John Wiseman, CEO and president of Chaos Visual Productions, began his career in live event production in 1979 as the concert chairman at California State University, Sacramento. He managed local bands in the area and owned a small production company. He was managing the band Steel Breeze when they were signed to RCA Records and became the executive producer of the group’s eponymous debut album, which yielded two Top 10 singles.
When the band broke up in 1985, Wiseman began renting sound and lighting gear to local and national shows. Drawn to the technology side of the business, he joined Vari-Lite (a division of Showco at its beginnings) as vice president. The rental company, with worldwide service in 26 locations, was a leader in the move to automated lighting and used its own innovative technology to change the way shows were lit and produced. In 1996, he became executive vice president of High End Systems, running their worldwide sales force. His tenure there included the introduction of Coemar automated lighting products to the US. and the launch of Catalyst, the first computer-based media server.
In 2004, Belgium-based XL Touring Video came calling, recruiting him to run the company as CEO from its Los Angeles office. After four years of unparalleled success there (followed by an acrimonious departure), Wiseman seemed to live up to his surname when he launched a new company at a time when the rest of the economy was collapsing like a bad soufflé. PLSN talked to him recently about the experience.
PLSN: How did Chaos Visual Productions get started?
John Wiseman: I was running XL Touring Video and was not in complete agreement with them about where the company should go. So we parted in November 2008. By then, I had been in the industry for about 30 years and seen it grow from lighting to automated lighting to the merger of lighting and video. As the production world evolved, I had made many friends who had like-minded ideas about where it might be headed. I thought to myself, “Who are the guys that I respect who have not only similar but also differing views, where we would argue but we could go out to dinner that night, have a laugh about it and together create the best product possible?” One of those was Nick Jackson, the founder of Light & Sound Design, or LSD. They were the premier lighting company in the ’80s and ’90s and were sold to PRG. There was also Marty Wickman, who owned a company called CW Productions. I had done business with him over the years and had the ultimate amount of respect and admiration for him, not just for his work ethic but how he rolled in the business. We started talking about how to create a company and it was Chaos.
I began cherry-picking a really good team. XL had decided to let some people go when I left, including Pat Mora, one of the founders of Nocturne, and Val Dauksts, another founder of Nocturne, both of whom I’d been working with at XL. With them available, it all gelled and came together. I was getting phone calls from clients who said, “Hey, if you’re not there anymore, would you put some projects together for us?” So we launched the company in January 2009 and it just took off.
How would you describe the company?
It is client-based, client-oriented visual production delivery systems. It doesn’t have to be lighting, it doesn’t have to be video. It can be anything. We didn’t want to be pigeonholed. My concept and my philosophy was this: We’re serving the artist and the production designers—those are our customers. But the end product is viewed by the audience; the public sitting in row 20 or row 500 doesn’t give a f*** how it’s done. They’re looking at the visual aspect. So we wanted to break those walls down and just say, “Hey, what do you want to do? Here’s a blank piece of paper, let’s find a way to put your idea up on stage for you.” That’s where the “Visual” part of the name came from. The “Chaos” was kind of tongue-in-cheek, because we all had led full-speed chaotic lives since we got into this business, and it just kind of fit. It’s a lifestyle, not a job.
Early 2009 seems like one of the worst years in history to start a company. How did it go in that first year?
Gangbusters! It was an advantage not having an incredibly large overhead, and we also had the advantage of being a project-based company. We didn’t have a thousand employees to feed. We had 15 and used outside contract people as we brought in projects. Right out of the gate, our first project was the Super Bowl. The same month, we got the Keith Urban and Fleetwood Mac tours, then No Doubt. We had more work than we could handle, to tell you the truth. It was a good balance between quantity and quality. When we started, we’d done estimates for financial planning purposes and projected that we would have gross revenues the first year of about $6 million. We actually did 12, so not a bad start!
Did those first big projects come about as the result of previous relationships?
Yes, 100 percent. In fact, “previous relationships” became a big chapter in the history of our company. There was a big dispute between me and XL Touring Video over who actually owns a previous relationship. They had headhunted me in 2004 and said, “We’re dead in the water in the United States and you’re the guy who can turn it around. You know everybody, you’ve got good relationships, you have a good track record in the industry. Would you please join us as CEO and partner?” So I brought my “black book” and my 30 years’ experience to them and that’s what put them on the map. Fast forward to four years later—when I left and started Chaos, they sued me.
[XLTV alleged that Wiseman, Dauksts and Chaos had misappropriated XLTV’s trade secrets, including design and system specifications and the concert touring details of 28 musical artists. XLTV additionally claimed breaches of fiduciary duty by Wiseman and Dauksts for the company’s falling revenues after they left and that Wiseman used company time and resources while he was still CEO to set up a competing company, into which he pulled tour business and clients. The jury ruled in favor of Wiseman.]
It was an eight-week-long jury trial in L.A. Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. I think XL spent over $6 million in lawyers and we spent over $3 million. The whole premise was relationships. My argument was, “Listen, I knew these people before I knew you, and they vote with their dollars. You can’t make them shop at Walmart if they want to shop at Costco. The customer chooses, and they chose us.” XL claimed that we had taken 28 of their acts, like Fleetwood Mac, No Doubt, Beyoncé, Keith Urban, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Mötley Crüe. The trial ended with the drummer from Mötley Crüe [Tommy Lee] taking the stand and saying “I’ll spend my money wherever I want and John’s the best in the business and that’s that.” So it was a big deal. So when you ask the question about whether the business is based on relationships, it is 100 percent, and I spent $3 million proving it.
