From pitchside to production
Less than 18 months on from launching JL Live mid pandemic after finding himself out of work , Phil McMichael has led the company to be shortlisted for two EN Awards following its work on several high-profile events . McMichael tells EN ’ s Joe Gallop about the remarkable story of its inception
It all started with a children ’ s football game in September 2020 for technical production company JL Live .
A month after GES-owned event technical production specialist Blitz went into liquidation , where Phil McMichael was sales director , he was introduced to his current business partner Jack Linekar while watching his child kick a ball around on a Saturday morning .
During a half time cup of tea between McMichael ’ s wife and Linekar ’ s mother , who also happens to be the mother of McMichael ’ s son ’ s teammate , plans began to brew .
Linekar , who has been managing director of television production company JL Lighting since 2008 , was looking for someone to take on events full time and drive the event production side of the business – and that is where McMichael came in .
Since then , JL Live , which rents AV lighting , set / stage kit and crew to the trade show , television , film and retail industries , has won business from big suppliers and delivered on shows such as Global Offshore Wind ,
“ I could have easily left the industry and sunk further into despair ...”
COP26 and DSEi .
“ After a couple of pub lunches , visits to the warehouse and a presentation or two by me , we decided the best thing to do was to set up a new business ,” says
McMichael . “ We took on my background , experience and knowledge for all things events and married that with Jack ’ s love for lighting , AV , television and film – and then formed a business that was set up perfectly for the return of the events industry .”
When McMichael found himself out of work , he questioned his career options but after several interviews for other industry jobs he decided to stick to his passion of live events . “ Once you pick yourself up off the floor , which took me a couple of weeks , you seriously look at life and what you want to do ,” he says . “ From my perspective having worked in the events industry for 10 years , it gets in your blood – It ’ s a love , it ’ s a passion and ultimately it ’ s my life .
“ Sometimes you just have to take advantage of the opportunities thrown at you in life . I could have easily left the industry and sunk further into despair , but I ’ m a glass half full person and I knew I had a role to play in the industry . I ’ m passionate about it and improving it and doing things in the right way .”
McMichael describes the company as a modern version of the likes of Aztec , Encore and PRG : “ We ’ re taking on the best of the virtual understanding of TV , conferencing and live events and then mashing it together to create a proposition that is technically modern , is sustainable and is set up to serve the new world .”
He adds , “ I ’ m pleased with the way the industry has accepted us , taken us on board and wants to learn new tricks and try something different .
“ I ’ d love to say everybody is but there ’ s a lot of people that have just copy and pasted from 2019 .
“ But ultimately people won ’ t get away with just talking about sustainability moving forwards and they will actually have to put their money where their mouth is and prove it .” EN
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