The American Dream… This phrase may sometimes be bandied about lightly, but in the case of this LA-based designer, it is resoundingly true! At 17, Darren Langer was living in a motel room with, by his own account, “no plan for the future.” Lighting offered him a path after his cousin, Brian Marincic, introduced him to established Hollywood Gaffer, Joey Alvarado. He proceeded to take that path to astounding heights, on a journey that has seen him win four Daytime Emmy Awards, as well as a Primetime Emmy and multiple Telly Awards.

Over the past two decades, Langer and his design firm, DCLighting Inc. have amassed an eye-popping resume in a wide variety of broadcast genres, from competition and game shows, to reality shows and network specials, as well as feature films, such as We Were Soldiers and Apollo 13. As a lighting designer, he has worked on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. He’s also lent his magic as lighting director to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Super Bowl halftime shows, American Gladiators, and Shark Tank.

Widely respected by his peers for his carefully planned and impeccably executed multi-camera work, Langer is deeply involved in every detail of every set or setting he lights. He shared invaluable insights with us on a range of topics from the fine points of color combinations and key lighting, to the benefits of new technology in broadcast lighting.

With his many accomplishments, he is quick to acknowledge his mentors, such as legendary lighting designers Allen Branton, Oscar Dominguez, Simon Miles and Dennis Weiler, whose expertise, wisdom and creativity he learnt from before becoming a designer himself. For our part, we’re grateful to learn from him as he shared his inspiring story with us.

In The Kelly Clarkson Show, for which you won four of your Emmys, we were impressed by how you support such a wide range of acts so well, while still maintaining a consistent look for the broadcast. Can you tell us a bit about how you did that?
“While I am extremely grateful and humbled to be nominated five consecutive years, earning four Emmys it is all the result of having a supportive and skilled team that has as much passion for the art of lighting as I do.

“The Kelly Clarkson Show is a very unique show that has over 200 music performances in a season, all within the same space. When designing the lighting for this show, we wanted to have options on a daily basis, so our looks were always fresh. The solution to this was having a truss rig with 10-foot sections that we could manipulate the angles, elevations, and shape giving us an unlimited amount of visual opportunities.”

Speaking of music performances, in many of your projects, like Kelly Clarkson, and A Very Boy Band holiday, you create a live show look for performers. How is lighting performances in that setting different than lighting a concert at a live music venue?
“Approaching lighting for a music segment, where the performance is only a piece of the puzzle, you have to be able to pivot quickly, from that performance to a variety of different segments in a seamless transition . The solution is to utilize lighting fixtures that are multi-functional so, you can light someone’s face with a fixture and then later use the same fixture for eye candy. This allows this type of fixture to be featured on camera to play different roles at the push of a button.”

You have done such a wide range of projects from competition-games shows, to entertainment news like ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, Access Hollywood, Network shows like America’s Most Wanted, talk shows, reality shows, and more. Does you approach to lighting differ from genre to genre? Do you focus on different things? Do you start the design process differently? Do you have different issues that you have to look out for?
“The process always starts with lighting the artists’ faces. No matter what kind of show it is, you want to make sure that the talent is always lit beautifully. This has to be done 100-percent before you get to the set and the aesthetics.

“Once we have given all the attention to the artists’ faces, then we can dive into aesthetics and the overall tone of the show, whether it requires bright and cheery, warm and fuzzy, intimate, moody or vibey. All of these can be conveyed by lighting.”

You achieved such great success in this field, but what do you think you would have done if you didn’t become a lighting designer?
“Considering that I was living in a motel at 17 with no plan for the future, I’d say lighting was all that was meant for me.”

Well, it certainly has been a great fit between you and lighting! One of the many things that has impressed us about your work is how you used color to create an evocative mood on sets, such as the way you did with Kelly Clarkson’s Christmas show. What advice do you have about using ‘mood evoking’ colors in broadcasts? Can you over use them?
“Our main approach to create moods on any show, can be summed up this way: ‘TWO COLORS!’ Pick any two colors that mesh well together and you’re off to a good start. This approach usually allows you to create a nice, crisp, clean look. Next step is to always spend time on each and every camera angle to ensure that all of them are all telling the same story. Each angle should have at least one of the two colors you selected with the right amount of contrast, depth, and dimension – nothing too much or too little.”

You’ve designed for a lot of great programs, is there a TV show from the past that you wish was still around today so you could light it?
“Visual EFX for feature films was my favorite. Motion control doesn’t really exist these days, but lighting models for feature films, such as Apollo 13 and Star Trek Nemesis was definitely one of the most intriguing lighting experiences of all time.”

Every broadcast involves a lot of creative minds. What is the key to successful collaboration for you?
“The key is good energy, communication and being open to other points of view.”

What is the most important thing to remember about key lighting a broadcast?
“The key to lighting a broadcast is to have the same color temp and lighting levels in each and every position – consistency and continuity!”

You have won quite a few Emmy Awards. What was your first one for? What did it feel like when you won?
“Our first Emmy was received for Season 1 of The Kelly Clarkson Show. It was an amazing feeling, but it was a different experience because it was during COVID, so the winners were announced with continuously refreshed Instagram posts. There were no live ceremonies during that time, but fortunately we’ve had other opportunities in the years to follow.”’

What have been the biggest changes in broadcast lighting since you started?
“The new technology – with cameras requiring less lighting and, of course, with everything switching to LED, our power requirements are substantially lower. The flexibility with LED color options is so much greater, compared to old school tungsten with gel, which is now nearly extinct.”

How do you use, front lighting without overusing it in your shows?
“Our approach to any kind of lighting is study the camera angles for closeups, wide shots etc. There are many factors that can dictate how we approach key lighting, the size of the space, the production design, and budget. Those are some examples.”

When you are given the opportunity to light a show for the first time, what are the things you do to get into the headspace to do a good job lighting it?
“I like to sit in my backyard and study the production design and the concept of the show. Sometimes, ideas will flow at a time that I’m driving or even on another project – it varies. Usually, it takes some time to inspire me and get me going with a design. It could be a shape, a color, photo, or anything.”

Do you ever procrastinate at the start of a project?
“I procrastinate if I don’t have inspiration. Once I get the inspiration, it’s like a domino effect – things just start flowing.”

Once a show you designed is on TV do you ever look at it and think of things you would have done differently?
“We usually spend hours and hours staring at the monitors of the show we are working on. I don’t usually watch the final product. If there is a great performance or a particular segment of a show that I found amazing, I will take a peek to see the final edit.”

You do a lot of competition shows where the action is not always predictable. In those situations, how do you ensure that your rig is versatile enough to handle anything that comes up?
“We try to follow the lead of the production design and the plan from the director and provide options. What are the positions of the competitors? How will this be covered from the perspective of the director? We try to gather as much information on the front end of the design process to ensure that we are covered for anything.”

What is the one thing you want people to know about you as a designer?
“You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. You may have an amazing design in place, but without a solid team, the design is nothing. Fortunately, I’m very lucky to work consistently with an amazing group of electrics and a team of individuals such as Felix Peralta, John Daniels, Andrew Gonzales, Andy Anderson, David Serralles, Chris Fernandez, Tyler Ericson and Ryan Healey to name just a few. Without their talent and expertise, a lot of the success of DCLighting Inc. would not be possible.”