Live from Final Four: Filmwerks Responds as Expanded Compound Requires More Power

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist. If you’re going to balloon your production by nearly double, you’re going to need more power.

Fortunately for Turner Sports and CBS Sports, Filmwerks International was able to work its way back into the Final Four fray this year, supplying the broadcast compound with generators that could max out at two megawatts, enough to power 2,000 homes.

L to R: The Filmwerks team of Chad Corbin, Anneliese Dauerer, and Mike Satrazemis.

Challenges were evident in the split production compound at AT&T Stadium this weekend, but the Filmwerks team was able to get all of the units juiced.

“It’s more of a logistical cabling nightmare than anything else,” says Filmwerks owner Mike Satrazemis. “This is not your typical plug-and-play. You really have to think how you’re going to do things and how you’re going to back everything up.”

Filmwerks had been forced to sit out the Final Four for a few years as the company was typically working other major events around the same time, such as The Masters – another CBS project. However, through the company’s acquisition of Live Power, a former division of the NEP Broadcasting family, Filmwerks has expanded its equipment offerings significantly.

“If you take an event like the Final Four, we haven’t been here in a while because we didn’t have the equipment we needed because we had gear tied up at the Masters,” says Satrezemis. “Now we have the horsepower to do multiple major events at one time.”

Filmwerks has taken advantage of these additional opportunities in a big way. Currently, the company has power generators working here at the Final Four in North Texas, WWE’s Wrestlemania in New Orleans, and The Masters in Augusta, Ga.