Sinan Ulucay: Interview With An Entertainment Executive In Las Vegas

Sinan Ulucay is a live entertainment executive based in Las Vegas. He is currently working on a show project called Amystika, in collaboration with Dragone and Criss Angel. The show will be launched on December 27^th at the Criss Angel Theater in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Las Vegas. Sinan is also the Managing Director for Larusa Entertainment Las Vegas, and is building complete packaged events and entertainment programming for theme parks, casinos, cruise lines, and resorts.

Sinan’s previous work has taken him around the world on major global cruise lines, theme parks, integrated resorts, and he has collaborated with Dragone, 20th Century Fox, Resorts World, Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, MSC USA, SkySea China, KidZania, Emaar Entertainment Dubai, and Ctrip of China. Sinan has led multiple preopening projects as an entertainment department head, creating innovative live entertainment and events, and traveling through 80 different countries.

Hi Sinan, thanks for talking with us at TheatreArtLife! How are you doing, and how are you coping with getting ‘back to normal’ after the pandemic at the moment?

Thank you for having me, it’s a pleasure to be talking to TheatreArtLife. I love the content you publish and appreciate the mission of the website bringing industry news to us. I am thankfully very busy these days with our new show Amystika, and it’s going to be the next big show that everyone will talk about. I can’t tell you much, but it’s going to have quite a lot of industry-first special effects. We are very proud of this production.

Getting back to normal is happening at a much faster pace here in Las Vegas compared to the rest of the world. I know many of my colleagues abroad are trying to restart, but here in Vegas, live entertainment is already getting back on its feet. Ticket sales are reaching pre-pandemic numbers for most shows that have reopened and I hope that all live events and shows will return across the industry very soon.

I understand you’ve worked in numerous Entertainment Director roles for over 20 years now, so I’m interested to hear how you got your start in the industry, and what first inspired you and drew you to the Arts, particularly in this area?

Growing up, entertainment was never my intention or focus. If you would have asked me at age 12 if I wanted to be a performer I would have said “no way”. It all started when I was selected for a dance group in high school. Shortly after, I found myself dancing and later acting in comedy sketches on various stages and national TV.

I have always been very passionate about creating and trying what has never been done before.

So, I started writing and producing my own shows. It started with comedy shows, then we took it to the next level, producing larger-scale and longer 60-minute plus shows. That’s when I was offered my first Entertainment Director job. Working for a resort, theme park, or cruise line came with job security, and I left the project-based entertainment jobs.

How would you summarise the work that an Entertainment Director role entails, and can you tell us a bit about it and how does the role differs between projects?

As Entertainment Director you are basically the head of the department, and your role is between art and senior management. You have to meet the expectations of the audience, remain within budget, and bring the best talent to your stages. A great Entertainment Director should have a few skillsets in her/his possession depending on the project:

1. An Understanding of the Creative Process: Keeping the artists engaged and creatively at their peak is a lot of work. Being a former performer and coming from creative background allows me to better understand their needs.
2. Mastering Budget and Financial Analysis: Understanding the numbers is crucial. I studied hospitality management and majored in accounting, so the numbers come easy to me.
3. Communication Skills: As a leader, you need to be an effective communicator, and public speaking skills are very important. While working as an Entertainment Director, I learned how to build friendships and connect with total strangers on the spot. I wrote and performed stand-up comedy from 2013, and this skillset helps me to analyze every word that I say.
4. Organizational Skills: You can also call this project management. Just as a Show Director stitches each scene together and builds a spectacle block by block, an Entertainment Director does the equivalent, and often, on a much larger scale. Those with PMP certifications have this benefit in the live entertainment business as every event or show is a project.

When it comes to looking back on your career so far, is it possible to choose your favourite moments or highlights?

When it comes to where my passion lies, I love pre-opening projects. Whether it’s a theme park, a brand-new cruise line, or a resort destination, I want to be at the table on day one, master-planning the entire project. There are many “favorite” moments to choose from, but there are a few in particular that come to mind.

