Patrick Peel spends most of his days building the moment other people walk into. Then HGTV asked him to step into one of his own.
As Creative Manager at Imprint, Patrick has years of practice designing the reveal - the room, the reaction, the thing people remember. So when he stepped onto the set of A Very Haunted Renovation, the instincts didn't feel new. What changed was the stakes.
Mic'd up, cameras rolling, no run-of-show to hide behind - stepping into the haunted house was the moment it hit him. "I had to own my space with personality, experience, and give everything I had creatively," he said. Cameras and being mic'd made it feel more real and final - it was captured in real time, no do-over.
Ask Patrick how the pressure of a TV moment compares to running a live event, and he won't draw much of a line between them. "There wasn't much of a difference between the arenas for me," he said. "Someone who was a performer, and a designer, and now a TV personality - it's all about being authentic in your thoughts and approach to the project."
That same instinct carried straight through to the work itself. Event production experience helped him manage the timeline and troubleshoot on the fly - decor, personalities, or both. And the feeling of being watched wasn't new either. "I feel that I'm always being watched, whether I'm on TV or managing an event," he said. "It all requires me to be fully present. There is always someone watching, on and off camera."
Renovation reveals and event reveals share the same anticipation - will the design land the way you meant it to. But the real lesson Patrick brought back to Imprint was about what happens before the reveal, not during it. "The lead-up to the show, all the publicity and trailers dropped, made a huge difference," he said. "That can be easily translated to events."
It's a reminder that the suspense doesn't start when the doors open. It starts with everything that happens before anyone walks in the room - which is exactly the kind of design thinking Imprint builds into every experience.
Asked to sum up the whole experience in one line, Patrick didn't hesitate: "Believe in yourself and don't second-guess yourself."
Congrats, Patrick - catch him on A Very Haunted Renovation, on HGTV.
What is Patrick Peel's role at Imprint?
Patrick Peel is Creative Manager at Imprint Events Group.
What HGTV show did Patrick Peel appear on?
Patrick appeared on HGTV's A Very Haunted Renovation.
How does event-planning experience translate to TV production?
Patrick found that skills like reading a room, managing a timeline, and troubleshooting on the fly carried directly from live event production into working on a TV set.
Want to see what Imprint can design for your next experience? Get in touch.