Patrick Dierson
Part 1
Part 2
Principal Designer, The Activity
In Part 2 of our two-part LD Spotlight with Patrick Dierson, we cover topics such as change, ego, team, Xtended Reality, lighting fixtures and how working in the entertainment business is really just a means of funding his shark habit. Be sure to take note of the advice this voice of experience has for the young freelancer out there, and indeed all of us. If you missed Part One of our LD Spotlight with Patrick Dierson, check it out here.
Meet Patrick – Part 2
From the moment you sit down to begin a design to the final show, what's your favorite part?
My favorite part of the design process is the research portion. Once you have some basic direction for where the project should go, the researching into new ways to make it what it should be is the fun part. At that stage you’re usually not worried about physics and budgets. You’re just able to be creative and come up with the fun stuff. Obviously, if you’re in a time crunch to get the project done by a close deadline, you probably don’t have the luxury of this portion of the design process but when you have enough advance notice and time to collaborate with the various members of the team to formulate direction, you get the fun part of lifting restrictions and just coming up with stuff that looks cool.
Has the lighting design process changed over your time?
The process of design has definitely changed for me over the years. In my career’s infancy, I was very much alone in the process and enjoyed that. I really liked the control and cohesiveness of the art. I was very vocal in believing that having one person seeing the entire creative and design process through was effective. In many ways I still have some feelings toward that but it now comes with the older and wiser caveat of stating that you must have the time to be able to devote to that process if you’re going to do it that way. Understand that most of that was driven by an inflated ego in my younger years; admittedly not one of my more noble traits.
So you developed a more team approach as you got older?
Nowadays, as I have built The Activity to be a scalable business, the concept of being a one-man-show is not only unrealistic but also a liability. I rely on the trust of the team of people around me more than ever because advancing the abilities and talents of the people around you is the only way to scale your business model in this sector of the industry. I also admit that it makes for much better designs. There’s no better value to a producer that is hiring a designer than getting a few more designers thrown in. You can think that you’re the best at what you do all day long but someone else is absolutely going to be looking at the challenges from a slightly different perspective and they will more than likely point out things that you have either overlooked or simply haven’t encountered before. Once you get your ego out of the way of the process, you get continuously added value.
Is there a design difference between the up-and-coming generation of designers and our industry's more veteran LDs?
There is absolutely a difference between the new generation and the veterans in this business and, once again, it’s all about not accounting for taste. The younger audiences have a vastly different visual appetite and the younger designers are obviously more attuned to it than the more veteran designers who have not actively studied the changes and adapted to them. This does come with a price though. The one constant that I see amongst the younger designers is that they tend to pay more attention to the blinky bits hanging in the air instead of the talent on the stage. More and more I see shows designed by the younger guard where the talent on stage is in the dark or poorly lit at best. The lights and video are doing these amazing chases and technical feats of programming…but I know that because I’m in the business. The girl in the 30th row doesn’t have any clue as to what’s happening at that level. All she knows is that she can’t see the artist that she shelled out half a week’s paycheck to see and I find that to be horribly irresponsible to do to an audience.
What advice would you give to young designers then?
If there’s one bit of advice that I can give to the younger generation of designers it’s the age old industry advice of LIGHT THE MONEY FIRST. The term “light the money” is cliché because it’s true. And if you have an artist that says that they don’t want to be lit then you have to find a way to light them that still makes them comfortable. THAT’s your actual craft whether you like it or not. It’s not only your job but it’s going to help build that trust between yourself and your artist that I was speaking to earlier. You owe it to your craft, your artist, and the audience that is ultimately paying both of your paychecks.
How is the designer Patrick Dierson of today different from the designer Patrick Dierson of 15-20 years ago?
He’s still an egotistical a-hole, he just hides it better these days. Seriously, the biggest difference between then and now has been in shifting aside my ego to give way to bigger and better things. I use the words “shifting aside” as opposed to “pushing aside” quite pointedly. If you have an ego then you’re probably never going to get rid of it. It’s about knowing how to shift it toward the proper motivations to be able to use it to your advantage as opposed to it being a liability. These days my ego drives other business motivations. One of those motivations is in putting together incredible teams of people to accomplish the work as opposed to having to be the ONE guy that accomplishes the work and takes the credit Whereas I used to be so driven to make a name for myself in this business, once that was accomplished, I focused more on making a name for other people I stay vehemently loyal to those that are trustworthy and hardworking to our overall business model and part of that loyalty is in giving credit and more responsibility to those people in an earnest attempt to help forward their careers As they grow, the entire company grows together Every once in a while, you get a bad apple that takes advantage of that loyalty and you simply need to accept it, put them out to pasture, and just let karma work its magic on them.
How do you keep things fresh? How do you still keep it interesting for you?
