Before the audience walks in, before the lights come up and before the artist steps onto the stage, someone is already there. Checking lists, negotiating the unexpected, translating demands, putting out invisible fires. In the events and entertainment industry, the spectacle happens long before the applause — and, most of the time, the people who make everything work never appear onstage. What the public experiences as magic is, in reality, the final result of a long and carefully coordinated process that starts days, months or even years earlier.
That perspective comes from years spent inside the industry’s most demanding environments. João Gabriel Moraes, 33, is a Brazilian producer who has been working in the events and entertainment industry for nearly 15 years, having started in 2011 at Rock in Rio and the Rio Content Market. Since then, he has worked across live music, film, television, streaming platforms and international sporting events, collaborating with major festivals, global studios and broadcast networks. His work spans large-scale concerts, film premieres, promotional tours, television productions and global events—often in roles where execution, logistics and coordination are as critical as the creative vision itself. He is currently planning the 2025 edition of CCXP (Comic Con Experience) working with studios such as Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll.
Across music, film, television and sports, that process follows a surprisingly consistent logic. Different formats, different audiences, different scales — but the same operational backbone. “Entertainment happens long before the applause,” Moraes says. “What people see is the last layer. Everything else is structure, logistics and trust.” His perspective reflects the way the industry itself functions: interconnected, fluid and increasingly hybrid.
Rather than following a single lane, his work mirrors how entertainment is built today. Live events borrow from cinema, film promotions operate like concerts, television productions run with the pressure and precision of major international events. “I’ve always been in the place where things need to work, regardless of the format,” he says. “Concert, film, TV or sports — it’s the same responsibility.”
Where the show really happens
Backstage is where those connections become most visible. Not under the lights, but in the details — lots of them. Artist dressing rooms must be flawless. Schedules must align down to the minute. Requests have to be met, even when they involve rare drinks, highly specific technical demands or massive structures that seem to materialize overnight.
“We handled the craziest requests from the bands,” Moraes says. “Some things sound surreal when you hear about them, but once you’re inside the operation, you understand that every request exists for a reason.” At major festivals, artists often arrive with teams of dozens of people, each dependent on the others. Everything has to function — from catering to security, from technical rehearsals to the final chord onstage.
His tone shifts when he recalls one of the most defining moments of his career: Pink’s show at Rock in Rio. João closely followed the technical team responsible for one of the most complex stage setups in the festival’s history. “It was a structure never seen before at Rock in Rio,” he says. “She flew over the stage, there was pyrotechnics, an absurd technical level. I was the producer assigned to that team.” Beyond the spectacle, the challenge was invisible: safety, timing, precision and coordination at a scale where there was no room for error.
Nothing in that environment is small. “You’re not just producing a show,” he says. “You’re producing safety, technology, logistics and trust.” Rock in Rio, like other major festivals, functions as a kind of operational school — one that prepares professionals for the largest productions in the world. The same framework would later support massive open-air concerts such as The Rolling Stones in Copacabana Beach, paving the way for events featuring Madonna and Lady Gaga. Different artists, different eras, same invisible machine.
When music meets cinema
That machine does not stop at music. Over time, the same professionals, teams and structures move naturally into film and television. Premieres, international press tours and promotional launches operate with the same intensity as live shows, even if the audience is seated rather than standing.
“In film, we take care of logistics, security, schedules for artists and studio executives,” Moraes says. “The studio trusts us to deliver that launch.” Working with companies such as Sony, Warner, Paramount, Netflix, Disney, Apple TV and Globo — the biggest Brazilian broadcast TV —, he saw the same patterns repeat themselves. The scale might change, the talent might change, but the responsibility remains identical.
“At the end of the day, it’s always about delivering,” he says. “Whether it’s a concert, a film or a series. It’s self-promotion — it’s about putting a piece of work out into the world.” The pressure is quieter than a live show, but no less intense. A delayed appearance, a security failure or a misaligned schedule can compromise months of planning.
Sometimes those worlds collided quite literally. Like when Jared Leto came to Brazil to perform at Rock in Rio while also promoting a film. Over the course of two consecutive days, the same artist moved through two completely different universes. “I worked with him as a music artist with 30 Seconds to Mars and, the next day, as a film talent,” Moraes says. “It was a different client, a different event, a different logic. It was a very interesting mix of the two fields.”
The invisible logic of entertainment
That same logic extends beyond music and cinema into television and sports. Large-scale productions — whether live or recorded — operate under the same conditions: tight schedules, global audiences, complex logistics and constant pressure.
“Even though it’s not live, it works like a major event,” Moraes says. “There’s an audience, there are participants, there’s broadcast, budget and pressure. The logic is the same.” Productions filmed over months in remote locations require the same discipline as international sporting events or large festivals. The environment changes, but the stakes remain high.
Across all these formats, the work is defined less by glamour and more by consistency. “If one piece fails, everything feels it,” he says. “That’s why preparation matters more than visibility.” The audience may never notice the absence of a problem — but that absence is the real measure of success.
Trust as a measure of success
In an industry where the spectacle depends entirely on an invisible machine, recognition rarely comes in obvious forms. Contracts, audience numbers and high-profile names matter, but they are not what sustain a career.
“Knowing that people keep coming back to you with new events because they trust your work — that’s what matters most,” Moraes says. Trust is what allows the machine to keep running. It’s what connects music to cinema, television to sports, live events to global broadcasts.
Different formats, different stages — but the same language, spoken quietly backstage, long before the lights come up.
