Software writer brings stages alive from U.S. to London
Chris Ashworth had studied computer science but never written an entire piece of software when a North Carolina theater production company asked for his help. What he came up with would be a huge hit with creative professionals who design elaborate stage productions across the world.
The theater company needed software that could help manage sound effects for a play while running on an Apple computer. Ashworth was a computer science graduate student in North Carolina, and he and a friend built one for them in a little over a month.
“It was completely starting from scratch,” Ashworth said. “It was a crazy project. … It was a simple problem being solved by a rudimentary piece of software.”
That was five years ago this month. Today, Ashworth’s modest piece of software has grown into what he now calls QLab, a full-featured program with a foothold in the niche industry of sound and video design for live productions. It’s being used at professional theaters from Baltimore to London and in major Broadway productions that have won Tony awards for sound design.
Shows at the Metropolitan Opera and the Kennedy Center also have featured music and sound crafted by designers using QLab. Other clients include trade shows and corporations that use the software to power their events.
“This little thing I threw out into the world is being involved with this stuff,” Ashworth said. “I’m still not used to it.” As an independent software developer working out of his Charles Village rowhouse, Ashworth attributes the increasing adoption of his product to an enthusiastic corps of theater multimedia professionals around the world who helped him improve his software and market it through word-of-mouth compliments.
His software can blend sound effects, video, animation, stage lighting and other effects, and also enable an engineer to set up an automated queue for the effects to play. He likens it to a production engineer first laying down dominoes of audio and visual effects, and at the push of a button, knocking them down during a show.
Traditionally, software for sound design that could power large-scale shows and events has been expensive and geared toward the PC-user market.
Ashworth focused on building software for the Mac because that’s what his first customer needed. He quickly discovered that there was a whole world of creative theater professionals using Macs who were looking for the software he was developing.
“It was the right opportunity waiting to be exploited,” he said.
In his early days, Ashworth had customers telling him that his software’s price was too low and that they’d be willing to pay more for it.
Sales were boosted last year by the release of a 2.0 version of QLab, Ashworth said, though he declined to release revenue figures. He gives away a “lite” version of QLab, which only offers sound design features for two speakers. Full versions for audio, video and musical instrument digital support cost $249 each, or $599 for a bundle of all three. Competitors’ software systems can run into the thousands of dollars.
“This whole thing grew from me giving away a free version,” Ashworth said.
Rory Dale, a sound designer at the Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tenn., said he has been a faithful user of the software for more than four years. He plans to use it to run sound and visual effects at the theater’s opening production of “Pippin” later this month. When Dale first started doing sound design, he’d have to juggle CDs and work in various programs, he said. But QLab has allowed him to better structure and automate his work quicker than ever.
“It really revolutionized what I do,” Dale said. “I can’t overstate that.”
Baltimore’s Center Stage has been using QLab for nearly three years, said Amy Wedel, the theater’s audio engineer. For Wedel, who’s been doing theater audio for 14 years, QLab was an easier-to-use alternative to more expensive software. Arranging audio effects was a more manual and complicated process before QLab came along, she said.
“A complex sequence you might not have been able to achieve otherwise, because you only have two hands … you can do that now by just hitting one ‘go’ button,” Wedel said.
On Broadway, QLab was used in a revival of “South Pacific,” which won a Tony award in sound design in 2008, Ashworth said. Two other shows using QLab won Tony awards in sound design last year, he said.
“It’s wonderful, but in some sense, it’s terrifying,” Ashworth said of his success. With QLab, he said, “I’m all of a sudden responsible for these productions not failing.”
Ashworth isn’t just a computer geek. He loves theater, having double-majored in it and computer science when he was in college in Minnesota. Originally from Kentucky, Ashworth attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He and his wife moved to Baltimore to continue her education and, at first, he didn’t think they’d stay long. But they ended up buying a home, and Ashworth is happy with the local tech scene.Ashworth now has two employees and they all work remotely: Ashworth in Baltimore and the others in Seattle and California.
“It’s exciting,” a smiling Ashworth said of QLab’s growth. “And it’s a little nerve-racking.”
Copyright © 2010, The Baltimore Sun
Christmas Carollers
These four piece A Capella Quartets are some of the most popular performers in the London area in their genre, singing Christmas carols for every variety of event in London and the UK throughout the holiday season.
The Christmas carollers bring “Joy to the World” and a festive atmosphere “Decking the Halls”, and “Wishing you a Merry Christmas”! The quartets help you to create a light and spirited atmosphere and a memorable occasion that your guests will talk about long after.
The quartets are made up of some of the best young voices in the UK, students and graduates of the Guildhall School of Music and professional singers hand selected to perform to the highest standard.
