NAB Show 2026: ASC Members Lead Talks on Craft

NAB Show — whose 2026 edition was held April 18-22 — covers a range of technology couched under the term “broadcast,” but the bulk of the cinema equipment and tools are located in the Central Hall of the massive, multi-building Las Vegas Convention Center. Not merely product-focused, NAB Show and its many vendors host a range of talks and seminars which afford many of its cinematographer, camera-operator and student attendees a chance to glean firsthand knowledge from masters of their craft.

Moments before a talk centered around his new book, Fix It in Prep: A Cinematographer's Nine-Read Script Breakdown, Shane Hurlbut, ASC chatted with those gathered at the B&H Photo booth. He pointed to a massive Fujinon HZK25-1000mm f/2.8-5 Duvo broadcast lens fixed to a camera on the floor, declaring that it is the sole lens he sends out with his 2nd-unit photography team. During the talk, Hurlbut was generous with his knowledge, laying out the full nine-point plan he developed for cinematographers and directors to more intentionally read scripts in preproduction — one which emphasizes clearing one's mind of the numerous technical and logistical elements that go into making a movie.

Hurlbut promotes a process in which each read-through of a script is completed with a specific, singular element in mind. For instance, the first read-through is purely as an audience member. The goal is to “silence your filmmaking brain,” he told attendees. To conduct this properly, one must not take breaks while reading. Use the restroom first, he instructed, and make sure you have a glass of water and snacks present if you must. But never break up the momentum with an ill-timed distraction. After this, he suggests jotting down gut impressions on the script.

Hurlbut’s seminar was interactive. He shared a clip showcasing his work on the 2001 feature Crazy/Beautiful, and had attendees attempt to identify the scene’s keyframe. It was a vital exercise in learning just how intentional cinematography can strive to be. Cinema is first and foremost a visual storytelling medium, Hurlbut reminded attendees, and a cinematographer’s tools are for getting the audience into the headspace of the characters, all through framing and lighting.

Present at Hurlbut’s talk were BYU-Idaho cinematography students, as part of a program which has traveled to NAB Show for the better part of the past two decades. Speaking with American Cinematographer, BYU-Idaho producer Brian Carter said that the seminar “did not disappoint.” The school has already begun to implement Hurlbut’s nine steps into their workflow after being tipped off to the book ahead of NAB by a cinematography student. Carter added that the program looks forward to expanding these nine principles beyond “cinematography preproduction, but to the preproduction of our other departments, as well.”

Elsewhere at the convention, Rodney Charters, ASC led a seminar at the Nanlux/Nanlite booth, discussing his early-career years as a videographer on news programs, during which he would carry his own kit and his crew was comprised of just three members: news producer, cameraperson (Charters) and sound operator. He later graduated to narrative television, but always maintained a documentary-like approach to lighting — preferring to deploy practical lights, or at least lights that operate from a perspective that could perceivably be a practical source. On the dramatic-thriller series 24, Charters became a pioneer in shooting on the Canon 5D Mark II camera.

During the seminar, Charters recalled a time when his crew went into a grocery store for a shoot and proceeded to replace more than 500 fluorescent bulbs in the store. He found this practice "crazy," and later chose to instead embrace the green color tone that comes from shooting with these lights in their natural environment. The cinematographer emphasized that the gritty realism of 24 was aided not by always having perfectly calibrated, studio lighting, but instead by leaning into imperfections.

Other talks at NAB 2026 featured ASC members Valentina Caniglia, Bruce McCleery, Blake McClure, Christopher Probst, Mark Weingartner and Roger Deakins, who, joined by his wife, James Deakins, spoke to a rapt crowd ahead of a book signing at the ASC booth. These discussions were held in the Cine Central section of NAB — which, now in its fourth year of existence, remains dedicated to training and educating the next generation of film crew through its focus on hands-on workshops.