As DIT jobs go, Chris Sobchack has a heck of a gig. For 17 years, he’s traveled the world as Elton John’s touring drum technician. At some point, his life outside the tour — where he co-owns a production company, Wraptastic Productions, with his wife, Nicole — crossed over onto the stage, and he began working with director John Steer to record and archive every performance, in addition to his percussion duties. Keeping both sides of his career moving forward must be a balancing act, but Sobchack’s getting it done, adeptly making use of downtime on tour to finish other projects. Wraptastic’s shortform comedy series, Please Tell me I’m Adopted!, is streaming on Amazon Prime.
What will be the biggest challenge of 2017 for the media industry? I believe the challenge hasn’t changed — remembering to focus on the quality of the content and not just the rapidly evolving technology. In film and television, the technology has becomes so interesting in itself that sometimes we forget that we are storytellers.
What do you like to do when you’re not working? I try to be an amateur competitive road cyclist!
What movie, TV show, book, music, or other media would you most recommend to your colleagues? Other than our own show, Please Tell Me I’m Adopted!, streaming on Amazon, I love going back to see how effects and shots were done before the advent of CGI. I recently saw a documentary on Blade Runner and was totally stunned at the amazing low-fi solutions to the visual problems
What’s your best advice for others in this business? My best advice comes from working on our project. I was able to make my computer and the software do things that even the companies who made them didn’t know was possible. Try and learn as much as you can, but don’t forget to think outside the box, especially when it’s by necessity, as you never know what you might find!
