Today we’d like to introduce you to Bernie Bregman.
Bernie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I produced the Rocky Horror 35th Anniversary Convention in 2010 and then started attending comic cons more seriously (I had previously been briefly when asked to appear on a panel). I started observing the explosion in comic con popularity and realized there was so much opportunity to elevate the quality of hosting as well as a way to innovate “fandom nightlife”. I dabbled in cosplay and was a part of the community and saw how much passion and effort fans would put into one costume for one day, sometimes a hundred hours of work to make a detailed armor or period piece. Why didn’t producers put this much effort and passion into the stage presentation for these same enthusiastic fans? I began hosting major masquerades and cosplay championships in 2013 and by 2014 had developed my first run at a cosplay nightclub event.
While the events were successful in popularity, the partnership wasn’t right and my creative vision wasn’t being realized. I then began producing some comic con party events with a new group and we were getting closer but it still wasn’t right. In 2017 Legion M hired me to produce Stan Lee’s 95th birthday bash at Stark Mansion in conjunction with their handprint ceremony for Stan at the Chinese Theatre. So I’m throwing a birthday for the father of modern mythology and it’s got to be grand and detailed. I enlisted the aid of groups I was becoming close with: Nerdbot, Damn Good Shindig, and The Flux Capacitors band (especially their leader Ryan). There was something to this partnership that was cohesive and electric with ideas (1.21 giggawatts of electricity to be precise). That same week of the Stan Lee party I was scheduled to do a party at San Diego Comic Con with my other partner group. I missed working with the previously mentioned groups. Going into 2018 they had all separately expressed interest in teaming up so I brought them all together to form a Voltron of fandom nightlife and XLE Productions was born (Experience Level Entertainment).
In 2018, we were contacted by a venue that was already booked for the Thursday night slow we preferred for San Diego Comic Con, but they offered us a Wednesday night. Nobody had ever thrown a Wed night party at San Diego Comic Con… why should we? We kicked it around and realized there’s still 50,000 people in town for preview night and nothing to do- we would be the only game in town. The stars and studio execs don’t arrive till Thursday but we don’t care about that, we’re a for-fans, by-fans event group. So we launched the first ever Ready Party One, the kick off party of Comic Con. We sold out in 8 days, 6 weeks out of the convention. We transformed Fluxx nightclub into The Distracted Globe club inside the Oasis in “Ready Player One”. The club was over the moon, we packed them on a night they were never open and did more business than they did with big brands on Thursday or Friday. The following year they wanted us for the whole week and we took three nights to do three entirely different themes, transforming the venue overnight from Ready Party One to The Upside Down (Stranger Things) to Awesome Mixer Vol 2 (Guardians of the Galaxy/Thor Ragnarök).
Now, we set up shop at San Diego Comic Con yearly for three nights and are booking official after-parties for comic cons around the country. We just concluded the Los Angeles Comic Con after party at The Mayan in DTLA featuring Tom Kenny and the Hi Seas, and The Action Figures, a band featuring Scott Grimes, Greg Grundberg, Sarah Wayne Callies, Amy Jo Johnson, and more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No new enterprise is truly smooth, we ran into several bumps and bruises including dishonest venues, competitors trying to book our venues out from under us, and that little pandemic that killed the event industry for nearly two years. I think there’s a lot that often goes unsaid about the rigors of incorporating a new entity and when do you break the “struggling artist” mentality of doing everything in the most cost-effective way. When do you start reinvesting into the experience or into making our own lives easier (hiring skilled labor vs. doing it all ourselves with maybe a few friend volunteers).
As you know, we’re big fans of XLE Productions. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Experience Level Entertainment is a Los Angeles based event production company that specializes in creating immersive pop culture experiences. Founded by entertainment insiders and media experts with deep roots in pop culture fandom, Experience Level Entertainment has set out to revolutionize the industry recognizing that fans crave elevated experiences. Blending their expertise in conceptualizing and executing large-scale conventions, concerts, parties, pop-ups, and immersive experiences, the team takes production dreams from concept to completion. XLE is detail oriented and passionate, the team is made up of fans that have big dreams and want to make something other fans would be proud of. No detail is too small.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Fun facts about my life before XLE Productions that people may not know:
– My great-grandfather was the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz (Jack Haley)
– I was a world champion in competitive laser tag multiple times
– I used to perform Brad, Rocky, and Eddie in midnight shadow cast screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Contact Info:
- Website: xleproductions.com
- Instagram: @xleproductions
Image Credits
Images by David J Crewe
