LAS VEGAS (October 19, 2010) - Those who have ever attended a PBR World Finals or Built Ford Tough Series event know they are in for an adrenalin-filled, off-the-charts experience when they walk through the turnstiles.
Lasers, lights, rock music, video and some of the best pyrotechnics help make each event one to remember.
It’s a spectacularly choreographed show that Clayton Cullen and his 25-man crew take great pride in producing each and every time the PBR pulls into town. And this week, they are in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center for the 2010 PBR World Finals.
“Fans can expect a lot of changes (to this year’s show),” said Cullen, who is producing his seventh World Finals. “We have changed the configuration of the arena, so that’s going to be cool. We also have some exciting things planned with video. Our society is trained to see video, so we are going to overload their senses.”
Also, there will be a different opening each night.
“We always strive to be bigger, better and glitzier than last year,” Cullen said.
Making it all happen, though, takes careful planning and an abundance of manpower. At the Thomas & Mack Center, Cullen, his crew and about 50 local stage hands join forces to methodically place and coordinate hundreds of different audio and visual elements.
“The interaction between all of the elements is probably the most difficult part of the job,” he said.
While Cullen has his hands full this week, he’s already making decisions about next year’s tour, which gets under way in January at Madison Square Garden.
“You have to keep it fresh or you can become irrelevant really fast,” he said. “We have a lot of real loyal fans and we owe it to them to make it new, exciting and fresh.”
Cullen came to the PBR at the end of 2004 when former PBR Chief Executive Officer Randy Bernard called with the job opening.
“Randy and I worked together at the fair in Paso Robles (Calif.),” Cullen said. “We produced the first PBR event at that fairgrounds in 1995, so that’s how Randy knew me. He called one day and said ‘I Iost my production manager, and you are the new one.’ I said, ‘Oh, really?’ I said let me think about it and it took me six weeks to give the OK.”
Cullen calls his job the most dynamic he’s ever had.
“The highs are really high and the lows can be really low,” he said.
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