Project Type
Live for Broadcast
BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen! is an annual network highlight, featuring musical performances, interviews, and games. The creative vision of John Viesta, Creative Director/Lighting Designer, Infinite Designs Inc, blended Las Vegas nostalgia with the Mid-Century modern style of Andy Cohen’s nightly talk show, "Watch What Happens Live!"
BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen! is produced by Bravo, and NBC Universal.
Project Name
BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen!
Design Criteria
This year, the network wanted to update the lighting to be slightly more modern. I wanted to juxtapose this with the retro classic styling of the scenery. I achieved this with large-faced direct-view fixtures and an extensive array surrounding the show portal. This framed the picture with a "string of pearls" and offered us versatility with bold color-changing ideas. The most significant addition was the new Claypaky Ultimos. They cut through the air in a composition that beautifully illuminates the negative space.
Project Description
BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen! is an annual network highlight featuring celebrity interviews, musical performances, games, and live entertainment. For the Las Vegas production, my creative vision blended the glamour and nostalgia of classic Vegas with the distinctive Mid-Century Modern aesthetic of Andy Cohen’s nightly talk show, Watch What Happens Live!, creating a larger-scale environment that felt both uniquely BravoCon and unmistakably WWHL.
Challenges and Solutions
BravoCon Live with Andy Cohen is an ambitious project, given its short load-in schedule and limited rehearsal time. We shoot five supersized episodes that need to be delivered to the network within days, leaving no time for reshoots, pickups, or extensive edits. We record the shows as if they are live events. This requires the lighting team to remain as fluid and flexible as possible. Without my amazing team, this project would not be possible.
Photo credit: Charles Sikes
Equipment
The lighting package was designed to support both the demands of a large-scale television production and the theatrical spectacle of Las Vegas.
Robe iFORTE and iFORTE LTX Profiles formed the backbone of the broadcast lighting system, providing powerful, precise key light across the large venue and long camera sightlines. Ayrton Rivale Profiles provided a versatile theatrical layer, while Zonda 9 FX, Martin Aura XIP, and MAC One fixtures added rich color, movement, and texture throughout the environment.
Chauvet Professional PXL Bar 16s and Robe Tetra 1s were integrated into the architecture to reinforce the Mid-Century Modern geometry of the design. Claypaky Sharpys provided a deliberately different vocabulary—their narrow, graphic beams referencing the spectacle and energy of classic Las Vegas entertainment.
The scale and variety of the production required a substantial control network built around ETC Eos Apex consoles and distributed processing. This allowed the system to move quickly between intimate interview lighting, games, musical performances, audience moments, and large-scale production numbers while maintaining the consistency required for a multi-camera television broadcast.
Team
Creative Director John Viesta, Infinite Designs inc.
Scenic Designer Tyler M. Perry, Infinite Designs inc.
Lighting Designer John Viesta, Infinite Designs inc.
Lighting Director Greg Goff
Assistant Lighting Director/Programmer Josh Sealander
Gaffer John Salzmann
Assistant Gaffer Tom Thayer
Best Boy Eric Kaspersin
Technical supervision: Ben Travis, Infinite Designs inc.
Lighting and Rigging Supplied by: Main Light
Scenery by: PRG, and Daedalus.
Additional scenic elements by: Kihl Studios.
Venue: Planet Hollywood Live, Las Vegas