One of the worst things that comes with getting older in this business is becoming jaded by all of the technology. I’m sorry to say it but, at the end of the day all that you’re left with are ones, zeros, and blinking lights. Seriously. That’s it. Our industry just jams those things into new metal boxes. Are some better than others? Absolutely and keeping up with that is always fascinating. However, truly keeping things fresh and interesting is all about finding new production challenges that come along with integrating newer technologies. One of our latest fascinations is in lighting XR or Xtended Reality sets in real-time as opposed to setting up specific shots as you would in traditional filming. We’ve done extensive studies on this including how all of this technology was used to shoot Disney’s “The Mandalorian” series. It’s absolutely fascinating stuff in how the overall productions are faced with incorporating existing technologies in very new ways. All of these new challenges are what make this business worthwhile.
When does fixture choice enter your head?
One of the company sayings is that “we design for commerce, not art”. The timing of specific fixture choice is definitely something that has evolved for me personally over the years and that timing has become somewhat critical to The Activity’s overall business model in that it ties into some of the company’s ethos. When we adhere to things such as “designing for commerce” and “lighting the money first”, fixture choice plays directly into that.
Do you think about specific fixtures when you’re designing or does that come afterwards?
We have standardized CAD template from which all designs are started. That template has generic symbols for all of the various types of fixtures on the market such as Wash, Spot, Beam, Strobe, Blinder, Batten, etc. etc. We rarely design a project from inception based around a specific fixture type. We’ll create the environment and add the various types of fixtures required. However, the very first thing we do is light the money and that requires devoted key and back lighting. This absolutely gets specified at the inception of the design process and we are constantly looking at what instruments do the best job of this that also fit the environmental space properly. For instance, we have been huge fans of the Elation Artiste Picasso units for this task given their optics, color correction abilities, and intensity from an LED engine source.
Once we have that locked in, we then utilize the generic lighting as a plot specification that goes out to vendors for bidding. This is where designing for commerce comes in as we can freely state what fixture choices are non-negotiable on the plot vs. what can be fulfilled from a vendor’s existing stock. In the end, this gives the vendor the ability to offer their most competitive price in limiting the number of sub-rentals that they would need to do in order to fulfill the order. It also tends to limit the number of quotation volleys that inevitably happen between the account representatives and production management and anything that you can do to make everyone’s process easier is well received by all parties involved.
What do you see as the newest/hottest thing in lighting?
Finding the hottest thing in lighting is always a challenge these days as everyone seems to be making what we call “me too” lights. Everyone has a version of everyone else’s instrument so there aren’t too many gotta-have-it products out there these days. We find that it’s more about finding the nuances of who’s product does something a little bit better than the other guy’s. That’s where the real labor of design comes in for us because we’re applying this concept to the video, staging, and scenic elements that we often design as well. Having to learn the nuances of each of these lighting instruments gets difficult but it’s also the incredibly rewarding bit because, once you have that knowledge, you’re able to ensure that you’re tackling very specific challenges on each individual production.
I believe you’ve used Elation gear throughout your career. Do you remember the first time you used an Elation product?
My first use of an Elation product was the Elation Impression on R. Kelly’s “Double Up” Tour back in 2007. We were hunting for the lowest profile LED moving head that we could find and, back then, LED-based moving heads weren’t necessarily prevalent. Upstaging happened to have invested in the Impressions and they were absolutely perfect for the application. Admittedly, I had been dismissing the Elation brand at that time as being an inferior product line but not only was I blatantly wrong, it was absolutely a turning point for my design decisions. We’ve been using Elation products heavily ever since.
Any of Elation’s newest lights you’d like to get your hands on?
Out of the latest offerings from Elation, the Artiste Monet is the one that’s struck our interest the most. Having been huge fans of the Picasso, the extreme output of the Monet and it’s new SpectraColor system are specifically intriguing.
As a lighting manufacturer, what is the best way we can support your art?
I believe that the best way for manufacturers to support designer’s art is two-fold. Firstly, coming up with truly innovative products that are not one-trick-ponies is key and also helps to serve the second part. The more that you can support our vendors the more our vendors can support us as designers. Vendors need as much technical and sales support that they can get in order to keep our art working. When they have the resources that they need to provide their best product, designers are supported properly.
What do you like to do when you’re not doing lighting?
I have several recreational interests that are usually found posted all over the internet. My wife and I are somewhat active within the firearms community and can usually be found shooting and off-roading in the Nevada desert. However, my true recreational love still lies underwater. Even though my free time becomes fleeting, every chance I get you will find me underwater playing with and studying various species of sharks. I still maintain the notion that working in the entertainment business is really just a means of funding my shark habit.
Any advice for the young LD just starting out?
In terms of advice to the new ones, I’ll continue to pass along the best advice that was ever given to me in regards to going freelance when I did because it applies to you whether you are a freelancer, employed by a firm, or working for any company whatsoever. You need to have three month’s worth of reserve funding in your bank account to cover your living expenses. I know that at this immediate moment within the coronavirus pandemic that this advice may be coming too late to some that haven’t heard me state it before. There’s not much that you can do about that at this time other than learn the value of this advice and try to immediately correct for it once we’re back up and running but I believe that everyone can agree to it. Having that three month reserve gives you the peace of mind that you don’t have to sell your talents short just to pay your rent and you don’t have to take every tiny gig that comes along when you suspect that you’ll miss out on a great opportunity that could come along in another few weeks just because you’re worried about having to eat ramen for the foreseeable future.
