Marquee Sports Network — Commercial

As a Chicago-area native, I often have the opportunity to work for the exciting brands that call Chicago home. Marquee Sports Network is one of these brands. This project marked the first of many collaborations with Director Chris Vanderwall. As the creative developed, it was clear that the production company (Quality Meats) and their founders were going for a look with very few static frames. This approach limited our need for extensive coverage and allowed for the comedy to play out in the brevity of the shot-list. The reduced camera movement would then heighten the other elements of the scene, forcing the viewer to fully take in the set design, wardrobe stylings, and most importantly the delivery of each nuanced line or lack thereof. 

As you can imagine, excellent casting and locations were key. Intending to find interesting people and unique locations that would add more texture to these spots. Three individual locations were chosen, one for each commercial. As always, I turned to my good friend and locations manager Clare Bisignano from Levinson Locations to handle permitting, coordination with the city, and logistics between our production and each property. Our first location was a corner in front of a mini-mart that we converted into a CTA bus stop. Setting up at this location required us to hire Chicago PD to help us with ITC (Intermittent Traffic Control). Our second location was the Drake Hotel, another iconic Chicago brand. The Drake Hotel's liaison was gracious enough to set up our crew in the historic Princess Diana Suite overlooking Lakeshore Drive and Lake Michigan. We finished the shoot days off at a home in Logan Square—the residents of which were big Cubs fans and already had a plethora of Cubs memorabilia throughout their home. 

Michael Kettenbeil served as our Director of Photography and worked in tandem with Panavision to create the perfect camera package for our shoot. Michael was wonderful to work with and has continued to be a collaborator on various projects. This was also the job where my beloved Black Diamond headlamp was lost. Of course, a month after replacing it, my Production Coordinator Katie Kranz found it in my bag in a spot I swore I had thoroughly searched! 

With 60+ people on set, from crew and cast to agency and client, everything has to run like clockwork. The level of detail it takes to orchestrate a mid-day company move and still have enough time to squeeze in a bonus spot is why hiring an excellent AD is invaluable. Jimmy Fahey is a long-time collaborator of our Director and kept us right on the money each day. 

I am incredibly grateful for the agency, production company, crew, and cast who made this such a fun project to tackle.