Mobility and flexibility of the carol singing quartets allows them to greet guests as they enter, roam amongst them with a song while they eat and mingle, or sing by the Christmas tree enchanting guests as they come and go.
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Christmas Parties Cancelled
Cancelling office Christmas parties could have a damaging effect on small businesses, employers have been warned.
The Forum of Private Business lobby group said entertainers, florists and chefs could suffer if parties were cancelled as the recession drags on.
London events company Concerto group estimates that the festive party market is worth £1bn.
It said its research showed one in five businesses had cancelled their celebrations and half were undecided.
Last year’s financial woes led to companies cutting back on the cost of Christmas parties, but this year some are cancelling them altogether.
But the Forum of Private Business (FPB) is urging businesses to try to put one on, to thank staff and keep morale up.
Appreciation of workers
FPB spokesman Phil McCabe said a huge number of businesses were in the supply chain, with implications for businesses and jobs.
Laser Hub in Crawley, West Sussex, hosts corporate Christmas bashes for groups of 50 or so in its indoor arena or function rooms, but has had fewer bookings than expected.
Managing director Andrew Snowdon said bookings were down by a half on last year and he was not expecting to be able to make up the financial losses elsewhere.
Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, said: “Staff Christmas parties are about recognition and appreciation of workers, not indulging fat cats.
“They are a valuable way of saying thank you to employees for their hard work during this turbulent time.
“In turn, good employee engagement delivers bottom line results.”
One in five firms plans to axe the traditional Christmas party this year due to the financial pressures of the recession, figures showed today.
And around half of the remaining 80 per cent of firms say they still have not decided if they will go ahead with a party.
Cash-strapped companies fear paying for their employees’ Christmas parties could leave them with an added financial burden.
But employers were today urged not to cancel office parties this Christmas because of the devastating effect it could have on small firms.
A group representing leisure and entertainment businesses launched a campaign warning they faced bankruptcy unless festive celebrations went ahead despite the recession.
The Christmas party market is worth £1 billion but this year hundreds of Britain’s small businesses, including florists, chefs and entertainers could go bust if Christmas parties are cancelled, it was warned.
‘Staff Christmas parties are about the recognition and appreciation of workers, not indulging fat cats,’ said Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, which is leading the campaign.
‘They are a valuable way of saying thank you to employees for their hard work during this turbulent time.
‘In turn, good employee engagement delivers bottom line results.’
Figures from one of the leading events companies in London showed that one in five businesses have cancelled their Christmas party and half are undecided.
This could have a detrimental impact on the supply chain as the events industry could lose between £350 million and £500 million of Christmas party funds, it was claimed
London Film Festival
The London Film Festival (Oct 14-29) has long been a good place to launch films into the UK market. Now, with a budget increase and a pivotal slot in the autumn calendar, it hopes to become the gateway into Europe for some of the biggest films of the year.
What difference does $3m (£1.9m) make? In the case of the 53rd Times BFI London Film Festival (LFF), the investment promises to give the event an immediate boost. Available as extra funding from the UK Film Council (UKFC) over the next three years, the LFF is spending $1.4m (£900,000) of its windfall this year.
In recent years, the festival has been run on $6.7m-$7m (£4.2m-£4.5m) a year. Now, artistic director Sandra Hebron believes the event can begin to compete with its better resourced rivals such as the International Rome Film Festival ($17.7m), which runs almost simultaneously.
The LFF (October 14-29) is on a mission to attract more high-wattage premieres, to make sure it is a citywide event and to increase its international media profile. It is also introducing a new awards event (see page 20).
High-profile bookends
Foreign press are being jetted in for interview opportunities. Twentieth Century Fox’s Fantastic Mr Fox is opening the festival in two Leicester Square cinemas (the Odeon Leicester Square and the Empire), and Yoko Ono is scheduled to attend the closing night screening of Sam Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy, about the young John Lennon.
For the first time, the LFF will stage its own press conferences in the Mayfair and Dorchester hotels. These are expected to be attended by around 400 journalists for the big gala films such as the George Clooney-starrers The Men Who Stare At Goats and Up In The Air.
International distributors and producers seem to be warming to the LFF’s new-found ambition. As Focus Features’ CEO James Schamus says: “Pay heed to some fairly significant junketing that will be going on in London. There’s been a real uptick in London as a destination for the press around the world.” Schamus will be giving the LFF’s inaugural keynote speech on October 27 at the Vue Cinema to 180 invited industry guests, arranged in association with UK training body Skillset. Titled ‘My Wife is a Terrorist: Lessons in Storytelling from the Department of Homeland Security’, it is clear the Focus chief does not intend to give a typical industry speech.
“By becoming one of the great regional festivals, it has actually become a much more significant international festival.”
