Building Relationships at Country Concert
Not THOSE kinds of relationships! I’m talking about building professional relationships with the other vendors.
My name is Scott Robinson. I’m a Video Production Supervisor for NKTProductions, a division of NKTelco, in New Knoxville, OH. Among all the sports, live expos, and various other video productions I work on, I am in charge of the video crew for Country Concert. The concert takes place over 4 days in Fort Loramie, OH, and brings in over 27,000 people each day.
The best part of Country Concert for me is the friendships I have built over the past 4 years of working at CC. The first is with the family that runs CC. This was their 40th CC. My parents came to Country Concert when it was a LOT smaller, back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. NKTelco has been working with CC for 10 years now. Over that time we have built an understanding with the Manager and the family that owns CC to the point where if we need something, all we have to do is ask.
This year they added portrait screens to the side of the Main Stage. They wanted the main artist on those screens the entire time. I mentioned that would be great if we had another camera operator. “If you need another camera operator for that just add it in and adjust the invoice!” That’s all that needed to be said. So we added a 5th camera operator to the main stage.
Pete’s Big TV is the company that provides the screens for CC. My first encounter with them was back in 2018. We walked by them with part of the screen on the ground. They asked us if we could put an ethernet connection on their cable, they had ordered a replacement but it wouldn’t be there till the next day. Isaac was with me and I knew he could do that in his sleep. So he went and got the tools and put the connection on for them. The next day I get a message from them that they had fired up some burgers on the grill and offered us some. Since then, we buy the burgers and brats for the grill and they provide toppings and such.
This year was different because of those aforementioned portrait screens. It seemed every time we looked at them there was a panel going out. Eventually, they found the correct pane that was causing the issues and replaced it. Not an easy feat while the whole thing is hanging 40 feet up in the air. These guys are amazing at fixing anything.
We rented cameras from PBTV this year and there were some issues, one of which was that the tripod for one of the cameras would not even hold me gently pushing on it, much less the hundred-pound rig of the camera, tripod head, and lens. But therein comes the relationships. They made sure we were happy and could use the rented gear. They rigged support inside the tripod leg that was bad and made sure everything was together correctly and safe to use. All week they apologized for the gear not being 100% and have promised to triple check it next year before it gets on the truck!
“You want to fight?” was the first words I heard from one of the stagehands. I looked down and this one female stagehand who was shortest of all was staring at me with her arms wide open ready to hit me with either hand! I could see the smile on her face like it was the biggest joke in the world to her! That’s the way most of the stage crew talk to each other. To be included in that was a great feeling. I of course reacted like I was scared that she was going to hurt me, which I knew was not the case. We laughed and recreated the scene all week long!
The crew that moves the different band sets around are some of the hardest working people around. They can show up in an instant and move one band out while moving the next one in place all at the same time. And all without someone barking orders. One thing I really appreciated this year and when we were moving the rented cameras, platforms and cables in place, they were there to move them around for us. Usually, in the past, we would move our own gear. But this year, because of the relationships we have built in the past, they took them out of our hands and asked us where we wanted them. Even climbing under the stage to run the SMPTE fiber cables for the cameras. I didn’t ask, they just did it!
Of course, turn around is fair play. At the end of the week for us, I was double-checking everything after the crew left. Everyone was gone but I noticed the backstage loading bay doors were still wide open. There was still plenty of gear that needed loaded out but that was going to be on Sunday afternoon. So I sent the stage manager a message just to make sure someone else wasn’t around to do it. While I was waiting for his reply, I went backstage and started closing the doors. He mentioned that someone forgot and asked if I could. I sent back that I was already on it. That’s the way the crew worked so that is what I did.
A lot of people are of the mindset that “It isn’t my job so why should I do …”. I tell you this now after many years in this industry, that is a great way to do a lot of work by yourself! Helping others and building those working relationships is a great way to make every workday easier. Work smarter not harder. There is way too much stress placed on us every day to stress about whose job it is to do whatever. I know that at Country Concert if I needed a quick ride to the saloon. call PBTV crew for their golf cart. If I needed a cable run, mention it to the stage crew. If I needed ice for my cooler, talk to the guy delivering it backstage. We help each other out. This is the way!
