Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Lighting Spotlight: Gaffer Andrew Taylor

17/05/2022

It's like they are always on standby! Panalux's response is second to none. Gaffer Andrew Tala Taylor has built a solid working relationship with the Panalux family over the past 15 years a span of time that includes Da Vinci's Demons, Horrid Henry, The Game, and the latest Tala-Panalux collaboration, FX Network's 10-part series The Bastard Executioner.

Shot over 16 weeks around the Welsh countryside, The Bastard Executioner crammed together a mega-tight shooting schedule in-studio and on-location that didn't allow for down time or delays, and pushed requests for lighting delivery to the brink. The project was serviced from the Panalux Manchester office under the close watch of Regional Director, Head of TV and Drama John Lawton and Panalux Manchester General Manager Colin Smart.

It wasn't uncommon for me to call John in the very late hours of the evening to request kit for the following day, Tala says of the frequent scene and set amendments. While one location was being shot, the next one was being prepped so production ran as smoothly as possible.

Scene changes became commonplace in part because of unpredictable weather that impacted lighting and rigging set up a familiar phenomenon for a Welsh Gaffer. We could be shooting one scene and suddenly in the space of 20 minutes we had four seasons in a single day, explains Tala. It's no surprise though. That's just the way the weather is in Wales so you just need to roll with it.

For Tala and Panalux, rolling with it meant that new lighting lists were sent over to the Panalux Manchester team during recces for next day delivery, avoiding delays and ensuring that production was still on-track.

We've been in similar situations like this where very last minute requests have come through, so we knew what to expect, Colin explains. It just meant that there was a mad rush both in the office and warehouse to get the kit ready and loaded onto the truck to leave on time for the four-hour drive to Cardiff to guarantee that Tala had the kit.

Equipment for The Bastard Executioner took eight truckloads of studio pre-rigging, including a broad range of Tungsten fixtures and an array of distribution and cabling, an assortment of new Arri M-Series lamps from M800s to M90s and a supplement of Arri-Max 18Ks in the location package, and a bunch of Fresnels. An 18-tonne truck worth of lighting equipment and an 180kW 4x4 generator truck were used on location in addition to seven and a half tonnes of pre-rigging equipment and 100kW of lights. Panalux's brand new 80kW 4x4 generator was called to action for the more difficult of the location shoots.

FIRST CLASS SERVICEDuring the course of shooting, Colin put his 25-years of valuable industry experience to good use coordinating complex logistics and the frequent equipment requests, while John liaised with production. Beyond having regular interaction with John and Colin, Tala has worked, at one point over the years, with more or less everyone in the tight-knit Panalux Manchester operations team from office to warehouse to transportation.

They all have their roles to play and if one of them is off, another will step in and make sure that the job gets done in the best possible way, says Tala, commending the company on an attention to personal service and a dedication to quality work. They go the extra mile and I'm always made to feel welcome at Panalux. The boys will go out of their way to help me find what I'm after.

Panalux's personal service extends well beyond productions. Visits to the Panalux Manchester warehouse have resulted in some important hands-on demo time with the latest kit, including Panalux proprietary products - a worthwhile and welcome experience for Tala and other Gaffers. No Gaffer wants to show up on set and see some kit that they haven't ever seen or heard of before.

Uniquely, Panalux offers Gaffers and other clients the useful opportunity to stop by any of the regional UK offices in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff to try out, play with and familiarise themselves with kit new and old.

While he has historically had the most amount of contact with Panalux Manchester, Tala applauds the company's recent move to open Panalux Wales, predicting that Now that more productions are coming to Wales, it can only benefit production companies knowing that they have the world's largest lighting company on their doorstep. With the help of Panalux and new regional manager Ceiron Jenkins, productions can achieve more with local equipment at local cost.
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/andrew-taylor...
See more stories from panavision

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

30/07/2026

CP Communications Provides Broadcast Support for 2026 MLB All-Star Week in Philadelphia

CP Communications provided RF audio, RF video, communications, RF coordination, ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives has been included in CRN's 2026 Storage 100 list in the Software-Defined Storage category. The annual list, selected by the CRN editorial team, r...

