Jeff Ravitz was awarded a Primetime Emmy for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on HBO and was previously nominated for Cher . . . Live at the Mirage. He has also received two Los Angeles Emmys for his designs of LA area programs and an Emmy from the Pacific Southwest chapter of the Academy.
Well-known for years as Bruce Springsteen’s lighting designer, Jeff has since forged a reputation for transforming live entertainment performances into exciting, but also broadcast-proper, television shows.
Jeff has become one of the busiest TV designers, creating lighting for live televised spectaculars, concerts, awards, game and talk shows, comedy specials, fashion, ice show broadcasts, and studio-based TV productions. Recent work includes television specials for Bruce Springsteen (HBO, CBS, PBS), Shania Twain (CBS), Michel Legrand (PBS), and Alicia Keys (FuseTV), as well as broadcasts and DVDs for artists ranging from Usher, Beyoncé, John Fogerty (Live By Request-PBS), and Journey, and comedy specials for Bill Maher (HBO), Wanda Sykes (HBO), Terry Fator (CMT), and Larry The Cable Guy (Comedy Central). Recently, Jeff was the lighting director for the Vancouver Olympics nightly Whistler Plaza medals ceremonies and concert broadcasts.
Jeff frequently consults on the conversion of other designers’ stage lighting into television-proper designs, with an emphasis on retaining the vital qualities of the original. Notable examples include DVDs and broadcasts for Journey, Rush, Jay Z, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Maroon 5 and Daughtry.
Jeff received a third Emmy nomination for his design of the holiday special, Carols By Candlelight, and an additional two Emmy nominations (and a win) for the award show A Salute To Teachers. He has also been honored with four Telly Awards and two Aurora Awards for television designs.
Film audiences saw Jeff’s work in the blockbuster remake of The Manchurian Candidate, for which Jeff designed specialty lighting, and Paramount’s concert documentary, Heart of Gold, starring Neil Young. He has also consulted on the lighting for 3D concert films for Dave Matthews, Phish, Lollapalooza 2009 and teen mega-star, Justin Bieber.
In addition to his television and live entertainment designs, Jeff has also designed for permanent installations such as the lighting system for the Nokia LA Live Theatre and Nokia Times Square (now renamed Best Buy Theatre), as well as for TV newsrooms, theme park attractions, and retail establishments.
Jeff is a popular lecturer. He has conducted master classes on lighting design, and has participated in numerous panel discussions on the creative and technical aspects of the craft.
Jeff was named “Lighting Designer of the Year” in Performance Magazine’s Readers Poll and is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the International Cinematographers Guild/IATSE Local #600 (Director of Photography), the United Scenic Artists, Local #829, and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s theatre department and was a founding partner of design firms Visual Terrain, Inc. and Intensity Advisors, LLC.