NEWBURY PARK, CA – For the second time in his 40-plus year career in the live event business, Danny O'Bryen has started a new company. On Jan. 3, O'Bryen parted ways with NEP Screenworks and immediately launched a new video touring company, DannyO Video. "I started [Screenworks] and then ran it for 22 years, but it was just time to get back to focusing on what I'm good at on my own as opposed to working within the confines of a large corporation," O'Bryen told PLSN. He plans on building his new organization with "an emphasis on the personal relationships of the touring industry – it's all about the people and the personal touch. I'm looking forward to focusing on that and not being diverted by [unrelated] issues."
O'Bryen began as a promoter rep out of Boston and became a lighting tech and lighting designer, then worked for 14 years as the promoter rep for Avalon Attractions in Los Angeles before throwing himself into video. With Tom McCracken, he established BCC Video in 1989, which evolved into Screenworks. NEP Broadcasting and Screenworks merged in 2002.
During O'Bryen's tenure there, the company garnered many accolades. Screenworks won four Parnelli Awards as Video Company of the Year, and was also a three-time award recipient of Pollstar's Video Company of the Year.
While O'Bryen acknowledges there's more competition in this field then when he started, he points to his experiences and the fact that he's always been hands-on as advantages.
Starting with a clean slate has many other advantages: "I get to start with all new inventory. You have to understand that I started with projectors on that first Madonna tour, and then we did the first Jumbotrons on the Genesis tour with [LD Marc] Brickman, the first to really work with daylight screens, that was all cutting-edge. Then LEDs … I've always been on the cutting edge of technology, and have always done well designing, and always had a great support crew."
All this he plans on continuing, especially the latter: "You're only as good as your people," he says. "At the end of the day its about the people, because everything else is gear in road boxes. That's how people know me – people like Jake Berry, Steve Cohen…And people know that I've been a video guy for 22 years, and still direct DVD live concerts with Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews. Last year I directed the Black Eyed Peas for a special concert shown in 200 Regal Theaters in HD. We had 11 HD cameras plus five 3D cameras."
O'Bryen says he already had several tours lined up, though at presstime he wasn't at liberty to say what they were. DannyO Video will be located in Newbury Park, CA. His website is dannyovideo.com and his number is 805.796 6194.