30/07/2026

SES Selected by LATAM Airlines for Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity

LATAM Airlines has selected SES to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity to its fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. More than 60 aircraft - including Airb...

30/07/2026

Tagboard Launches Producer API with Elgato Stream Deck Integration

Tagboard has launched the Producer API, an open interface that allows key commands in Tagboard's live production environment to be triggered from external d...

30/07/2026

FOX Sports Adds Del Mar to Horse Racing Coverage in Multi-Year Deal

FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have announced a multi-year agreement with Del Mar Thoroughbred Club that will make FOX Sports the exclusi...

30/07/2026

ABC Commercial Launches Four FAST Channels on LG Smart TVs

ABC Commercial has launched four free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Smart TVs across North America, Great Britain, and select countrie...

30/07/2026

Six Kings Slam Returns to Netflix in October with Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic

The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament will return to Riyadh on October 21, 22, and 24, streaming live on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers....

30/07/2026

Central Christian Church Uses Clear-Coms Gen-IC to Connect Remote Production Teams

Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois has deployed Clear-Com's LQ...

30/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Releases UltraStudio Express 3G Capture and Playback Devices

Blackmagic Design has released the UltraStudio Express 3G family, a pair of USB4 capture and playback devices compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers ...

30/07/2026

ESPN Secures Media Rights to Womens Pro Baseball League

ESPN has reached a media rights agreement with the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL), making ESPN the national streaming home of the league's 2026 seas...

30/07/2026

Most Valuable Promotions and Professional Fighters League Merge

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) have announced a merger that will operate under the MVP banner. PFL CEO John Martin wi...

30/07/2026

Columbus Blue Jackets To Simulcast TV and Radio Broadcasts Beginning 2026-27

The Columbus Blue Jackets will simulcast all game broadcasts across television and radio beginning with the 2026-27 NHL season. Under the new format, the televi...

30/07/2026

TMRW Sports Selects Populous To Design Professional Flag Football Stadium

TMRW Sports has selected Populous as architect for a purpose-built stadium for its professional flag football league, being developed in partnership with the NF...

30/07/2026

SiriusXM Launches Sports Pass Subscription at $5 per Month

SiriusXM has announced SiriusXM Sports Pass, a new subscription plan launching September 1 that bundles the company's sports audio programming into a single...

30/07/2026

SVG Cloud & Content Workflows Summit Focuses on Live Production, Content Management, AI

Leagues, broadcasters, and technologists gather to tackle cloud economics, distr...

30/07/2026

AWSs Jason Dvorkin on the Power of AWS Elemental Inference, Agentic AI in Live Sports Production

A major player in the cloud-based solutions, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has conti...

30/07/2026

Minnesota Timberwolves Ink Local-Media-Rights Deal With DAZN

The NBA will provide production for all local game broadcasts, including pregame and postgame coverage...

30/07/2026

Cosm Detroit To Open September 10

Cosm will open its fourth immersive sports and entertainment venue in downtown Detroit on September 10. Located at 25 Cadillac Square, adjacent to Campus Martiu...

30/07/2026

NFL Network Added to ESPN App Beginning July 30

NFL Network will be available on the ESPN App beginning July 30 for Unlimited plan subscribers. The addition brings NFL Network's live games, studio program...

30/07/2026

NEP Platform Adds Riedels SimplyLive Production Suite

NEP Group has added Riedel's SimplyLive Production Suite to NEP Platform, giving customers access to the live production software through NEP's orchestr...

30/07/2026

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE NAMES TRISTA SCHROEDER GENERAL COUNSEL & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

LOS ANGELES, CA, July 30, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announce...

30/07/2026

Waves release Atlas Reverb

A new take on classic algorithmic reverbs Waves have just introduced a new flagship algorithmic reverb plug-in that offers the company's take on the ico...

30/07/2026

Arturia's Summer Sale now live

Save up to 30% on virtual instruments & plug-ins Arturia have recently launched their annual Summer Sale, which sees discounts of up to 30% applied across a...

