LOS ANGELES– One minute until the cameras are live at the 2026 Grammys, and suddenly, TikTok star and singer-songwriter Alex Warren’s music cuts out in his earpiece. In the midst of the chaos, the crew runs around looking for a solution. In just a moment the whole world would be watching Warren perform his hit song “Ordinary.” Ari Woog, remained calm, stepped in front of Warren and told him what to do. The plan, although imperfect, worked and the performance began.
“I remember 10 to 15 years ago [during] moments like that, I would literally say, ‘oh my gosh.’ But I think just with experience, with time, you just know that your job is to stay calm, do the best you can do, and try your best efforts to make sure the performer has his best work on stage,” Woog said.
For Woog, adapting to stressful situations and live mishaps are routine. Woog works as a stage manager, which he describes as being the director of the talent.
“You make sure the talent knows where to go, make sure the talent knows where the cameras are, make sure the talent knows you know when they sing. … I’m responsible for explaining all the elements of the performance and the overall safety of the artist or the performer on the stage,” he explained.
From a young age, Woog has always been fascinated by Hollywood. As a child, he visited Los Angeles with his family and stumbled upon a movie premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre. A limo pulled up and Woog could hear screaming voices of fans all around. Excited, he looked over the barricade and knew this was something he wanted to be a part of.
“I think in my brain it just locked: I wanna go to California. Everything seems so bright and exciting and fun,” Woog said.
That next year he signed up for television classes and kept going with it until college. During college he began producing many films, solidifying his passion and he never looked back.
After college he found himself extremely successful with jobs on some of the hottest reality TV shows like “Survivor,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “The Voice,” and “The Masked Singer.” Woog took the industry by storm and while securing jobs didn’t initially feel like a task, this would change.
“I think what really hit my industry was the rise of social media, the rise of TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube, streamers, and podcasts. All of the things that essentially get you to watch one person talking to a camera opposed to my job, where it’s 300 people that are collaboratively working on the production,” said Woog.
Shows that he worked on for a while have been cancelled while others moved shooting to places like Canada, where tax incentives are better and producers can get a higher return on their shows. Woog also recently had a son. Now instead of providing for himself he is providing for a family.
“I feel like I was a very busy single man, way too much work–more than I needed–and now because the work has slowed down like 50% and I’m taking care of three people, as opposed to one, I’m very fearful and anxious,” said Woog.
However, Woog’s adaptability would become his biggest strength. Instead of sitting around and accepting his fate, he has become motivated to seek out work in a different way. Advertisements were circling around for TikTok awards and he reached out to show his interest.
“I never go after shows because that’s just not what we do. The shows kinda come to us, but because I’m in this new world, I was like ‘that is an amazing brand, that is an amazing opportunity.’ If you’re not open, if you don’t create community, no one’s going to help you out,” Woog said.
The TikTok awards proved to be a strategic and successful move for Woog that led to expanding his contacts and opened doors for new opportunities. He was very grateful for the experience, even though he wasn’t paid his normal rate, because he knew that he was headed in the right direction by working with younger people. He felt confident that this was a path that could propel him forward.
“If it’s new, if it’s different, if it’s with young people, then it could probably be groundbreaking. So just learn from the youth, learn from what’s new. You have to be able to turn the rocks over and be like this could turn into a diamond.”
