Car Concept Evolves Into Florida Oranges Pitch Via Group101 Collective
By Robert Goldrich
This spec spot centers on a couple in a moving car–and in love. The guy is behind the wheel and his gal is the front seat passenger. He touches her hand and kisses it as a playful flirtation begins. She reaches into a picnic basket perched on the backseat and pulls out an orange.
She peels the orange and holds a segment tantalizingly close to her boyfriend’s mouth, only to pull the citrus away from him as he’s about to bite it. This oral tease repeats itself until she finally chomps down on the orange, at which point the story takes an unexpected, dangerous yet humorous turn.
Her bite of the orange releases a spurt of juice which hits the guy in the eyes, blinding him to the point where he loses control of the car. The vehicle swerves across traffic onto the side of the road, narrowly missing being hit by an oncoming big rig truck.
The camera stays on the scared couple as a campy voiceover interjects, matched by accompanying supers that read, “Florida Oranges. Dangerously Juicy.”
Titled “Sunday Drive,” this commercial was directed, shot and co-written by Tom Camarda as part of his Group101Spots spec work regimen. The original intent was to make a car commercial, but Camarda could not find the script he wanted from the Group101 database. So he came up with his own script, co-authored with Jeff Nicosia, a mainstay creative contributor to Group101.
The car commercial concept called for the driver to lose control of the vehicle due to an errant fly which lands on his cheek. The passenger rolls up a magazine and smacks the driver in an attempt to swat the fly, leading the car to careen across traffic to the road’s shoulder. At this point, we would hear about the intelligent all-wheel drive capability of the car, likely an Infiniti model.
But for Camarda, the concept didn’t quite fly–no pun intended. Still the director had made all the arrangements for the shoot (including a scheduled road closure in Lancaster, Calif.), called in favors, and was under Group101 deadline pressure. Fortunately, inspiration hit him while he was walking his dog. He came up with the idea of a misdirect making the star product Florida Oranges instead of the car. A squirt from a juicy orange would be the cause for swerving into oncoming traffic.
Upon conjuring up the new twist, Camarda called Nicosia. “After telling him the idea, there was a long pause,” recalled the director. ” ‘Dangerously Juicy….yeah, I like that.’ Jeff said I had ‘plussed the board.’ That was all the confirmation I needed.”
Donna Ellis produced for the spot for director/DP Camarda. Editor was Tommy Park of Cut+Run, Santa Monica. Park also served as sound designer. Colorist was Marshall Plante at The Syndicate, Santa Monica. Audio post mixer was Jason Sikora of Sikora Productions, Santa Monica. Principal actors were Victoria Ullman and Ryan Wesley.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer โ but not the trigger โ and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More