Paris 2024: ISB on how it will bring the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies, athletics and much more to global screens

ISB crew [L to R] at Paris 2024, assistant director Sonia Krajcova, team leader David Taunton, managing director Ursula Romero, director Oliver Valente, and vision mixer Celia Benitez

Next up for ISB is the Paralympics, where the super humans will show the world how medals should be won. Comments Romero: “Now we’re gearing up for the Paralympics, so we have to get another lot of energy ready!”

On 28 August 2024, Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées will be the stage for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony in a huge celebration in the heart of Paris, which ISB will be producing for OBS.

ISB will be working across a plethora of Paralympic events. As well as the Opening and also the Closing Ceremonies, it will be producing the para athletics, para track cycling, equestrian, para shooting, para archery, wheel chair rugby, and judo.

Romero says: “We’ve been selected by OBS to be producing quite a few venues at the Paralympics. We love the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and we do a lot with the IPC, so we’re very excited about that. We’re providing a few production teams. So a lot of the guys that were at the shooting and at modern pentathlon will come back to Paris in just a few days to start working on several other sports.”

ISB’s full team line up at the Château de Versailles for the Olympic modern pentathlon. They and many more will be returning to Paris shortly for the Paralympic Games

Short notice

Romero says on the allocation of the Paralympic events that while the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the para athletics and para shooting were awarded to ISB early on, all the other sports were handed to the team rather last minute. She explains: “Well, everything came in quite late because unfortunately the Paralympics are not the major priority, so the budgetary discussions usually take longer until you get a final ‘go ahead’.

“Originally we were only supposed to do the para athletics, which is a lot, and para shooting. The para athletics already is quite large because the coverage for para athletics is almost Olympic size, which is really great. And then of course, the opening and closing ceremony, which is also amazing, and Greg’s [Breakell, a director at ISB] specialty. The para shooting crew was just going to stay over from the [Olympic] shooting, so that was all quite easy. But then last minute, [OBS] added on a few sports to our plate, which was great, but of course it was quite difficult to find the right crew so late.”

By late, Romero does mean up against the line. She notes: “Well, as late as one month before the Olympics, a little bit less actually. It was quite challenging just to get all the numbers [of crew] together, because everyone was already so focused on the Olympics, so it was all a bit of a scramble, but we made it work. It was just lucky that we were able to do it, and we’re very happy to because we love the Paralympics.”

On prepping for the Paralympics with such a short turnaround, Romero says: “It has been difficult, especially since some of the sports we will cover have been assigned to us quite late, but the one who should be really praised and given all the respect and appreciation is Josephine (Xiaofen) Hao, who is the broadcast coordinating producer from OBS who has put the production plan of all sports together. We have worked closely together and she is truly a force of nature.”

Gender balance

In addition, ISB put together teams for the Olympics with strong gender balances, and its teams for the Paralympics will reflect the same diversity. Romero comments: “We had a fairly large female team on the Olympics and now for the Paralympics, which was one of the prerogatives of OBS in that they wanted to really push for more gender equal teams.”

ISB’s Paralympic teams

Team 1 – Opening and Closing Ceremony and Para-Athletics led by Greg Breakell and a very varied crew, which includes a few pretty cool female directors and producers.

Team 2 – Para Track Cycling and Equestrian led by Koen Van Mourik as director with also a mixed crew.

Team 3 – Para Shooting led by Tahir Aliyev from Azerbaijan and also a mixed team from all over the world.

Team 4 – Para Archery led by Vlad Onancea with a team from Romania.

Team 5 – Wheel Chair Rugby and Judo led by Javier Robledo with a team from Spain.

ISB’s team was out in the field producing the modern pentathlon and prior to that, the shooting, at Paris 2024

Tackle and play

ISB will tackle the Paralympics in the same way it has produced the Olympics; by storytelling. She says: “The approach is the same – telling the stories of all these incredible human beings that are able to not only able to overcome a physical disability, but also have the amazing drive, talent and stamina to put themselves on the world stage and ignite people´s hearts and inspiration.

“The major difference is that the tools and toys that we are given for the production of the Paralympics is on a much smaller scale, and that makes the importance of good camera work and good storytelling even more important,” Romero continues.

“Yet as I always say, you can have the best equipment and the latest technology, but the people who are operating the equipment and choosing the right moments to go on air are the true heroes.”

As to how Romero expects the Paralympics to play out, she remarks: “As most of our crews have worked with us on the Paralympic sports we will produce at some point or another, I have no worries about the production. I am hoping that the enthusiasm of the spectators will be as big as for the Olympics, since that always helps the production and the pictures that are shown to the world.”

Romero’s father’s stance on the Paralympics has shaped how his daughter views the spectacle, and she intends to ensure that despite the technical and budgetary constraints her team are facing for the production of the Paralympics, they will make it wonderful.

Romero concludes: “I am definitely ready and very much looking forward to the Paralympics, which has a very special place in my heart. Since I have been involved with the Olympics and Paralympics, I have always enjoyed the Paras more, and I want to make sure that my father’s legacy – he was a strong advocate for the Paras and the Paras gaining the same respect as the Olympic – is kept alive by producing beautiful and emotional pictures of the Paralympics.”

The Paralympics will be on air from 28 August 2024 to 8 September 2024.