I’m very proud of the innovative programming, industry-first events, and activities we launched at Calista Luxury Resort. Many of these were later adopted by international brands, and knowing that we were the first feels amazing.

My time with the SkySea Cruise line was also filled with very emotional moments on our opening day. SkySea was a joint venture between two of the largest travel companies (RCCL and Ctrip) and it was the first luxury cruise line purpose-built for Mainland Chinese guests.

The New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31, 1999, going into the new millennium was spectacular. It took me 9 months to plan this, and is something that won’t happen again in my lifetime. We actually built an alien spacecraft crash site, complete with ‘deceased’ aliens, and called the major media outlets to cover the story. This was a free PR opportunity and it worked – we were all over the news and it was the joke of the week!

I will always consider working with 20^th Century Fox as one of my career highlights. We handcrafted a new theme park brand from the ground up with some of the best IPs in the world. I got to work with movies and TV series that included Alien vs. Predator, Ice Age, Rio, Night at the Museum, Planet of the Apes, Sons of Anarchy, and more to design the entertainment experiences.

This project, in particular, helped me stretch my skillset, but I was lucky enough to build a large team to help bring it all to life. The 20^th Century Fox brand was acquired by Disney soon after, and the project was temporarily put on hold. The park will soon be opening under a different name (Genting SkyWorlds), and I am looking forward to seeing the work we developed when it launches.

The opening of Ocean Cay Marine Reserve for MSC USA in the Bahamas was another particularly rewarding experience. That island was used as trash storage space before MSC acquired and developed it into a piece of paradise. I had the privilege of visiting the island during its construction period, and the result is amazing!

It is without a doubt the best private island destination owned by any cruise line.

My role included arranging the entertainment and activities for the first arrivals, and with a team of over 2,000, we delivered an incredible experience. I am still very proud of the work the team did.

And conversely, Sinan, what has been the biggest obstacle or challenge you’ve overcome in your work?

Inner critics can be harmful. I’ve learned to accept my limitations and enjoy my accomplishments. It has been an ongoing challenge for me. Perception within the industry is also a challenge. In Vegas, you will sometimes hear the creatives trash talk theme park entertainment or cruise lines, but as someone who has been at the helm of productions within these industry subsets, I would say, “relax, we are all the same”.

The delivery might be different, but the offering, regardless of the venue, has the full potential to surpass the audience’s wildest expectations.

Budget is not always the defining factor. It’s unbelievable how many times you hear that a hundred-million-dollar project has failed on Broadway or in Vegas. The next “best show” title is always up for grabs, and any producer can claim it with hard work and imagination.

And to round it out, I would say keeping the budget under control is always one of the harder parts. Everyone wants the best show, but when you put it in numbers, that’s when you are often forced to adjust.  It’s always a challenge to tell a highly creative artist that we can’t do a certain element of the show due to cost. So, with that, I strive to bring solutions to every budgetary challenge, and no doubt prioritization becomes a crucial skill in these kinds of situations.

What advice would you give to your younger self if you could go back in time? What do you wish you knew then that you know now?

For many years, I was working both on stage as a performer and in back-of-house leadership roles. I loved both sides, but in my 20s and 30s, I was very focused on guest experience and that became most important to me. Now, I find that the team is equally important, so I’ve shifted my focus.

As a leader, you are ultimately responsible for opening the path for your team to create these experiences.

If you take care of them, they will take care of the audience and make sure they have a great experience at your event or show.

And finally Sinan, looking ahead, what can we look forward to seeing next from you after Amystika?

After Amystika launches, I hope to put some of my pandemic-planned projects in motion. We have plans for more Vegas shows, a special parade, and a theme park show project to name a few. Thankfully through my network, I have been offered permanent or contract-based projects and I am considering them as they come in. I will always remain on the path of creating anything new, and I am excited about the future – I know the best is yet to come!

Sinan Ulucay on LinkedIn

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