Chicago & Phoenix Director of Photography, Cinematographer, Drone Pilot, and Video Production
Live Bloomberg TV Production at United Airlines | Chicago DP
Project at a Glance
Client: United Airlines
Production Company: Big Shoulders Productions
Role: Director of Photography
Format: Live broadcast, multi-camera
Network: Bloomberg Television
Talent: Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, interviewed by Bloomberg anchor Lisa Abramowicz
Location: United Airlines headquarters, Chicago, Illinois
Deliverable: Live national television broadcast, same-day air
Services: Director Of Photography
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When Bloomberg Television needed a production team on the ground at United Airlines headquarters in Chicago for a live CEO interview, Big Shoulders Productions brought Jamie Link Photography in as Director of Photography. The shoot aired the same day on Bloomberg Television, with anchor Lisa Abramowicz interviewing United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in a branded set environment built inside the United Airlines corporate offices.
Live broadcast work has no margin for error. There are no second takes, no coverage options, and no time to troubleshoot problems that should have been solved in pre-production. This is the environment where production experience and technical preparation separate qualified crews from everyone else.
The Production Challenge
Live corporate broadcast productions inside active headquarters buildings come with a specific set of constraints that are different from studio work. The location is not a purpose-built production environment. Lighting conditions, power availability, background control, and acoustic treatment all have to be solved with whatever the space allows.
For this production, the setup required building a professional broadcast environment inside a corporate office space that would hold up on national television. The branded set needed to read as a credible, polished backdrop for a CEO-level interview airing on a major financial news network. At the same time, the multi-camera configuration had to support a live switch without the ability to go back for pickups.
The stakes on a shoot like this are direct. The footage is airing the same day. The guest is the CEO of a major airline. The network is Bloomberg. Getting it wrong is not an option, and getting it right requires the kind of preparation and technical precision that experienced broadcast crews build over years of high-pressure production work.
How the Production Came Together
As Director of Photography, the responsibility on a shoot like this goes well beyond operating a camera. It means designing the lighting to work for broadcast standards, building the camera configuration to support a clean live switch, coordinating with the production company on set design and placement, and solving location-specific problems before the talent walks in.
The branded set environment was designed to position United Airlines professionally in the context of a Bloomberg Television interview. Lighting was built to eliminate the flat, institutional look that corporate office environments produce by default, replacing it with a broadcast-quality setup that reads consistently across multiple camera angles.
The multi-camera configuration was built for a live production workflow, with each camera position contributing a distinct focal length and framing that gave the production team real switching options during the interview. In a live broadcast, the ability to cut cleanly between cameras without a jarring visual break requires this kind of setup to be thought through in advance rather than improvised on air.
The interview aired on Bloomberg Television the same day, featuring Scott Kirby discussing United Airlines operations with anchor Lisa Abramowicz.
What This Type of Work Requires
Broadcast and live production work at this level requires a specific combination of technical preparation and on-set execution. The margin for error on a same-day live broadcast is effectively zero, which means every element of the production needs to be resolved before the interview starts.
For agencies and corporate marketing teams evaluating production partners for high-stakes broadcast or video work, the relevant question is whether a crew has operated successfully in that kind of environment before. Live television with C-suite talent and a national network as the end point is one of the more demanding formats in corporate production. The footage below is the result.
Watch the Production
The full interview aired on Bloomberg Television and is available on YouTube. This is the finished product from the shoot described above.
Planning a Broadcast or Corporate Video Production in Chicago?
Jamie Link Photography operates as Director of Photography on commercial productions across Chicago and the surrounding market, including corporate interview and broadcast productions, multi-camera event coverage, and brand campaign work. If you are producing a project that requires broadcast-level technical execution, reach out to discuss your production.
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