In a span of three months, Jesse Collins is producing the Super Bowl halftime show with The Weeknd (Feb. 7), the Grammy Awards (March 14) and the Oscars (April 25).
In the best of years, that would be an ambitious trio. In 2021, with constantlyevolving COVID-19 restrictions, it's borderline masochistic. "I try not to think about it as a collective," he says with a nervous laugh.
It was Collins' ability to pull off last June's BET Awards, the first pandemic-era marquee TV event not filmed over Zoom, that convinced Hollywood the 50-year-old could tackle three of TV's top tentpoles with similar limitations — and bigger expectations.