Valorant Champions Tour
I stage managed an esports tournament and was nominated for two Emmys
2023-2026 · Lenses: Television, Legit Business, Work for Hire, Useful Nonsense, Collaboration · Roles: Production, Performance, Collaboration
During the 2023 WGA strike, I spent the summer picketing studios and looking for non-scab income. My friend Kelli Jo, a broadcast producer at Riot Games, asked me if I’d be interested in stage managing backstage interviews for the Valorant esports tournament happening in LA.
Since I’d done some live event production work before, I said yes, and spent the next month working on the VCT Champs show at the Shrine Auditorium and the Forum. I figured I wouldn’t get another chance to work on the Valorant tour, since they travel all over the world and generally hire locals, but I got another call from Kelli Jo in 2025.
European labor laws prohibit French stage managers from working more than six days in a row, so they wanted me to come to Paris to stage manage the 2025 Valorant Champions show. I’ve never been more grateful for America’s abysmal lack of worker protections.
I spent a month in France, escorting esports pros on and off the stage, setting and resetting host and analyst desks, and producing the occasional segment between matches. The grand final sold out a 10,000-seat arena just off the Seine. Not a bad way to spend a few weeks.
In early 2026, I found out that I’d been nominated for an Emmy as part of the broadcast team. When I went to order a certificate, I learned that I’d also been nominated for the 2023 show, and nobody had told me, despite the fact that I was already a TV Academy member through my writing work. So now I have two Emmy nominations for esports stage managing. Wild stuff.