Mike Dorsett rigs FUSION X-PAR 12Z and impression X4 for pre-match interviews

The 75th Reese’s Senior Bowl (featuring the 75th Anniversary Team) recently partnered with the NFL Players Association at the Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. To mark this landmark anniversary, on the previous evening a special 75th Anniversary Legends Gala was held (alongside a Mardi Gras) which featured some of the legends of the game.

These footballing giants congregated in the ballroom at the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel, where Good Morning Football host, Peter Schrager (from the NFL Network), conducted in-the-round interviews from a raised armchair platform for an audience of up to 500 guests, who listened intently as some of the game’s superstars told their stories.

Brought in to provide studio-type lighting was Mike Dorsett, of locally based Dorsett Productions Unlimited, who dipped into his large inventory of GLP fixtures to enhance the production.

Dorsett originally set up his company back in 1986 and has steadily been building his GLP stock to over 100 pieces since being introduced to the portfolio by Rick Fallon some 15 years ago.

“At the Battle House we needed to ground support the lighting on crossbar truss, since the rigging points were removed the last time the room was renovated,” he explains.

His design was based around 20 FUSION X-PAR 12Zs (known affectionately as Oom-Pars) – some as floor-based uplighters and some as overheads. To this he added six impression X4 washes and four impression Spot One heads.

Mike Dorsett speaks glowingly about the FUSION X-PAR 12Z and his reason for investing: “I needed a solution to be able to get a higher colour temperature for the RGB. [These fixtures have variable colour temperature adjustment from 2,500 to 10,000 K.] It also has a good zoom, which I was able to use to 15° on the overhead. And because it is IP65-rated they are regularly used both indoors and out at our events. For the price point it’s fantastic.”

Dorsett particularly admires the build quality of GLP products. “They are so robust,” he points out, “and you always have the confidence that when you switch it on it will just work.” In addition to the aforementioned products, Dorsett Productions Unlimited also stock impression X4 S, JDC1, GT-1 FL and FUSION Exo Beam 10.

The Reese’s Senior Bowl organisation, with whom Dorsett has been associated for a number of years, was equally impressed with the impact and dynamic provided by the production company’s set design.

Dave Rogers, Reese’s Senior Bowl director of marketing and brand strategy, states: “The 75th Anniversary Gala was not a typical sit-down dinner. We needed to take a hotel ballroom and turn it into a high-end centre stage with multiple points of approach and viewing angles. It was necessary to build the event with the best atmosphere and lighting because we were showcasing 16 NFL legends and Pro Football Hall of Famers, including Terrell Owens, LeRoy Butler and DeMarcus Ware.

“Dorsett Productions Unlimited came up with a way to utilise GLP’s lighting solutions that gave us what we were looking for without compromising viewing access.”