TERRY KING

TERRY KING

Last year’s TPi Breakthrough Talent Freelancer of the Year, Terry King, discusses how he got his start in the industry, and his goals for the future.

It’s safe to say that most of those who work in the touring market first became interested in this world due to a love and passion for music. However, it’s rare to meet a musician who has already toured the world and played in front of thousands of people to then make a switch to the other side of the business into production.

But that’s just what Terry King did - swapping his life as a session keyboard player, performing with the likes of Pixie Lott and Naughty Boy, to pursue his passion as a Production Manager. Last year, King had a great year seeing him PM his first UK tour with IAMDDB as well as take the lead on his first arena show with Popcaan. Oh, and did we mention he’s just 23 years old?

“My first real introduction to the live events industry was when I was 17; I started to work as a session musician, playing keys for several different acts,” recalled King. “I think my biggest show to date was at Sziget Festival [in Budapest, Hungary] when we played in front of 95,000 people. I loved those shows but when I turned 18, I started to become more interested in some of the things going on behind the curtain. I remember during rehearsals I began to be more interested in the elements such as automation than my role as a player on stage.”

Driven by this interest, the 18-year-old King took a “leap of faith,” turning his attention to pursuing a career in live production. “I became a bit obsessed,” he joked, recalling how he used to have a hard drive with over 70GB of research including videos and tour essays on automation engineering. “I just wanted to absorbed as much information as possible. I’d already made a few contacts with various production and stage managers whom I asked to shadow, and learn what the role involved.”

Four years since King switched his artist’s laminate for a crew pass, he explained some of the things he had learnt. “One of the things that stood out to me was that there is no one way to do a PM job. You find that there are some that really specialise in logistics with others that our more interested in the design elements,” he said.

King explained that he is more focussed on the latter, developing a key interest in show design, a passion he got to explore when he took up the PM mantel for hip-hop artist IAMDDB. A project that saw King, ahem, crowned as Freelancer of the Year at the 2018 TPi Breakthrough Talent Awards.

“It was my first tour as a Production Manager and it was certainly a learning experience - knowing that when you walk through the door of the venue you’re overseeing everyone on site. But it was a fantastic tour and experience.” Following the IAMDDB run, King was able to tick-off a few more things from his career bucket list. “I got to work on Krept & Konan’s Alexandra Palace show – their biggest gig to date – where I was Production Assistant and Stage Manager. Then I was offered the chance to lead the production for Jamaican dance hall artist, Popcaan. His regular Production Manager is a mentor of mine and gave me a shot to lead this team.”

With a long list of successes, TPi asked the young PM what was next. “Over the last few years I’ve got really interested in the automation and engineering side of touring,” commented King. “I’ve been really interested in some of the projects that TAIT created over the last few years. I actually got to meet some of the team at the last Production Futures and I’m going into their office for some work experience later this year.”

King gave his thoughts on the event: “It was a very enjoyable and productive experience for me. It was such a great networking opportunity and gave me a lot of insight into some of the leading companies and vendors within the industry. I definitely encourage anyone who’s interested in live production to make plans to attend this year.”

To close, TPi asked King about some of his other goals he hoped to achieve. “Right now, I’m just looking to build my production CV with as broad a range of clients as possible. I’ve worked with a lot of urban acts, which has been great, but I want to get into some bigger productions with more pop artists. I would love to work on a show like The 1975’s latest tour and force me out of my comfort zone.”

King, along side all the other Breakthrough Talent winners will be at this year’s TPi Awards on 25 February to rub shoulders with the other 1,500+ industry experts. See you there! TPi www.productionfutures.co.uk

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