" The Opera National De Paris is the largest producing repertory theatre in France and perhaps all of Europe. The company this year presented 21 different operas, plus 16 ballet companies, as well as numerous recitals and other programs.

It is my responsibility, as Head of Lighting, to insure that each of these shows, in their various venues, are presented efficiently, effectively and, perhaps most importantly, that each production meets the high artistic standards of this 300 year old company!

One of the key elements of any lighting designer's job is to carefully examine how the expendable products every production requires are specified and bought. Thousands of Euros may well be at stake. That’s why I investigated colour filters, for example. We tested all the available brands of filters for durability and found that, between the two leading brands, Lee and Rosco, there was virtually no difference. (Of course, Rosco Supergel and Lee HT filters do last longer, but both also command a premium price.)

Far more important, we discovered that by focusing on only one brand we could buy more efficiently. In addition, we could insure that our supplier maintained a deep back-up inventory of every colour for us. As every experienced lighting designer knows, there are often last minute needs for such expendables as filters, gobos or lamps.

We standardized on Rosco’s E-Colour+ because, like Lee Filters, it is based on the original Cinemoid® series. Both Lee and Rosco E-Colour+ have the same names and numbers for their colours and are very nearly exact matches for each other. But many lighting designers want to go beyond those original Cinemoid/Lee/E-Colour+ filters and use the Supergel or even Roscolux colours. Only Rosco can provide those.

In the first year of this program, we freely substituted the matching Rosco E-Colour+ filters for the specified Lee numbers. As you can imagine, we work with some of the most demanding and meticulous lighting designers in Europe. But all of them understood that this was a change in brand only, not in colour palette. And it offered the additional benefits of easy last-minute changes in colour, if necessary, and made the production so much more efficient.

I would urge any theatrical lighting designer to perform his or her own tests and investigate the advantages of standardizing on a single brand. I think they will find, as the Opera National De Paris did, that their seasons will be easier to accomplish, their buying more efficient and their artistic standards maintained. "