30/07/2026

SSL unveil the Odyssey console

ActiveAnalogue technology powers new flagship modular console A year on from the launch of the Oracle, SSL have revealed a new flagship console which they s...

30/07/2026

DT 275 Pro from beyerdynamic

Up to 22dBA of passive attenuation The latest arrival to the beyerdynamic range introduces a new compact monitoring headphone that's been designed to ta...

30/07/2026

Apprenticeship success at SGL Carbon in Meitingen

As part of its traditional graduation ceremony, SGL Carbon honored the achievements of a total of twelve young professionals who successfully completed their ap...

30/07/2026

Premiere date revealed for SBS Original drama The Airport Chaplain, starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez

Premiere date revealed for SBS Original drama The Airport Chaplain, starring Hug...

30/07/2026

TVNZ Works with Evergent to Successfully Debut New Stream...

TVNZ and Evergent are celebrating a major TVNZ milestone - the evolution from a free-to-view, ad-supported business into a hybrid model, offering premium sport...

30/07/2026

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments Brought to you by KawaiiEngine, WebMiere is a...

30/07/2026

Comments on FCC License Renewals for ABC Stations Top 150,000

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

CW Sports Live Streaming to Launch Aug. 4 on the ESPN App

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

Fox Advertising, iSpot Expand Measurement Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

GlobalM Expands Software-Defined Media Platform for Cloud...

At IBC2026, GlobalM will showcase the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform, enabling broadcasters, telecom operators and media organisations ...

30/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems at 2026 TAB Show

At the 2026 TAB Show, Digital Alert Systems will highlight and demo the new DAS-Link AIR, an over-the-air common alert protocol (CAP) dissemination system for ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List Company Recognized Among the 50 Coolest Software-Defined Storage Vendors for Unlimited Capacity, S3 Hybrid M...

30/07/2026

VIDA Brings AI Scene-Level Search to Media Archives Endin...

New Scene Search capability in VIDA Content OS makes video content itself searchable, letting broadcasters and streamers find key moments across millions of ass...

30/07/2026

Tribeca Films Announces Summer 2026 Acquisitions Including Loves Company,' A Very Merry Breakup,' And Magic Hour'

July 30th, 2026 TRIBECA FILMS ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2026 ACQUISITIONS INCLUDING L...

30/07/2026

Which WSL matches are Sky Sports showing on the 2026/27 opening weekend?

Thursday 30 July 2026 Which WSL matches are Sky Sports showing on the 2026/27 opening weekend? The season will kick off on Friday 4 September with Manchester ...

30/07/2026

Enjoy discounts on the iPhone Air, plus 5Gb speeds with Ultimate TV for 2.10 a day

Thursday 30 July 2026 Enjoy discounts on the iPhone Air, plus 5Gb speeds with U...

30/07/2026

Creedon's Musical Atlas of Ireland returns for another season of stories and songs

Broadcaster John Creedon explores Ireland's rich musical heritage Sunday 2 A...

30/07/2026

Best in Class: Stream PC Games and Study on the Same Laptop With GeForce NOW

Back to school means balancing assignments, deadlines and downtime. GeForce NOW makes it easy to have it all. With cloud gaming, everyday laptops used for clas...

29/07/2026

Grass Valley Op-Ed Series: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

In this series, Grass Valley explores the seven paradoxes shaping the next era o...

29/07/2026

SVG Students to Watch: A Look Back at a Year of Spotlighting the Emerging Talent in Live Sports Production

Thats a wrap on Season 1 of SVG Students to Watch! Across the country, these stu...

29/07/2026

DAZN to Become Exclusive DTC In-Market Streaming Home of YES Network, MSG Networks; Gotham App to Shut Down

The agreement will move Gotham Sports App subscribers to DAZN during the 2026-27...

29/07/2026

Big South Promotes Emily Dassel to Associate Commissioner for Brand and Creative Strategy

Longtime digital-media leader expands role overseeing conference branding, video...

29/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Gregg Araki, the Director of I Want Your Sex

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...