PSSI Produces on the Fly for NBA’s MVP, ROY Ceremonies

The first week of May was an action-packed few days for PSSI Global Services, which produced and delivered the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year ceremonies live on back-to-back days in cities located 2,000 miles apart.

On the morning of May 2, less than 24 hours before Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose accepted the MVP trophy at a ceremony in Lincolnshire, IL, PSSI got a call from the NBA. The league tasked the company with putting together a three-camera HD production for the ceremony, press conference, and interviews at the event. PSSI also transmitted the event back to NBA TV via its satellite uplink truck.

“That short of a time frame is very unusual,” says PSSI Director of Operations Andie Cohen-Healy. “We deal with very quick turnarounds regularly but not something that large in that short of a period of time. But it came off flawlessly, which was a real accomplishment considering how little time we had to put it together.”

The NBA provided a producer/director for the shoot, but PSSI was responsible for assembling the rest of the 10-person crew and obtaining the necessary equipment on extremely short notice.

“We had to secure the crew, bring in fiber to connect from the press-conference site to the truck, and ship equipment to Chicago and pick it up at the airport,” says Clayton Packard, director of sales and marketing, PSSI Global Services. “It was pretty amazing considering our call time was 9 a.m., and we were ready to roll at noon for the press conference at 3 p.m.”

A day later, PSSI was at it again, this time at the Los Angeles Clippers practice facility in the Playa Vista area of Los Angeles for the Rookie of the Year award ceremony, press conference, and media tour featuring Clippers forward Blake Griffin. PSSI crewed, produced, and transmitted the three-camera HD shoot for NBA TV. Although it was originally planned as a two-camera shoot, a consumer-grade camcorder (not supplied by PSSI) was added to the show at the last minute.

Although PSSI had a longer time frame to develop the logistics for the Rookie of the Year production, an eleventh-hour change of venue forced PSSI to once again think on its feet.

“We were really doing two shows at one time,” says Cohen-Healy. “While we were doing Chicago, we were also arranging site surveys in L.A. because that location switched last minute. It was originally in downtown Las Angeles at the Westin Hotel. So while we were putting together Chicago, we were still trying to manage the press conference that was happening the next day.