For "BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen!" at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood Live Theater & Show Venue, Lighting Designer John Viesta of Infinite Designs Inc. deployed 35 Claypaky Ultimo Sharpy fixtures. The performances were centerpiece events of Bravo's BravoCon 2025 fan convention, featuring host Andy Cohen alongside musical acts, interviews, games, the irreverent Bravo Awards, and a holiday special.
Viesta, who doubled as Creative Director, leads Infinite Designs Inc., a New York-based studio specializing in turnkey solutions across television, live performance, film, and digital broadcasting. His design concept merged Las Vegas nostalgia with the mid-century modern aesthetic of Cohen's late-night show "Watch What Happens Live!"
"'BravoCon LIVE with Andy Cohen!' continues pushing boundaries despite extremely tight production schedules," Viesta explains. "We're shooting five supersized episodes that must be delivered to the network within days—no time for reshoots, pickups, or extensive post-production. Everything is captured as if it's happening live, which demands maximum flexibility from the lighting team."
Planet Hollywood Live presented unique challenges. "It's a legacy venue with tremendous history but limited television experience," Viesta notes. "We're dealing with 200-foot throws to reach talent positions, combined with minimal front-of-house lighting positions. Finding fixtures bright enough for those distances while maintaining broadcast-quality color rendering proved difficult—few manufacturers make ultra-high output fixtures with sufficient CRI for camera work."
This year's brief called for a more contemporary lighting approach, which Viesta contrasted against the set's retro styling. "I created a 'string of pearls' effect with large-faced direct-view fixtures around the show portal, giving us bold color-changing capabilities while framing each shot."
The standout addition came from Main Light's supply of Ultimo Sharpys. "They cut through the air beautifully, illuminating negative space while staying bright enough and moving fast enough for our commercial transitions," Viesta says. An unexpected benefit emerged during taping: "The Ultimos' rapid color flags were perfect for our Jimmy Fallon ShotSki Game, where we needed rainbow chase effects."
Viesta initially worried about over-specifying the Ultimo count but found the quantity ideal. "They transformed our wide shots and, crucially, gave composition to the background air space in tight camera shots."
Greg Goff served as Lighting Director, with Josh Selander as Lighting Director/Programmer. Ben Travis of Infinite Designs provided technical supervision. Inner Circle Distribution, Claypaky's exclusive US distributor, supported the production through West Coast Sales Manager Adam Camp.