TV Commercial Production & Politics Texas Style

Here’s part of a story from my

TV commercial production

book Circumstances Beyond My Control.

Carl Casselman was a senior creative director at BBDO Worldwide in the spring of 1988 and was taking a leave to create some spots for the Democratic National Committee. On the recommendation of DP John Beymer he hired me to produce them and serve as his AD.

Our situation was a typical example of the disastrous campaign that the Dukakis (dis)organization ran in that there were three separate groups making commercials with zero coordination. We made six – in my opinion, brilliant – spots and only one of them ever aired.

We went to Texas for two spots. Through Tommy Alcala, then a Dallas gaffer – the cousin of Felix Alcala, a director I’d worked with – I found a local PC and she hired two location scouts and sent them in search of very specific locations: an abandoned industrial complex and a small town intersection featuring several boarded up storefronts.

Tommy and our local PC put together what turned out to be an excellent crew.

For the small town intersection we chose Waxahachie, (pronounced Wak-sa-hachi) around forty miles south of Dallas.

I was extremely surprised while we were looking over the site when the senior local cop who was our escort responded to a question put to JB and me by Carl. “What’s the lens height on a Nike crane?” Before JB or I could answer the cop said (accurately), “Fourteen feet. With a riser you can get another eighteen inches”.

We all stared openmouthed at the guy. He chuckling he said proudly, “There’s a lot of movie shoots in Waxahachie”.

There is a fine talent pool in Dallas and we had no problem finding the actors we needed for the two spots.

The shoot in Waxahachie went well. We had complete control of the single major intersection in the town and the cops were very helpful and seemed eager to please. Carl knew what he wanted, JB knew how to get it and the crew was first rate. We were ahead of schedule when we broke for lunch.

We New Yorkers were impressed and delighted by the skill and attitude of the entire Dallas crew. These guys were as good as any crew I had ever worked with and they were an easygoing bunch. The entire Texas experience was wonderful and we let the folks who supported us there know it. I think we left them with as positive an attitude about Yankees as we had of Texans.

For more TV Commercial Production stories click here to get Circumstances Beyond My Control.

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