Last Updated on August 9, 2024
Live production has had a major presence in popular entertainment for decades. Entire shows have been built around the thrill of live production, and competitive events like sports and Esports just work best when broadcast live.
Awards shows, as well, benefit from a live broadcast, letting viewers get swept up in the excitement of waiting to see what will happen next. And we can’t forget the most well-known example of live television entertainment, Saturday Night Live.
The entertainment industry has gone through countless changes through the years, but live broadcasting has stayed popular. In fact, when we include the live streaming phenomenon, live shows and events are bigger than ever.
Teo Karakolev is an expert in live production, with more than a decade’s worth of experience in the audio-visual industry. He has worked on numerous television projects, including the BET Awards, the BET Hip-Hop Awards, and the Soul Train Awards.
More recently, Karakolev has also found great success working in live production for major Esports events for organizations such as ESL, Epic Games, Tencent Games, and Activision.
In addition to all this, Karakolev has also been called on to work on projects for Netflix, the Academy of Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros.
The live events Karakolev produces are known to garner widespread commercial success and bring in huge view counts.
But it might surprise you to hear that Karakolev hasn’t always specialized in live production, though he’s certainly always been involved in the creative arts.
From an early age, Karakolev has had a real passion for music, and he even spent twelve years working as a professional performing musician.
After discovering, or rather rediscovering his love for filmmaking and live broadcasting, he made inroads into the world of live production, and his production career took off from there.
In this article, first we will hear from Karakolev about some of his live production experiences in television and live events, and then we’ll get into some more general aspects of live production and advice for live production professionals.
If everyone’s ready to get started, then there’s only one thing left to say: action!
BET live shows
Karakolev’s big break into live production was his work on a number of different BET live projects.
BET is obviously one of the biggest names in television, and the network hosts a variety of live events and awards shows.
While Karakolev was already working in A/V, he happened to get a behind-the-scenes look at how these shows come together, meeting with the production company that handled live broadcasts for BET.
“Back in 2015, I met a couple of outstanding producers who introduced me to the production company behind all of the BET Awards shows. Together we started working on a multitude of show elements for the BET Awards, BET Hip-Hop Awards, Soul Train Awards, and many other BET shows.”
This was an excellent opportunity for Karakolev to showcase his live production skills. Clearly, company leadership was impressed by his contributions, and this set him on the fast track to direct involvement with the production of these awards shows.
It wasn’t just a case of being in the right place at the right time; Karakolev had a talent for live production, and getting hands-on experience with such major broadcasts made it abundantly clear to Karakolev that this was what he wanted to be doing with his career.
We would say that the rest is history, but that’s not exactly true. Karakolev is working in live production all the time, and he continues to excel in this specialized area of the entertainment industry.
In fact, when we spoke with Karakolev, he was on tour with an Esports event, which leads to our next topic.
Moving into Esports
Video game live streaming has been extremely popular for close to a decade at this point, and it’s definitely still a huge deal. Just take a quick glance at Twitch if you don’t believe us.
While Esports technically falls under the umbrella of video game live streaming, it’s also a completely different beast, especially in terms of viewership, production, and budget.
This report provides an in-depth look at just how big Esports has already become, as well as forecasting potential growth in years to come.
To summarize, Esports is absolutely massive, bringing in major sponsors, organizers, and millions of viewers.
Esports events are frequently streamed live online, but don’t confuse these with the solo game streamer working with just a mic and a webcam.
Major Esports competitions are much more comparable to the kinds of giant, televised awards shows we were just talking about, or even to major sporting events in general, and so it makes sense that Karakolev was tapped to start working in live production for Esports, which he’s been doing for about six years now.
According to Karakolev, his previous work not only in live production but also other areas of entertainment helped him to get an early leg up.
“I got introduced to one of the most reputable Esports Organizers, ESL, and from there, they quickly put me into dozens of shows working as a producer, director, and technical director. My skills in conventional filmmaking as well as my music background definitely gave me an edge when I was starting out in the Esports industry.”
As we mentioned at the top, Karakolev is now handling live production for some of the biggest Esports competitions and tours around.
Producing these kinds of events sounds like a lot of pressure, right? Well, it is, and if there’s anyone out there thinking about getting involved in live production, being able to handle all that pressure is key.
The challenges of live production
Making sure these events get broadcast without a hitch is no walk in the park, as you might have guessed.
The central feature of the live broadcast is that it’s all happening in the moment, which poses a completely different set of challenges than you find on a film set.
Most importantly, there’s only one chance to capture the most important moments, and it takes a lot of skill and coordination to succeed, as Karakolev explains here.
“Live production is all about very quick decision-making, working under immense pressure for extensive periods of time, and being able to create stories that are unique and can be only created once.”
It goes without saying that not everyone is equipped to work in these kinds of conditions, and even the pros need to be careful about staying at the top of their game both before and during an event.
Karakolev says that his prior experience not only as a live performer but also his work as a live film and network producer means that meeting these demands comes quite naturally to him.
He’s accustomed to working well under pressure and knows how to respond when things don’t go as expected. It’s live, after all, and encountering and capturing the unexpected is part of the fun.
But being able to do that effectively comes down to planning, coordination, and teamwork.
Teamwork
All filmmaking and television production inherently involve large teams of professionals, and especially for the kinds of events that Karakolev produces, these teams can be very large indeed.
To the average person, the idea of coordinating such large teams probably sounds intimidating, but Karakolev stressed that he enjoys working with his teams because he knows he can trust them.
“For the past four years, I’ve been working with teams of more than forty people or even more than a hundred people, and to be honest, it’s 100% worth it. Having highly specialized technicians and creatives as part of your team to cover every element of the show is fantastic.”
Everyone has their job within this enormous machine, and for a producer or director, being able to trust each and every team member is crucial. If that trust wasn’t there, the stress would only grow. But working with people who know what they’re doing has the opposite effect: bringing stress levels down, letting everyone focus on their work.
For aspiring live event production professionals, this level of highly coordinated teamwork is simply part of the job description. Everyone needs to work incredibly well with one another. Otherwise, things start to fall apart, and the resulting broadcast just won’t be as good as it could have been.
In a worst-case scenario, a lack of teamwork and coordination could lead to major mistakes, which need to be avoided at all costs.
Lightning in a bottle
Live broadcasts of any kind have the ability to capture something special that pre-recorded events just can’t beat. Our brief look at the challenges of live production has shown that highly skilled professionals work behind the scenes to capture the special moments of every live broadcast we love.
Special thanks go to Teo Karakolev for sharing his stories and expertise with us.
