Bright idea: Litepanels makes battery-powered LEDs--light emitting diodes--for TV and film shoots.

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THANKS to a local company, the technology behind light-emitting diodes in traffic signals is lighting up the White House press briefing room and the sets of popular TV shows such as "Desperate Housewives." North Hollywood-based Litepanels Inc. has harnessed

LEDs, which are commonly used in brake lights on cars, into a panel of soft white lights that can provide long-lasting illumination for film sets and studios. So long that Rudy Pohlert, the company's president, says he hasn't yet seen a single LED bulb go out on the hundreds of panels the company has sold in the past four years.

"How efficient are we? We won't know until we start to see failures in our product," he said. The fights last about four times longer than a typical tungsten lamp.

The recently renovated press briefing room off the West Wing of the White House has 50 of these LED panels, each measuring one square foot. The lights emit no heat, they're silent and look great on camera, Pohlert said.

Until recently, LED technology wasn't sophisticated enough to capture a true white light that creates a day-like ambiance indoors.

Pohlert and his business partner, Pat Grosswendt, began taking orders in 2003 after figuring out how to harness the technology for film lighting.

While working as gaffers on film sets, Pohlert and Grosswendt had run a handful of film lighting companies, and were on a hunt for cutting edge lighting technology. They stumbled upon LED technology and decided to apply it to film lighting.

"Once we understood the technology, we realized it was better than anything out there in the film industry," Pohlert said. "We'd seen people putting sockets on wooden boards to try to create a similar type of effect or even configure fluorescent bulbs into a giant circle."

Revenues have doubled every year since the two friends started the company and next year they expect to hit $10 million.

The company also boasts more than a dozen industry awards, including the 2005 Primetime Emmy for outstanding achievement in engineering development.

Unlike huge daylight halogen lamps that run on generators, the company's lights are battery-operated or plug into a wall circuit. The panels remain cool, even if they run all day, which meant an 80 percent savings in electricity bills for one studio, said Pohlert.

Each panel is light enough for cameramen to run out to the field with it to interview players after football games. It's also slim enough to fit into a four-inch space behind a huge 17th century stained glass exhibit at the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C. The lights mimic sunlight coming through the glass.

It's also expensive. A 16-unit panel costs about $30,000. A single panel is comparable to a 500-watt traditional light fixture, which costs $500 and requires bulbs that need to be replaced every 300 hours. The single panel costs $2,000 with no need for replacement bulbs. Those costs are prohibitive for all but the highest-end filmers.

"The idea is great. The price is horrible," said Thomas Henzc, an L.A.-based dealer and a freelance cinematographer. "From a rental point of view, it's hard to make the money back."

It's still too pricey for most customers, Henzc said, even after considering the savings of $300 a day that would have gone to renting a generator. Also, the quality of light isn't particularly special, Henzc said. "You still have to mix it with different light sources to get it perfectly balanced."

Still other cinematographers say Litepanels has changed the way shows are filmed.

"Our show lights so quickly now that directors come in and marvel at how fast we get everything done," said cinematographer Lowell Peterson, who has used 16 units of the panels to light the past two seasons of ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Before buying Litepanels products, Peterson would put up a huge paper lamp to create daylight. He would cover the lamp with nylon netting to dim the light, which spilled everywhere. Litepanels, on the other hand, can dim with no change in temperature and illuminates directionally.

Most lights, including fluorescent tubes, use gas-filled bulbs that require refractors to project in a specific direction. Litepanel's lights are harnessed from a diode, which is encapsulated by the lens then projected into a beam. While both fluorescent and tungsten lights seep in multiple directions, LED lights project in one direction.

Also, since the lights are portable and battery-operated, they can be quickly rearranged on the set.

"We're looking for instruments that will make our day go shorter," Peterson said. "With 60 people working on the set, if you can save 10 minutes, that probably more than pays for a light panel."

The company is working on the second generation of its panels, which will be more versatile than their predecessors. They will incorporate two LED colors good for both internal and external filming.

The company mostly sells through dealers and Pohlert said he can't keep track of where all his panels have ended up. Sometimes, though, he says he finds himself inching closer to the TV screen during sitcoms to see if the daylight streaming into the scene might be coming from the company's lights.

A few of the many TV series that use Litepanels are Fox's "24" and Showtime's "Weeds." NBC's "The West Wing" also employed the panels during its last few seasons. Lighting on the set of "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is also from Litepanels.

Lltepanels Inc.

Founded: 2003

Core Business: Develops and manufactures light panels with LED (light-emitting diode) technology used on film sets and studios

Employees in 2007: 6

Employees in 2006: 5

Goal: To become the industry leader in LED technology

Driving Force: The desire of filmmakers and studios to find longer-lasting, durable lights that don't require a generator

BY BOOYEON LEE

Staff Reporter