How would you rank Chaos in the industry now?
I’d say that on any given day, if you are basing it on revenue, we’re always in the top three. And if you’re grading on delivery and work product and the ability to service clients, I’d say we’re in the top two on any given day.
Why Burbank?
There was a great building available that’s 30,000 square feet. It’s centrally located, right in the middle of the entertainment industry, with studios, soundstages and vendors all around us. Nick and I feel that you have to have a Los Angeles presence and an East Coast presence, so we also have a facility in Nashville and an office in London as well.
Chaos offers many services, including custom video solutions for the film, touring, event and television industries, permanent installations, sales, technical design, system integration and more. What percentage of the business does each occupy?
You know, it kind of depends on what day and what year it is. We’ve done installations in Disney Tokyo, in Disney Orlando and in Disney Los Angeles. We’ve also had up to 25 concert tours going at a time and done special video effects on dozens of major movies. We don’t go out and hustle sales, but we have clients that we work with who are comfortable with our skill set and our relationship who will come to us for particular products. For example, we just did a sale in Las Vegas where Beyoncé’s team had been hired to revamp a show and they brought us with them. We ended up making a seven-figure sale on the installation. For some tours, we also provide technical support if needed. For example, we have the Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull tour, which just played Madison Square Garden. We’ve got six people on our payroll who stay with that tour the whole time. So I’d say that live shows are the largest percentage, with the rest evenly spread out among film, television, installations and sales.
It must be like air traffic control, keeping track of all those shows.
The beauty is that we sign a deal with the producer of the show, who might be Beyoncé herself or it might be Live Nation or AEG, and we provide a segment of that show. We work with the designers to develop that show to the artist’s satisfaction. Then when it’s ready to go on the road, it’s basically freight on board out of our doors. They handle all the travel, all the trucking, all the hotels, all the logistics. The tour managers are the guys who are busy. They’ve got 110 people on the road and they shift cities every day.
Are there particular challenges that come with working overseas?
No, not so much. A lot of those challenges are overcome by the artist’s production team. We’re just one piece of the pie and they control the pie. They do all the hard work, all the heavy lifting. They coordinate the trucks, the flights, getting to and from the airport, checking into and out of the hotel, getting into the venue, the buses…really, our part of it is pretty easy when you compare it to what the producers are doing. They’ve got big jobs.
What is the process like when someone calls with a project?
I’ll get a call from a production designer or an artist or manager who will ask what’s new and exciting out there these days. We’ll give them the latest update on the newest technology. They’ll go start working on the show and draw up some sketches, then come back and we’ll talk a little more. Sometimes we’re deeply involved in the early discussions, sometimes we’re not involved at all. We’ll just get a pitch sheet to bid on. Once we get the job, we start talking about the budget, what it’s going to cost, and we start fine-tuning it, cutting things and adding things. For someone like Beyoncé, they’ll be in rehearsals for a month and the show will change dramatically from the day we got there to the day she ships it to go on tour. It’s art and process and it takes its own form. We negotiate the contract, we negotiate the money, we get the right personnel in there, then it’s off to the circus for a year.
What is new and exciting out there these days?
LED technology has really taken a leap forward. It has pretty much taken over the industry with regards to video walls, with regards to packaging. They’re smaller and lighter and give sharper images. They use a lot less power and don’t give off as much heat. They’ve really changed the business. There’s also a lot of 3-D technology swirling around, but there hasn’t been any platform that’s been a hundred percent accepted yet. I think we’re about three or four years away from being able to watch a 3-D show without special glasses.
Chaos has been involved in dozens of well-known films. What’s an example of what you would do on a film?
A good example is Iron Man I. There’s a scene where a nuclear reactor blows up. A lot of that lighting that’s going on in there was shot live in a one-shot deal. We worked with the gaffers to place instruments where they wanted them to get the right colors for filming. A lot of it is special effects lighting. You might have two actors in a car and it looks like they’re driving. You see the Sunset Strip going by through the windshield. That’s a tilted LED wall with a movie of the Sunset Strip going by so that they get the reflection onto the windshield. A lot of the stuff you can do in post, but it can be cheaper to do them live with effects and the actors and crew can actually see it.
What distinguishes Chaos from its competitors?
It’s the attitude, the old attitude of “the show must go on,” and we find a way to do whatever needs to be done. We’re able to work outside the box and think differently and come up with new ideas.
What’s an example of when you worked outside the box?
We once got a call to show Michael Jackson some of our new technology, the world’s first-ever 3-D LED screen. It was something we had developed with some scientists in Northern California associated with Industrial Light & Magic because we were looking for something new. Everyone said it couldn’t be done with an LED wall, only with projection. We created a cover that isolated each individual pixel, and there were millions of them. Michael and I and Nick Jackson sat there and looked at the screen. So here’s this artist who’s seen everything, and he flipped out and said, “I want this! I have to have this!” His exact words were, “I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime. I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little boy.” So we built it for him, the first one ever. It was because we took a chance.
How would you say your prices compare to others in the industry?
That’s not something I can really discuss. It’s a competitive industry and it’s capitally intensive to do these shows. The bids are usually going to be pretty close to each other because of the materials involved. You can’t build a custom house for half of what someone else does because you still have to buy the lumber.
What criteria should a customer use in choosing a visual effects company?
I think a customer needs to look for someone that they’re comfortable with and who will deliver what they say they will.
For more information, go to (www.chaosvisual.com)
