FEATURE STORY
OFF THE RED CARPET From Hollywood to Hall D BY DANELLE DODDS
OPENING CREDITS: A FAMILIAR SCENE Step onto a Hollywood soundstage and you might think you’ve stumbled onto a show floor during set-up. Overhead trusses, lighting grids, and staging platforms 16 Oct/Nov/Dec 2025 Exhibit City News
dressed in scenic panels come together in a familiar scene. Audio equipment hums quietly in the background as the cast of characters takes their places. To a seasoned tradeshow pro, it feels like install day, only the “client” happens to be a studio head instead of a tech brand. As any well-heeled pro will tell you, when you walk onto the floor of a show like CES, it can feel like a movie premiere. Dramatic lighting, layered sound design, and cinematic reveals are on consistent rotation during show hours. Blockbuster-worthy unveilings roll out in plumes of smoke and a sea of lasers while a spine-shaking soundtrack draws the crowds closer. Guests are handed 3D glasses when they enter a room with a wrap-around screen that stretches to the ceiling. Concessions flow while the who’s who of the industry rub shoulders and shake hands. Product launches on the show floor are not unlike stage sets or movie premiere press tours. Build a world, control the environment, and tell a story. Set it up, tear it down, and build it in another city. Art imitates life, and life imitates art as you jump from the convention carpet to the red carpet. The players who build both are the same. Many fabrication houses that once only built for trade exhibits now supply custom
Superman Premiere decoration by Form Decor
scenic pieces for commercials, television specials, and awards shows. Many prop houses that sculpted props for movies now build oversized products for conventions. CNC machines cut the same precision shapes, regardless of whether it’s for a branded talk show desk or a booth wall. AV providers who light exhibit halls also program dramatic key lighting for live concert broadcasts. Furniture rental companies find their inventory not just on the show floor but in VIP green rooms for talent interviews. At the core, both industries are about storytelling. However, one sells products or services, the other sells entertainment. But the tools are twin flames. Paul Pearson, owner of Custom Props Incorporated, understands that nuanced dance between the similarities and differences as much as anyone. Pearson began his career designing models and props for film and television 52 years ago. His work has been featured on the silver screen in movies like Batman and Starship Troopers, and television in Star Trek, True Blood, and Lost. A few decades
into his career, when movie locations began expanding from the West Coast and business was drying up, Pearson discovered a revenue source that he hadn’t considered before. “One day, a guy walked into my shop and asked me if I’d ever designed for tradeshows.” The rest was history. For the next few decades, Pearson’s business bounced between Hollywood and convention centers. The players and equipment are largely the same. “It’s the same things: the same guy, the same shop, the same machinery, the same disciplines,” observes Pearson. “But the end game is different.” When asked what the glaring difference is, he is thoughtful, “When you’re designing something for a film, you’re trying not to distract from Brad Pitt. But, when you’re doing something for a convention, the prop is the focus.”
THE TARGET AUDIENCE: SHOW BUSINESS VS REAL BUSINESS Despite the similarities, the subtle variances start to become more apparent when you take a deeper look at their attendees. Both industries
Photo by Line 8 Photography
Sound stages, spotlights, and staffing, oh my! Welcome to Hollywood, keeper of the glitz and the glam, the red carpets and the rolling cameras. For many in the tradeshow world, Hollywood has always seemed like an entirely separate universe. The silver screen is a place where big budgets and famous faces top the call sheet. It’s a world that feels far removed from the realities of convention centers, exhibit halls, and 20-by-20foot booths. But here’s the plot twist: Hollywood is not so far away at all. Tradeshow companies have been set dressing the big screen, the small screen, and the red carpets in between. The same skills, products, and problem-solving muscles that power the show floor are premiering on soundstages, at press events, and behind the velvet ropes. Conversely, some would argue that visuals and experiences found at tradeshows and conventions are as dazzling as any box-office hit. The Hollywood and tradeshow crossover has been happening for decades.