Producer Stands on Ceremonies

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When 10,000 athletes and coaches representing 177 countries in this summer’s Special Olympics parade through the opening ceremonies at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, they’ll get the same sort of fanfare lavished on fully abled athletes every two years.

The pomp and circumstance at the event will be staged by FiveCurrents, a Redondo Beach company that has produced ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Sochi and London. LA2015, the organizing committee for the Special Olympics, chose FiveCurrents after a competitive process.

“Their experience might be unmatched over the past 20 years after being involved in major ceremonies for everything from the Olympics to the Pan American Games,” said Patrick McClenahan, the committee’s chief executive. “They even produced the 50th anniversary of Disneyland.”

Next summer’s three-hour event, including a parade of athletes, cauldron lighting and artistic segments, will be broadcast live and distributed internationally by ESPN.

The biggest challenge is starting on time, said Scott Givens, FiveCurrents’ president.

“We will start at 6 p.m. on the dot and there is no delay,” he said. “If you’re planning a party or wedding, you can be an hour or 15 minutes late and it doesn’t have a great impact. But for a global TV audience and 10,000 incredible athletes and their families, we have to deliver right at that moment.”

FiveCurrents maintains a core staff of just 29 employees but freelances between 700 and 1,000 more each year. The firm has worked on $100 million worth of productions in each of the last five years, Givens said in a phone interview from London. Both he and McClenahan declined to discuss the fee for producing the events for the Special Olympics, which will be mostly privately funded through corporate sponsorships, individual gifts and foundation grants.

Just because the Special Olympics gig is local doesn’t mean Givens’ passport will get a rest next year. FiveCurrents will also be producing ceremonies for the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan and the Pan American Games in Toronto next year.

Of all the extraordinary spectacles Givens has helped orchestrate he said his favorite involved James Bond (actor Daniel Craig) escorting the queen of England to the London Olympics’ opening ceremonies in a helicopter.

“It was such an iconic moment,” he said.

– Marni Usheroff

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