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Firm won't be paid for 'seizure' film
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent12 Oct 2007
London Olympics chiefs have refused to pay the firm which made the logo launch film.
Event marketing firm LIVE will not receive a fee for the promotional film which triggered 30 seizures among epileptics.
The 2012 organising committee reached their decision after a three-month inquiry into what went wrong at the launch of the logo in June. LIVE commissioned a freelance animator to produce the film. A section featuring a diver and containing flashing images caused seizures in epileptics when shown on TV.
Although the logo itself, designed by brand consultants Wolff Olins, cost £400,000, Olympics chiefs have never revealed how much they paid to stage the launch. The 2012 organising committee, Locog, said it was refusing to pay for the film but would pay the remainder of LIVE's invoice for production work at the launch at Camden's Roundhouse.
After the event Ken Livingstone publicly berated the West End firm, saying he would never use them again and demanding that they should "not be paid a penny" for a "pretty basic" error. LIVE, which produced the presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Singapore ahead of the 2012 vote, has not been commissioned for any more Olympics work.
Last month media regulator Ofcom, responding to a complaint from the British Epilepsy Association, reprimanded the BBC for broadcasting the film.
A statement from Locog today said: "LIVE and London 2012 regret any distress that may have been suffered by those viewing the animated video produced by LIVE to support the launch of London 2012's new logo.
"We have conducted a thorough review of the relevant facts and circumstances of the video production process with LIVE and have reached an appropriate agreement relating to the costs of production of the video."
