Instructor Bio:
Phil Shearer is an award winning veteran of the entertainment industry for over thirty-five years. Beginning his career in the theatrical and live event worlds, his talent for lighting design and skills as a programmer have taken him around the world, collaborating on a vast array of high
profile and innovative projects with some of entertainment’s top professionals.
His passion for lighting began at a very early age, running followspot at the age of ten for his parents’ professional theatrical productions across the mid-west, which then quickly progressed to learning as much as he possibly could absorb over the years, both by volunteering on small local productions as a teenager, but also by educating himself on the latest cutting-edge lighting and event technology - which at the time promised to be revolutionary to the industry as a whole.
After high school Phil found himself taking as many jobs as he could find to continue his hands-on training and learn every aspect of the business. Working in rental shops during the week and then jumping on to shows on the weekends, he was carving out a place for himself
in the world of entertainment.
He was hired for his first feature film at the age of nineteen, started running consoles for sitcoms at twenty-one, joined Local 728 (the first time) at twenty-three, then went on to tour and design and program large scale, high profile corporate shows for the next twenty-five years.
In 1995 he opened his own design firm - SHEARER ENTERTAINMENT - where he collaborated and designed performances for such artists as: STEVEN TYLER, ROGER DALTREY, JIMMY BUFFETT, NEIL YOUNG, STEVIE WONDER, KENNY CHESNEY, WILLIE NELSON, JOHN FOGERTY, K.D. LANG, CHRIS BOTTI, ANDREA BOCELLI, and JOHN LEGEND - to name just a few. In addition to his own design work, he also held a long standing position as Associate Lighting Designer at the design consortium LIGHTSWITCH, founded by Norm Schwab and John Featherstone in 1994.
His more recent projects have brought him back to his affiliation with Local 728 (where Phil admittedly feels most at home) AND where he continues to innovate and educate alongside his fellow programmers, artists and technicians in the ever-growing world of digital lighting technology. Phil’s consoles of choice these days range from GRAND MA to WHOLEHOG and of course ONYX. His investments in both the ONYX and NETRON lines of control and networking hardware allow seamless plug and play integration on the largest of film sets and television stages today.
Some of Phil’s programming credits in just the past few years include: HELL’S KITCHEN, HYPERDRIVE, AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR, HOLEY MOLEY, WANDAVISION, RED BIRD LANE, FULL BLOOM, THE WOMAN IN THE HOUSE, and can currently be found on the new A&E series THE LINCOLN LAWYER.
Instructor
Not an ETCP Recognized Trainer