore. I wish them luck.
The last item on the "News" tab for Epic is from September of last year. And it was in Calgary. Not Vegas, not L.A., not even Vancouver. Judging from that (which may be unfair, but it is their own website, so if even they think they haven't done anything worth mentioning in the last 6 months, then who would?), this scale back was inevitable. It turns out 2008 was probably not the optimal time to attempt a large scale, multinational merger in almost any industry, and certainly not excluding entertainment. I'm sure this is just my anti-corporate colors flying again, but I guess I think this is a good example of how bigger isn't necessarily better. It seems to me that many of the examples of success in our industry are of smaller companies doing big things. Hard to tell from this little article and their website, but I do wonder if the individual companies would have had an easier time weathering the economic crisis.
Post a Comment