Esports experience leads Tom to Paris Games screen gig

Meet Tom Panitz, Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments student and esports professional.

QUT game design student Tom Panitz is in Paris working on the biggest sports entertainment event in the world – the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – thanks to skills he developed doing esports streams for his university. 

It’s a beautiful moment for the whole Panitz family, bringing back memories of his dad Tim working behind the scenes at the Sydney Games in 2000 – the year Tom was born.

Tom successfully applied for a short-term contract with Olympic Sports Presentation on the strength of his work streaming the Oceanic League of Legends Intervarsity (OLI) on Twitch and producing Facebook live broadcasts of other QUT Sport events.

In Paris, he is working on the live graphics and statistics that pop up on LED screens for the official broadcast that is supplied in venues to the crowd.

After the Olympic Games, he will move on to new venues and events for the Paralympic Games.

He got the job after responding to a global call earlier this year for technicians to help produce the broadcast.

“My dad is the technical manager at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba and he heard about it through the theatre network and told me about it,” Tom said.

“I applied based on my experience doing broadcasts for QUT and about a month after my application I got a reply to say I had been offered a job.

“I signed a contract last month as a Pv4 graphics operator for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

“Working at the Olympics is an opportunity that my dad got when he was roughly my age. He was 26 at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and he worked for the NBC as a lighting operator/gaffer at the international broadcasting centre.

“I’m now living in Paris for seven weeks, learning and working with some of the best sports production people in the world.”

Tom said Pv4 was a system used for live events to create graphics in real time to provide facts and stats on athletes and teams.

“It’s not the same software that we use at QUT, but we do use a similar software called vMix to produce our streams,” he said.

“We broadcast the intervarsity and tier two League of Legends esports competitions, which are played online and have commentators in the studio.

“And I’ve done Facebook live broadcasts for QUT Sport, including a recent live broadcast of the social sport finals from the Kelvin Grove Sports Field.”

Steve Window is QUT Sports’ esport and technology manager and said Tom’s impressive array of talents and ‘unwavering commitment’ had earned him the prestigious opportunity in Paris.

“Tom was first given the opportunity to help produce the QUT esports intervarsity competition (for Australian and New Zealand unis) from 2021, after being a volunteer from 2020,” he said.

“He is currently an interactive games design student and is now an integral part of the QUT Sport esports production team.

“He has excelled in roles ranging from lighting, sound, and camera work to virtual camera operations, vision switching, graphics, segment production and show running.”

Mr Window said the QUT Sport team was proud of Tom and the eight students from the QUT Elite Athlete Program who are competing in Paris.

“It’s wonderful to see QUT programs delivering on and off the field at major events,” he said.

Tom is studying a Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments with the QUT School of Computer Science.

“I spent an early portion of my life isolated and couldn’t be very physical because of illness – I wasn’t able to do as much as other kids, but I found a social connection through playing games that I wouldn’t have otherwise had,” he said.

“When I started considering university, I started looking at the games and interactive environments degree.

“The reason I chose QUT was because of the esports program and esports community. It had that games environment where I could meet new people and gain experience in esports.

“I started working as a volunteer community leader for one of our gaming clubs, then at the start of 2020 I started working with the people running the QUT esports programs, and then I got my first position as a casual.

“I’m also currently working for a Brisbane engineering company as part of their internal software development team.”

Tom moved from Toowoomba to Brisbane to study at university and still has siblings and parents in the Garden City.

“I’ve never been out of Australia before, so I’m planning on doing a little bit of travel between the Olympics and Paralympics, including a five-day stay in The Netherlands and going to Nice,” he said.

Read more about esports at QUT.