“Casting is everything to a commercial. Think about the spots you have seen that are the true classics. They are always about people,” points out Sheila Manning, owner of Sheila Manning Casting, Beverly Hills.
Whether or not American Legacy Foundation’s “Singing Cowboy” becomes a classic remains to be seen, but it is certainly creating a buzz, first with its inclusion in this year’s AICP Show and more recently with its nomination for an Emmy in the Outstanding Commercial category. “Casting contributed greatly to some of the spots becoming nominees. The cowboy [in ‘Singing Cowboy’] is the spot,” said Manning, secretary of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and a member of ATAS’ Commercials Peer Group.
Arnold Boston and Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami, teamed on “Singing Cowboy,” directed by Nicolai Fuglsig of bicoastal/international MJZ. The spot features a singing cowboy. In a poignant moment, he removes the bandanna tied around his neck, revealing that he has had a laryngectomy and can sing only with the aid of a hand-held electro larynx device. “That’s very special casting and finding the person had to be a lot of work, but they did a beautiful job,” relates Manning. “They couldn’t have done any better than that. Those things can be very emotional for the casting director.”
The casting director was Nadette Stasa, who has been freelancing for Strickman Ripps, NYC, for eight years. “One of the things that is unique about the casting we do at Strickmann Ripps is we cast a lot of real people,” notes Stasa. “One of the strengths of the company is a lot of people that work here are really great about dealing with people and with sensitive issues.”
Stasa says the Internet was a valuable resource for connecting with support groups for people with laryngectomies. “These people have suffered so they are eager to speak out about the issue. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of people who were eager to speak out didn’t meet the spec of the advertising agency. We found a plethora of people who had laryngectomies but they were 60-plus years old,” explains Stasa. “Those 60-plus-year-old guys talk at schools and are eager to get out there. But when you want someone who appeals to a younger audience or when you want someone who portrays a cowboy in a masculine sort of way, that’s not going to be your 60-year-old guy. So that became a huge challenge.”
Tom Cook, who starred in the spot, was one of very few people that fit the agency’s criteria and had the right look and feel, but he was a little reluctant in the beginning. “Because we are dealing with real people and not actors you have to explain every step to them. So really holding people’s hands was a big part of this project too,” Stasa recalls.
‘Battle’
Unlike “Singing Cowboy,” Cingular Wireless’ “Battle, another Emmy-nominated spot, called for experienced actors. Directed by Alison Maclean of Park Pictures, New York, for BBDO New York, the spot shows a mother and teenage daughter “arguing” but the incongruity is that they are conveying positive messages to each other. “The challenge in a spot like this–when there is true acting and dialogue necessary and you have the kind of director who we had, who’s cut her teeth doing film–is to find talent as if you were actually making a movie. There’s a lot of dialogue, they have to get the point across but they have to be subtle,” said Susan Shopmaker, owner of Susan Shopmaker Casting in New York, who cast the spot.
She had seen the girl cast in the spot doing theater prior to this job but the performer didn’t have commercial representation. “Sometimes in commercials the demands of getting the casting right are things that are a little bit elusive, like a look or a face, but with this the demands were specific. You needed talent first,” said Shopmaker.
Animal actors
Sometimes scripts call for talent of the furry kind. Take American Express’s “Animals” out of Ogilvy & Mather, New York, directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. Inspired by a print ad where Ellen DeGeneres relates that her childhood ambition was to work with animals, the spot called for 21 animals.Buckley tapped Denise Sanders of Bob Dunn’s Animal Services in California to provide the animals in that the director had worked with Sanders and her chimpanzees on the Careerbuilder.com Superbowl spots. “Working with animals you are pretty proud of being able to see that many in one spot,” said Sanders, who has been with Bob Dunn’s Animal Services since 1993.
She’s also proud of how smoothly everything went during the three-day shoot at the NBC lot where they tape The Ellen Degeneres Show. There were two units filming animals at all times. Ellen was shot separate from the animals, which were also filmed separate from each other. “Working with Bryan in the past, we found shooting everything separate was much more effective. It saved time and it saved money. You don’t have animals distracted by other animals and all the other action going on,” Sanders says.
Sanders also points out that certain animals needed prep and some didn’t. “For instance our giraffe had to look like he was replacing a light bulb and that was something he had never done, so we had to devise a technique that would make him look like he was actually putting a light bulb in. That required some training. On the other hand, our elephant is so experienced. She was pretty much able to do anything that Bryan wanted.”