James Schamus, Focus Features
“Like all festivals, London is feeling the twin and sometimes opposing imperatives of growth as a competitive global player and as a festival that has, in the past decade, grown and become more dynamic because of its relationship to its audience,” he suggests. “By becoming one of the great regional festivals, it has actually become a much more significant international festival.”
Optimum Releasing is using the LFF to promote its autumn releases Bunny And The Bull and Cracks to the UK press. The distributor is also bringing in talent for its other festival films including Chloe (parent company StudioCanal plans to use the LFF for the international press junket).
“It’s good to be able to use London not just to launch the film in the UK but to set it up internationally. With the investment the LFF has made in bringing over more international journalists, London becomes a more viable place to do that,” says Danny Perkins, Optimum’s managing director and COO.
As in recent years, there will also be a significant Bafta campaign for many of the bigger films. Actors and directors in town for the LFF screenings will often take part in Bafta events. “It makes sense for the two things to dovetail,” says Hebron.
But while this year’s bigger films are set to receive more exposure than ever before, questions persist over whether the LFF is the best launch pad for the world premieres of smaller UK films. There is a danger they will be lost in what remains a large programme. Hebron points out that many of the titles from the New British Cinema strand are from film-makers early in their career and many are documentaries. “It’s about giving them exposure,” she says. Hebron mentions Chris Atkins’ Starsuckers and Jez Lewis’ Shed Your Tears And Walk Away, both documentaries, as films and film-makers ripe for discovery.
And the festival still prides itself on its ability to showcase provocative and offbeat fare that has little chance of mainstream distribution.
Industry office
The LFF’s industry office will still be running along relatively straitened lines. The aim is to invite around 25 international sales agents for the industry screenings, including well-known figures such as Wild Bunch’s Carole Baraton, MK2’s Dorothée Pfistner, Pyramide’s Yoann Ubermulhin, EuropaCorp and Roissy Films’ Yohann Comte, Memento’s Tania Meissner, Celluloid Dreams’ Hengameh Panahi and Visit Films’ Sylvain Tron.
“It’s getting a reputation throughout the world as one of the friendliest and most charming festivals around.”
Donald Rae, Ecosse Film
Around 25 UK buyers are also due to attend the industry screenings, which are held at the Curzon Soho cinema for films without UK distribution. Andrea Klein, the LFF’s buyers and sellers facilitator, is organising a Meet the Buyer event, this time for a full day, at which international sellers meet UK buyers and producers.
The goodwill toward the LFF is self-evident. “It’s getting a reputation throughout the world as one of the friendliest and most charming festivals around,” says Douglas Rae of the UK’s Ecosse Films, the producer of Nowhere Boy.
Even so, the LFF faces some challenges. It has lost its flagship venue, Odeon West End, to redevelopment. With its new West End partners Vue Cinemas and Empire Cinemas, the LFF is having to stage some gala screenings simultaneously on two screens to meet spectator demand. It will have to find a new title sponsor (if it decides it still wants one) for 2010 as the deal with The Times expires this year. The ongoing discussions about a possible BFI/UKFC merger will have a bearing on the festival’s own future and the extra UKFC funding itself will run out in two years.
The imperative now is to build on the extra funding. Hebron remains upbeat about the future. “I’m optimistic on the basis of what it has been possible to raise against the festival this year,” she says.
London Fashion Week
Tube commuters took the front row for a taste of the new season today as London’s first high street fashion week kicked off with a show on the underground.
London fashion week starts in a few days’ time and will remain the preserve of A-listers and journalists. But the “pop-up” style event, which is aimed at promoting the best of Oxford Street, saw models posing in autumn’s newest looks, including sparkly dresses and six-inch heels, as bemused passengers looked on. The “People’s Catwalk” ran on the Central Line from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch – the mile and a half length of Oxford Street. The show started at 10am, missing rush hour, and lasted 20 minutes, much longer than regular shows, which often last for under 10 minutes despite hours of waiting.
Eight models showed a range of designs from high street favourites Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Next, River Island, Selfridges and Uniqlo.
Laura Ramos, communications manager for the New West End Company, one of the organisers of the show, said: “With London fashion week coming up we wanted to do something that was more accessible to the public. Normally fashion shows are reserved for the fashion elite and the tube show was an opportunity to grab a slice of what it’s like. It’s a great showcase for the high street as people can go straight into the shops and buy what they saw.
“This stunt was the first in a week-long calender of events. We’ve had a really positive reaction and it’s going to become a regular thing. Hopefully it will be even bigger in February. We’ve got 15 retailers involved this time but we’re hoping to expand that.”
Other events will include live DJ sets, champagne receptions, promotions and discounts.
