If you were watching FOX’s American Idol on Feb. 5, you probably saw the premiere of Reebok’s spoof of Nike’s "Streaker." Like the ad it parodies, the Reebok spot, "Terry Tate: On the Field," finds a streaker exhibiting his wares at a soccer game. The nude man—wearing only a scarf and running shoes—sprints about the field chased by several security guards, but he can’t resist stopping for a moment to accept the adoration of the cheering crowd. Arms stretched upward, the streaker basks in the glow of the adulation when suddenly Terry Tate, the office linebacker, appears out of nowhere and tackles the guy. "You just did it, so I had to hit it! Whooooo!" Tate exclaims after knocking the streaker to the ground. The spot ends with a graphic that urges fans to watch more "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" on www. reebok.com.
Tate is, of course, quite familiar to anyone who watched the Super Bowl last month. The fictitious character is the brainchild of Rawson Thurber, a ’99 graduate of the master’s program in film at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. As previously reported (SHOOT, 1/31/03, p. 21), Thurber made a four-minute DV film featuring Tate that caught the attention of Reebok and its ad agency, The Arnell Group, New York. Subsequently, Thurber was commissioned to write and direct a series of Reebok ads—as well as four short films—featuring Tate.
The first spot, "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker," broke during the Super Bowl. The premise of the ad was that Tate, a former professional football player who stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, had been hired by a typical office to increase worker productivity through the use of his gridiron skills. That ad—as well as the rest of the Tate-themed work for Reebok—was produced through bicoastal Hypnotic. (Incidentally, Thurber recently signed with Santa Monica-based F.M. Rocks for commercial representation.)
While Thurber said he’d like to take credit for coming up with the idea for the Nike spoof, it goes to Paul Fireman, CEO of Reebok International. According to Thurber, Fireman was struck by the idea on Jan. 29, and the next day, Thurber was on a plane headed to New York to shoot the spot. Upon arriving in the Big Apple, he and his producing partner, Jason Mercer (who produced Thurber’s original Terry Tate DV film and co-produced all of the other Terry Tate/Reebok fare), immediately began prepping for the shoot.
Among the challenges was finding someone to play the streaker on such short notice. A casting session was quickly put together during which "we had three hundred men come in three at a time, take their shirts off and run in place," Thurber shared. "I swear to you there is nothing more scarring than that. I don’t think I’ll ever recover."
Ultimately, Thurber and Mercer decided they needed to cast someone they had a personal relationship with "because we were asking this person to basically be naked and run around in ten-degree weather for fourteen hours and then get hit by a very large man," Thurber said.
THE STREAK
They wound up hiring Byron Kelly, a real estate agent who lives in Chattanooga, Tenn., and who just happens to be the boyfriend of Mercer’s sister, Vanessa. "Byron is actually a streaker," Thurber claimed. "It’s part of his bag of tricks."
Mercer backed up Thurber’s statement. "That is absolutely true. Byron and I actually streaked ten years ago in Tennessee, and that’s how I knew he was the guy. It was at a New Year’s Eve party," Mercer said. "We streaked, and then we went skinny-dipping in a thirty-degree lake."
After accepting the role, Kelly flew to New York on Friday morning. "He got off a plane, took a nap, did some deep knee bends, then nuded up," Thurber said. By 6 o’clock that evening, Kelly was running around a field at St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y., in front of a crowd of 200 extras. He was clad only in flesh-colored underwear, a scarf and sneakers.
DP Eric Haase shot the action on Beta. Nothing in this low-budget production was storyboarded or scripted, Thurber said.
When it came time for the tackle, there was some concern for Kelly’s safety. Because he was practically nude, it was impossible to pad his body with protective gear. Clearly game for just about anything, Kelly agreed to allow Tate—who, according to Thurber, is played by a man who goes by the name The Mighty Rasta—to tackle him, knocking him into a big crash pad. Kelly endured four hits. During the second one (which was used in the spot), Kelly had the wind knocked out of him, and Mercer said he also heard a loud crack, causing him to fear that Kelly might have suffered a few broken ribs. "I was like, ‘My sister is going to be so pissed!’ " Mercer recalled. Thankfully, Kelly was not harmed.
After the shoot wrapped early Saturday morning, editor Jason Painter of Swietlik, Santa Monica, quickly cut the spot. All of the post/visual/sound work was completed by the end of Sunday, and only a few days later, the spot made its premiere.
In case you were wondering what footwear the streaker sported in the Reebok spot, he was actually wearing a pair of authentic Nike Shox "because he was the bad guy," Mercer explained. Mercer reported that the athletic shoes were purchased at a local sporting goods store; it was assumed that Nike wouldn’t provide a free pair for the shoot. After the spot wrapped, Kelly was told he could keep the shoes, "but he said, ‘Nah, I don’t really like them,’ " Mercer said. "They hurt his feet."
On a serious note, Thurber was thrilled with the finished product and appreciative of all the help he had to get it done. "Not to sound rah-rah, but it was a team effort," Thurber said.
The director also praised the Nike "Streaker" spot that inspired the parody. "I thought the Nike spot was absolutely hilarious. You don’t spoof crappy spots," Thurber said. "You only spoof the good ones."
Additional credit for "Terry Tate: On the Field" goes to Hypnotic’s Doug Liman who executive produced the project. (Liman is repped for spots via Independent Media, Santa Monica.) Gary Bryman and Steve Hein served as producers.
Miriam Franklin produced for The Arnell Group; Peter Arnell was creative director.
As mentioned, editor Jason Painter of Swietlik, Santa Monica, cut the spot. Rebecca Jasmine served as executive producer for Swietlik; Dan Swietlik was postproduction advisor.
Staffers from The Blue Rock Editing Company, New York, also worked on the spot. Credit goes to Blue Rock executive producer Ethel Rubinstein; producer Kristen McQuillan and assistant editor Shane DiBlasio.
Joe O’Connell of Blast Digital, New York, did the audio mix. Chris Fina was his assistant.
Spontaneous Combustion, New York, handled visual effects. David Elkins was visual effects director/senior Inferno Artist. Amir Qureshi was Inferno artist.
David Hutton of Comma, which has offices in Chicago and Santa Monica, did the sound design.
