Epic Production Technologies Enters the Race at Full Throttle!
by MICHAEL A. BECK
(mobile_production_monthly_v1_i11, 2009)

Let the names Ed & Ted's Excellent Lighting and Q1 Production Technologies never be spoken again. For as of September 2008, the two companies merged to create Epic Production Technologies. The merger brings together two companies that are so different as to be perfectly complementary. Where both companies are similar, is their historical beginnings as local production hous- es that grew into North American prominence.

Q1 began primarily as a theatrical house, never forsaking those roots with accounts like Disney's The Lion King, Tony Award winning musicals Showboat and Ragtime and the XV Winter Olympic Games Closing Ceremonies. The company's founders, Marc Raymond and Phil Bernard, gained recognition through- out the entertainment industry for building Westsun International from a local lighting rental facility into one of North America's leading technical sup- pliers, with operations in seven cities throughout Canada and the US and over $70 million in annual revenues by the year 2000.

In 2002, a year after Q1 was born, the company merged with Showtime Lighting, a well-known Vancouver boutique lighting shop with an impec- cable reputation. Showtime founder Brian Konechny joined the Q1 partnership and later that year the company repurchased a portion of Westsun, including the Winnipeg Head Office operation.

However, loyalty to its theatrical begin- nings notwithstanding, it did gather a number of impressive touring rock 'n' roll accounts. Not the least of which being Kelly Clarkson, Journey and Motley Crue.

In addition, it hosts the monster dual set annual productions of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, where the music and the visual aspects (which include a gigantic lighting rig) take equal billing as the true stars of the show.

With locations in Winnipeg and Vancouver, Q1 brings a massive inventory of Vari*Lite gear and conventional instru- ments to the Epic deal, among many other assets.

Then there is Ed & Ted's Excellent Lighting. Event producer Ted Fowler, concert promoter Jim McNeill and audio company owner Ed Pratt founded Ed & Ted's Excellent Lighting in 1994 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over time Fowler bought out his partners, and Ed & Ted's moved to Oxnard, California and after the merge, remains as the Epic US operation. It was pretty much a straight forward rock 'n' roll house from day one with a strong list of accounts that included Bon Jovi, Beyonce, Matchbox 20, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Eagles. Where Q1's automated taste leaned toward Vari*Lite, Ed & Ted's had a strong leaning toward Martin Lighting gear.

The deal went down only about a week- and-a-half before the bottom fell out of the banking industry in late 2008. Had there been the slightest delay at any juncture of the deal, there is strong speculation that it wouldn't have happened. That being said, it did happen and the result was a company with immense and immediate strength.

One of the major reasons to make this move is that the production industry is a capital intensive business. Despite what- ever else might be going on in the world, production values seem to always be on the rise. Designers are ever more demand- ing of a variety of equipment as well as sheer quantity of gear. Overnight Epic Production Technologies more than dou- bled the equipment capacity of both Ed & Ted's and Q1.

"The industry has widely and wildly accepted the merger. We've had great response from our clients and colleagues because of our new menu of equipment," explained co-owner Ted Fowler.

Epic Vice President Craig Redden explained, "There were times that we missed jobs because we were a VL house and the same was true for ED & Ted's because they were a MAC house. This is going to give us a much larger equipment pool and make us a lot more competitive."

"Immediately after the deal happened we had a system come in from Lord of the Rings in London and go directly to Oxnard," said Marc Raymond, co- founder of Epic. "Around the same time, we had a lot of gear that was formerly Ed & Ted's equipment that got incorporated into the Trans- Siberian Orchestra system. So from an internal perspective, we started to see that it is working in terms of increasing resources that are avail- able to our customers almost from day one.’Δω

The constant theme of the creation of Epic Production Technologies was more gear and greater variety avail- able to the market, but availability and variety isn't the only benefit of the deal. There are whole new mar- kets to be explored.

Fowler went on to say, "Ed & Ted's had been focused on touring and large scale one-offs. And now with the strength of the merger, I'm gath- ering the strength of installations and theatre, and my Rolodex has quite a few inquiries into those areas." While not wanting to take anything away from the other major lighting companies on the top of the hill, to say that it's time to make a little room for the new guy would seem to state the blatantly obvious with far too much clarity. The fact is that the ground has been taken and all that is left to see now is what Epic Production Technologies will do with the claim it has staked.

In the immortal words of Craig Redden, "This looks to be a merger of Epic Proportions."

Editors note: On November 20, 2008 Craig Redden had left the Oxnard office of Epic Productions and was going to meet his beloved family when he succumbed to a massive heart attack in the parking garage of his hotel and passed away. We chose to leave his remarks in this piece in the present tense because they were and are currently relevant as is our memory of his bigger than life presence.

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