Technical Director Eric Becker Talks About His Emmy Wins
By Rosalia Fodera 9/18/15
The 2015 Oscars, the 68th annual Tony Awards and the Peter Pan Live special all had one thing in common, and that’s Eric Becker.
Becker is a four time Emmy winning Technical Director. This year he was three out of the five nominees for Outstanding Technical Direction. He won for his work on the 87th Academy Awards, something that shocked him.
“The Oscars is nominated frequently and rarely, rarely wins, so when I heard them say ‘the Oscars’ I was surprised, very surprised, very happy. I had to double check,” Becker said.
Eric Becker Photo by Derek Thompson
While Becker has worked on numerous award shows, he got a different kind of experience when he technically directed the Peter Pan Live Special, which he was nominated for this year.
“Award shows are in it’s own way formatted, you kind of know where you’re gonna go, unless there’s musical performances, but a Peter Pan is a once only type of a show. You get to do it one time, so it was a very, very difficult show,” Becker explained. “You get one crack at it, that’s it.”
Even with a total of 19 Emmy nominations for his work on live productions Becker still gets nervous.
“I am always always always nervous. You definitely get the butterflies. That’s performance, but then once you’re settled in it’s that first five minutes or so when you’re on the air making sure everything is working.
Becker has an impressive resume of technical direction experience, especially award shows, but his favorite to oversee is the music centered shows.
“I like music shows. I like performance shows. I like lives shows. I’m a musician basically. I have a degree in music and I studied music,” Becked explained. “I have a real interest in music. I like the variety of music that you get, all the way from hip hop and jazz to pop and classical and the whole thing, I like it all.”
Four Emmys make a great display and Becker says his help with his bad days.
“They got up in a cabinet. They’re up in a shelf. Anytime I’m not feeling good about myself I just turn on some music and look at the Emmy’s,” Becker joked.
Becker is the technical director for this year’s 67th Emmy Awards.