Potbelly — Commercial

When our friends at Flightless call my producing partner Annie Varberg and I about an upcoming project, the answer is always yes! This one, like any other, involved all the major producing elements: hiring crew, renting the appropriate gear for the job, and determining the right locations. But in addition to that, we had to deal with sandwiches….lots of sandwiches! 

In the paraphrased words of our Director Tom Feiler, not everyone “eats pretty on camera”. And when your task is to ultimately sell Potbelly sandwiches, that is a requirement. In the “post-covid era” casting is done 99% virtually. But because not everyone “eats pretty on camera”, we had an extensive, daylong, in-person casting session which allowed Tom to truly pick the best talent to be featured in the spots. 

Winter lingers in Chicago, and even in April it was cold and rainy. To compensate for that, we had two motorhomes; one for talent and the other for the client and agency. In addition we set up tents for crafty and catering with heaters spread out around the perimeter so that everyone was kept dry and toasty (just like Potbelly sandwiches). 

Over the course of two days, we filmed multiple spots at a lovely Potbelly location. The in-house employees worked tirelessly alongside our food stylists to assemble countless sandwiches, so that we could rapidly film take after take. Shall we say, our talent was very well fed! To me, the marker of a job well done, is not only the obvious excellence around the creation of the spot, but also when everyone from PA to Client walk away having had a truly positive experience. It’s what I strive for, and with an incredible team around me, I’m happy to say we continued to deliver on that promise.