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Universal puts on thinking cap for more events
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 10, 2006
Jim Timon, 47, senior vice president for entertainment at Universal Orlando. Timon spoke with staff writer Scott Powers. Question: How did you get started in show business?
Answer: By having to pay the rent. I finished college with my degree in theater... I was flipping through the newspaper and saw that SeaWorld was hiring announcers for a dolphin show. I thought, 'Well, heck, I've been in theater all my life; I could announce a dolphin show.' So I did.
Q: It's clear that Halloween Horror Nights and Mardi Gras are critical to the company's bottom line, but how do they affect this company's creative environment?
A: Those events demand so much new thinking and creativity because we do them new every year...That spills over to make us always challenge ourselves to meet that bar in just about everything we do.
Q: Might we expect more after-hours festivals?
A: Yeah. Absolutely. Yes...What we used to call an event is now part of our brand.
Q: Does anything in Halloween Horror Nights scare you personally?
A: Yeah, doing it. The fact that it's October again. Personally? I have to honestly say probably no. Except when we are doing a rehearsal for a haunted house, and I know in my mind where all the gags are, where all the scharacters are, because we've designed it for almost a year. But still, you walk into a haunted house, get caught up in the environment and get scared by somebody, because your mind travels, you get caught up in the environment, and you get surprised. But I don't think I'm personally scared of Halloween, except doing it.
Q: Is there a style or attitude that you expect from Universal entertainment that sets it apart?
A: Yeah, absolutely. We have a style and attitude of pushing it, and when I say pushing it, pushing our creative skills and pushing our everyday show and the quality of how we develop it, pushing our people to really do and be the best... Our brand by its nature is hugely expansive. It gives us the opportunity to do really wild, different things.
Q: Is there anything about Central Florida's talent pool that sets it apart?
A: Central Florida's talent pool, I think, is one of the best in the country because of the opportunities for performers ..... . Between us, Disney, SeaWorld, the dinner theaters, they...have a wide variety of opportunities to play different roles, do different things, sing, dance, stunts, technical, you name it.
Q: Your new summer closing show Universal 360 seems to be a big hit. Now you're adapting it to Halloween Horror Nights. Are we going to see more of the Universal 360 spheres in other opportunities?
A: The platform upon which Universal 360 plays is so flexible we can do specialty shows for Christmas or Fourth of July or corporate clients that may want to come in for private parties. The spheres can even take a live feed, so we can do concerts on the lagoon with live feed to the spheres.
Q: On the other hand, you get complaints from neighbors about the fireworks, and about Fear Factor Live. Where's that going?
A: We are completely aware and sensitive, and I'm talking about the entertainment effort, to the neighbors. We have reduced the level of concussion in our pyrotechnics in Fear Factor Live in response to some of their concerns. As we designed Universal 360 we went into that pyrotechnic design very aware of concerns and issues and designed it to be less impactful than what they've experienced in the past. Same thing is happening now with Halloween Horror Nights. Q: Nationally or internationally, what shows out there impress you right now?
A: There's a lot. On Broadway, Wicked has been a huge, great boost...Out in Vegas, Cirque's new show, Ka, has technologically been one of the biggest advancements and achievements I've seen out there. Speaking selfishly for Universal for a minute, our WaterWorld stunt show, which we do in both Los Angeles and Japan, I think is the greatest live-action stunt show in the world today...Oh, I left one out in Vegas and New York: Blue Man Group is doing incredible stuff these days.
Q: You mentioned a couple of things, the WaterWorld show. Any chance that might be coming here?
A: The difficulty is it takes a very large physical footprint with a very large lake. We've talked about bringing it here and haven't quite figured out where on the property we could do it. But it might. It might some day. Or perhaps another big, live-action stunt product with the scope of WaterWorld.
Q: You mentioned the Blue Man Group. There are rumors you're negotiating with them to come to town.
A: Really?
Q: Is that something you can talk about?
A: No. There're probably rumors out there that we're talking to everybody. Because we do talk to everybody. We're always looking for not only creative inspiration but great partnerships and great show products.
