Skyscraper Live was a one-off global broadcast that saw climber Alex Honnold ascend one of the world’s tallest buildings in real time, with cameras following his progress from ground to spire.
Produced by Plimsoll Productions for Netflix, the programme combined live broadcast, large-scale rigging, multiple camera systems and a city-centre public event, all unfolding under fixed transmission windows for international audiences.
Here, Lead Safety Advisor Lachlan Bucknall reflects on what it took to make a live skyscraper climb possible and why, at this scale, risk management becomes a real-time creative discipline.
Making a Live Global Broadcast Work
Skyscraper Live was fundamentally different from other high-risk factual projects because it was live. A short broadcast delay meant that once the transmission began, everything continued to move: the climber, the cameras, the editorial sequence and the risk.
Unlike pre-recorded stunts, there was no opportunity to reset or reshoot. Any decision made on the day had to hold up under public scrutiny, with consequences immediately visible to a global audience.
This placed unusual pressure on the decision-making structure. Weather, wind, building conditions and broadcast timing all had to align. If they did not, the safest decision was often the most disruptive one editorially.
What the Audience Never Sees
While the climb itself was the focus on screen, it represented just one part of a much larger operational system.
Behind the broadcast sat months of planning and several parallel safety domains operating simultaneously. Specialist rigging teams installed and operated camera haul systems and fixed positions across the building. Camera operators worked at height from balconies and suspended systems. Dropped-object risk was managed in an active urban environment, where a full exclusion zone was not always practicable.
In parallel, a public stage event was running nearby, with crowd management, access control and security considerations. Technical teams ran extensive communications and fibre infrastructure through the building to support the live broadcast. Medical and rescue capability had to be in place for multiple plausible scenarios, without relying on a single best-case outcome.
Much of the safety work during the broadcast was continuous monitoring rather than intervention. Even when the pictures looked calm, the system was being actively managed.
Decision Architecture and Authority
A defining feature of Skyscraper Live was the clarity around who could stop the show.
Decision authority sat across several layers. The climber retained the right to decide not to proceed. Production leadership could call a stop. The broadcaster could withdraw approval if risk thresholds were exceeded. The safety team would choose not to operate specific systems if conditions moved outside agreed parameters.
That clarity mattered. It allowed decisions to be made quickly, without ambiguity, and ensured that “safe enough to proceed” was a shared, owned judgement rather than a vague consensus.
Risk, Rehearsal and Real-World Constraints
One of the clearest tensions between ambition and safety emerged around rehearsal time.
City permissions created limited windows in which larger exclusion zones could be established. Rehearsing outside those windows increased exposure, particularly around dropped objects and time pressure on camera moves.
In the end, some elements were not rehearsed as many times as was desired rather than accepting elevated risk. It was a reminder that, at this level, safety decisions are rarely about eliminating risk altogether. They are about deciding which risks are acceptable, and which are not, within real-world constraints.
Managing Uncertainty Live
Live productions cannot eliminate uncertainty. Weather behaviour, wind conditions and surface drying times all carried variables that could not be fully predicted.
Rather than pretending certainty was possible, the production operated around fixed decision points using a go, delay or no-go framework. These moments were planned in advance, aligned to broadcast deadlines, and informed by real-time conditions.
Professional judgement, supported by experience and team competence, was critical. No checklist could resolve every call. At a certain point, decisions had to be made with the information that was available at the time.
Collaboration Under Pressure
Despite the scale and consequence, Lachlan notes that the project felt less stressful than some smaller productions.
That was down to the team.
Safety, rigging, editorial and production remained aligned throughout the build-up and the live event itself. The right people were in the right roles, with the competence to adapt when plans needed to flex.
In environments like this, capability is the control measure.
Safety as an Enabler
Skyscraper Live only happened because the risk was acceptable to all stakeholders.
The safety framework enabled the camera plan, the live broadcast and the athlete’s operating environment. It allowed ambition to move from concept to reality without relying on luck or optimism.
The result was a live television moment that looked effortless on screen, precisely because so much effort sat behind it.
Production Information
Production company: Plimsoll Productions
Broadcaster: Netflix
Format: Live special
Location: Taiwan
Lead Safety Advisor: Lachlan Bucknall
Risk Management: Secret Compass