For some companies, the work slows down as the holiday season approaches. But the team at PRG (Production Resource Group) has been busier than ever, helping bring to life some of the country's most iconic holiday events including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C., and more.
PRG—which specializes in lighting, audio, rigging, and more—is no stranger to events with a high profile and even higher stakes. The company has worked on everything from Super Bowl halftime shows, the Academy Awards, and Coachella to top-selling world tours for artists like Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Post Malone.
BizBash recently caught up with the team to learn how they pulled off this recent influx of events—particularly for live TV. Here are some key takeaways they shared.
1. Always be a team player.
The PRG team typically designates different teams for each event—but also leans into plenty of collaboration. "We are fortunate that PRG’s Live TV team is very tight," says Jeff Javier, a PRG project manager who recently worked on CBS's “Go Home for the Holidays” TV special, which aired on Dec. 20. "We are always in the loop on each other’s projects and can easily jump in if additional support is needed. The backbone of our success comes from a tag team of the account executive and project manager or project coordinator.""For some projects, PRG utilizes some strategic overlap between team members. For example, "The same team covers both the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting on the management and sales end, and NBC is our client on both," explains Bob Rendon, PRG's vice president of audio. "The on-site teams are dedicated to one or the other of the events, with only the system engineer covering the two. We also book the engineering teams well in advance." 
In addition to the iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (pictured), PRG's projects this year included the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C.; the Great American Media's Family Christmas Festival on Long Island; and The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a contemporary dance tour that reimagines Tchaikovsky’s classic.Photo: Courtesy of PRG
2. Communication is crucial.
With so many key players and moving parts, proper communication is, of course, essential. "The biggest challenge is maintaining communication between our team and the producers, and—equally important—between the show and the artists," notes Rendon. "There are a ton of logistics that need to be handled so the talent have what they need on show day."Often, that means having the different PRG teams be nimble and communicative enough to share resources. "Sometimes, the biggest challenge is limited time to complete the job, as well as turnaround time from one big job to another," says Javier. "To help with this process, we identify and communicate which key pieces of equipment or staff need to bounce from one job to another. Sometimes, we’ll book special trucks to send equipment from site to site to get the jobs done."
Anthony Ciampa, PRG's vice president of sales, music, who worked on the nationwide Drag Queens Christmas Tour—a series of live shows that kicked off Nov. 13 and wraps up Dec. 29—stresses the importance of following a clear, regimented plan of action for each job. "It’s imperative for them to follow the process so we can build a package with the correct pricing and information," he explains. "Our tour project managers immediately build the orders in the system, then have the asset team sweep the orders to let us know the availability of products with substitution options or sub-rental costs. Our project managers continue building budgets so we can price things accordingly and route proposals to our clients in a timely fashion."
3. Start planning early.
Unsurprisingly, planning for these events typically starts well in advance. For the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting events, for example, Rendon starts discussions as early as July—and for some of the other annual shows, Javier adds, planning begins as soon as the current year is over. Planning ahead like this "allows us to address and execute other productions that don’t have the luxury of that long lead time," Javier says.That's not to say there's always a long lead time. "It’s very different from show to show," points out Ciampa. "Sometimes we get a couple of months to plan, and sometimes we’ll have big shows pop up where we need to move quickly. It can get pretty busy when shows overlap, but our team does a great job of organizing and working efficiently." 
PRG worked on this year's Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony, which took place on Dec. 4 during the live broadcast "Christmas at Rockefeller Center."Photo: Courtesy of PRG
4. Educate yourself on potential logistical challenges.
In the months leading up to the event, the team works to familiarize themselves with any potential roadblocks—including venue constraints and stakeholder demands. "Negotiating multiple parties involved in these projects (NBC, Tishman Speyer Real Estate, retail tenants, NYC, NYPD, tourists) can be a challenge year to year," says Rendon, adding: "Achieving the results without disrupting the day-to-day operations of a major tourism hub adds time and space limitations that vary continually."Ciampa also notes some logistical challenges. "Some of our biggest challenges are facing designs that we know will be difficult to execute due to venue constraints or the travel distance between certain locations when time is of the essence," he says. "PRG is well equipped to catch these challenges, inform our clients of them in a timely manner, and offer solutions to overcome and streamline."
5. Think through ways to reach both a live and at-home audience.
Planning an event for live television offers some unique challenges, the team notes. "On television shows, good designers will always think about the TV audience at home and how the show looks on camera first," says Ciampa. "It is different from what you see live versus how it appears on camera. These professionals have to design for the shot they are trying to capture. They dry-block and rehearse every camera angle that the director wants to see. It needs to look perfect."One way PRG is helping this process is through its new technology like the GroundControl Multi, a PRG proprietary system. "It allows you to control multiple and different kinds of fixtures with one controller," Ciampa says.
To Rendon, the secret is working closely with the client and design teams to ensure their creative visions are achieved and actualized into technical realities—both on the ground and on screen. "Our design partners conduct a fine balancing act, as both [live and TV audiences] must be treated with respect," he explains. "The bigger audience is the viewers at home—but the local attendees still must have a great experience."