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 10, 2006
Jim Timon, 47, senior vice president for entertainment at Universal Orlando. Timon spoke with staff writer Scott Powers. Question: How did you get started in show business?
Answer: By having to pay the rent. I finished college with my degree in theater... I was flipping through the newspaper and saw that SeaWorld was hiring announcers for a dolphin show. I thought, 'Well, heck, I've been in theater all my life; I could announce a dolphin show.' So I did.
Q: It's clear that Halloween Horror Nights and Mardi Gras are critical to the company's bottom line, but how do they affect this company's creative environment?
A: Those events demand so much new thinking and creativity because we do them new every year...That spills over to make us always challenge ourselves to meet that bar in just about everything we do.
Q: Might we expect more after-hours festivals?
A: Yeah. Absolutely. Yes...What we used to call an event is now part of our brand.
Q: Does anything in Halloween Horror Nights scare you personally?
A: Yeah, doing it. The fact that it's October again. Personally? I have to honestly say probably no. Except when we are doing a rehearsal for a haunted house, and I know in my mind where all the gags are, where all the scharacters are, because we've designed it for almost a year. But still, you walk into a haunted house, get caught up in the environment and get scared by somebody, because your mind travels, you get caught up in the environment, and you get surprised. But I don't think I'm personally scared of Halloween, except doing it.
Q: Is there a style or attitude that you expect from Universal entertainment that sets it apart?
A: Yeah, absolutely. We have a style and attitude of pushing it, and when I say pushing it, pushing our creative skills and pushing our everyday show and the quality of how we develop it, pushing our people to really do and be the best... Our brand by its nature is hugely expansive. It gives us the opportunity to do really wild, different things.
Q: Is there anything about Central Florida's talent pool that sets it apart?
A: Central Florida's talent pool, I think, is one of the best in the country because of the opportunities for performers ..... . Between us, Disney, SeaWorld, the dinner theaters, they...have a wide variety of opportunities to play different roles, do different things, sing, dance, stunts, technical, you name it.
Q: Your new summer closing show Universal 360 seems to be a big hit. Now you're adapting it to Halloween Horror Nights. Are we going to see more of the Universal 360 spheres in other opportunities?
A: The platform upon which Universal 360 plays is so flexible we can do specialty shows for Christmas or Fourth of July or corporate clients that may want to come in for private parties. The spheres can even take a live feed, so we can do concerts on the lagoon with live feed to the spheres.
Q: On the other hand, you get complaints from neighbors about the fireworks, and about Fear Factor Live. Where's that going?
A: We are completely aware and sensitive, and I'm talking about the entertainment effort, to the neighbors. We have reduced the level of concussion in our pyrotechnics in Fear Factor Live in response to some of their concerns. As we designed Universal 360 we went into that pyrotechnic design very aware of concerns and issues and designed it to be less impactful than what they've experienced in the past. Same thing is happening now with Halloween Horror Nights. Q: Nationally or internationally, what shows out there impress you right now?
A: There's a lot. On Broadway, Wicked has been a huge, great boost...Out in Vegas, Cirque's new show, Ka, has technologically been one of the biggest advancements and achievements I've seen out there. Speaking selfishly for Universal for a minute, our WaterWorld stunt show, which we do in both Los Angeles and Japan, I think is the greatest live-action stunt show in the world today...Oh, I left one out in Vegas and New York: Blue Man Group is doing incredible stuff these days.
Q: You mentioned a couple of things, the WaterWorld show. Any chance that might be coming here?
A: The difficulty is it takes a very large physical footprint with a very large lake. We've talked about bringing it here and haven't quite figured out where on the property we could do it. But it might. It might some day. Or perhaps another big, live-action stunt product with the scope of WaterWorld.
Q: You mentioned the Blue Man Group. There are rumors you're negotiating with them to come to town.
A: Really?
Q: Is that something you can talk about?
A: No. There're probably rumors out there that we're talking to everybody. Because we do talk to everybody. We're always looking for not only creative inspiration but great partnerships and great show products.
