After 6 years of professional video work since leaving Goshen College, I have produced a short film that was selected to play in 2 film festivals, run thousands of video ads on Facebook and YouTube, and seen a growth of over 2000 new subscribers on the YouTube channel I manage. But in all that time, I never ran a commercial on TV! This month, I reached another first in my career—the first TV commercial that I produced will be running across the state of Kansas.
I've worked with BowerComm to produce over a dozen videos over the last 4 months, so when they reached out to me last month about producing a commercial for the Kansas State Fair, I jumped at the chance.
As I read through the script and concept BowerComm had already written and provided to me, I could picture it all in front of me—which made my part easy. I simply planned the shot progressions, developed a storyboard, and prepared for the shoot.
The script was heavily dependent on our young actress hitting her lines, but as soon as I met her I knew that wouldn't be a problem. Jordie played the part to perfection, putting up with my directing and repeating line after line until I'm sure she was sick of them.
The shoot went great thanks to Jordie's talent and BowerComm's props and preparation.
Within the week I had a first draft of the edit complete and ready for feedback. Soon after, we completed the final cut. And this month, the 30-second advertisement will be airing on TV stations across Kansas to encourage to, (in the words of the talented voiceover artist Beth Rice) "Get your super fan on, September 9-18. Go to kansasstatefair.com."
I had a blast producing the spot and can't wait to see it on TV myself.
Much credit is due to Bailey and Jo at BowerComm for executive producing, writing, and conceptualizing the script. I'm grateful that I was able to play my part in the process.
So, when you're watching the news and hear that first line, "Do I like the Kansas State Fair?!" you may want to sit up and pay attention. Then, let me know what you think!
