When Los Angeles-based TLC Creative Productions president Kevin Bilida signed up to provide lighting for a trade show in Las Vegas in 2004, he didn’t realize how much it would cost him. Bilida arrived at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino with his staff on the morning of the show’s opening party. He and another person arrived in a rented car, while his crew drove into town from their Los Angeles offices in a rented truck filled with the team’s equipment. They parked the truck at the loading dock and went inside to check in, but when they came back out, the truck—and thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment—was gone.
A pilot and skydiver, Bilida knew better than to panic in dramatic situations. The staff searched the surrounding area, spoke with security guards, and notified the local police of the theft (one upside: The Las Vegas Police Department was within eyeshot). While the police were searching for the perpetrators, Bilida and his team barraged local laser and lighting manufacturers with phone calls, and managed to borrow and buy enough equipment to go on with the show. Meanwhile, employees back in the L.A. headquarters got busy putting together some replacement promotional materials for the trade show, where they also had a booth.
A few days later—after Bilida successfully ad-libbed the show—the exhausted team was making its way to the Las Vegas airport when they got a phone call from the police, who had found the truck. Although most of the valuable equipment was missing, Bilida recovered some of the property. “We always took precautions before, but now we are especially careful,” he says now. “We have a boot that prevents the truck from being driven when [the device is] placed on the wheel and a portable alarm system for rentals.” (Wheel boots are locking bars placed on the wheel that make it impossible to move the vehicle.) The new TLC policy is that the truck’s driver must lock the boot whenever he walks away from the truck. After all, as Bilida says, “the truck is the show.”
—Erin Parker
Illustration: Steve Olson
Let us know what happened to you. Send your story to [email protected].
Posted 10.24.05
A pilot and skydiver, Bilida knew better than to panic in dramatic situations. The staff searched the surrounding area, spoke with security guards, and notified the local police of the theft (one upside: The Las Vegas Police Department was within eyeshot). While the police were searching for the perpetrators, Bilida and his team barraged local laser and lighting manufacturers with phone calls, and managed to borrow and buy enough equipment to go on with the show. Meanwhile, employees back in the L.A. headquarters got busy putting together some replacement promotional materials for the trade show, where they also had a booth.
A few days later—after Bilida successfully ad-libbed the show—the exhausted team was making its way to the Las Vegas airport when they got a phone call from the police, who had found the truck. Although most of the valuable equipment was missing, Bilida recovered some of the property. “We always took precautions before, but now we are especially careful,” he says now. “We have a boot that prevents the truck from being driven when [the device is] placed on the wheel and a portable alarm system for rentals.” (Wheel boots are locking bars placed on the wheel that make it impossible to move the vehicle.) The new TLC policy is that the truck’s driver must lock the boot whenever he walks away from the truck. After all, as Bilida says, “the truck is the show.”
—Erin Parker
Illustration: Steve Olson
Let us know what happened to you. Send your story to [email protected].
Posted 10.24.05
