Times-Picayune Article on Bush's Prod Co.
Posted whole because I don't want to lose this after 14 days:
The Producer: Reggie Bush adds something new to his resume: production company founder
Posted by Mike Scott, Movie writer September 19, 2007 8:00AM
The lights at the Superdome were mostly dark. It was a Tuesday morning, painfully early, and there were no Saints home games scheduled for almost two weeks. But in one corner, in the tunnel just behind the Poydras Street end zone, dozens of coffee-fueled film crew members were shuffling around.
They were setting up for a Subway sandwich ad featuring Saints running back Reggie Bush and Subway sandwich poster boy Jared Fogle. Titled "The Odd Couple," the 30-second spot would feature the theme song from the old Tony Randall/Jack Klugman TV show, playing over alternating images of superstar Bush and regular guy Fogle.
Subway doesn't normally make its commercials here and, truth be told, the folks with the outfit hired to handle the nuts and bolts of this particular shoot, Boston's Element Productions, probably prefer sleeping in their own beds.
But aside from those tax incentives that are so attractive to film and video productions, Louisiana has Bush, who has become so in-demand for national endorsements -- Hummer, Subway, Adidas, Pepsi -- that he is breathing down the neck of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton "The Pitchman" Manning, the face that launched a thousand commercials.
In fact, Bush has landed so many endorsement deals -- upwards of 20 national TV spots, by the count of his marketing mentor, Mike Ornstein -- that it led him recently to launch his own New Orleans-based production company.
But this isn't your ordinary production company. 619 Productions, named after Bush's old San Diego area code, has a unique, community-oriented intent: to urge his sponsors to make their commercials down here, in Hollywood South. There's nothing contractually to oblige them to do so, but Bush's muscle isn't limited to those impressive guns he carried away from his offseason workouts.
The Subway spot was the first national commercial being handled by 619. It's a for-profit company, so Bush and his business partners in the venture -- which include Ornstein, local investment banker Leonard Alsfeld, production veteran James Brooke and former Saints defensive back Toi Cook -- stand to make more than a few dollars from it. But Bush, who in his short time in New Orleans has launched an impressive number of charitable projects -- and with another, a local battered-women's shelter, in the works -- sees it as another way of giving back to the local community.
"Knowing what went on with Katrina, the city still needs a lot of work. I'm really just trying to be an active member of the community, a light and inspiration to these people, because they really need a lot," Bush said during a break in shooting on the Subway ad set.
Alsfeld, who has experience in the business end of the local film industry, sees Bush's marketing muscle and the state's film industry tax incentives as a perfect fit.
"We figured, hey, Reggie is from USC, arguably one of the best film schools in the country," Alsfeld said, "so why don't we involve him in using his brand to direct the making of commercials featuring him down here, where he can jump-start the film industry through the commercial end?
"They don't think of New Orleans as a place where they should be doing this. Mike Ornstein realized it and said, 'Why not?' "
The potential benefits to the region are multiple. Of the 75 or so people working on the Subway shoot, about 85 percent were local, by Alsfeld's estimate. For them, the Subway production helped in two respects: It helped build up their bank accounts, and it helped build up their resumes.
Just as important, Ornstein said, is that 619 will put Louisiana on the radar of out-of-state commercial makers, such as Element. Once they see what Louisiana has to offer, he said, they might come back for more. That's particularly important during hurricane season, when many feature-film productions shy away to avoid being interrupted by a storm, and the higher insurance costs that come along with that. Two-day commercial shoots, however, likely wouldn't be affected.
"I just talked with Subway, and they had a great experience, and they want to do more commercials in town, without Reggie Bush," Ornstein said. "And that's the whole idea."
Kim Hennig, Subway's director of brand management, had nothing but praise for her experience with 619, with the "Odd Couple" crew, and with New Orleans as a whole, which she refers to as "a jewel."
Should we expect Subway back? "Absolutely," she said.
. . . . . . .
When word came down that Bush was on his way that Tuesday morning, the energy at the Superdome picked up noticeably.
"Please remind everybody not to ask Reggie for autographs," someone said over the two-way radios attached to many of the crew members' hips.
Jared wasn't scheduled to appear on camera yet -- his scenes were to be shot the following day -- but he was hanging around the set. As a gentle (or maybe not-so-gentle) jibe at Bush, he was wearing a Dallas Clark jersey -- yes, that Dallas Clark, the NFL tight end who caught two passes for 48 yards and rushed once for 14 yards during the Indianapolis Colts' 41-10 victory over the humbled Saints five days earlier.
When Bush arrived to shoot his scenes for the commercial -- which is expected to begin airing nationally later this year -- he was all business, dispensing with scenes quickly and efficiently. He shot a scene in a Dome locker room in which he was being interviewed by faux media members. He put on eye black for a close-up. He pumped iron in front of a wall in the tunnel leading to the field. He did some sprints on the Dome turf.
Then it was off to Slidell, where a particularly elegant home would double for his West Coast abode, and where he would do a scene at the Subway at Gause Boulevard's Northside Plaza Shopping Center. Nobody was supposed to know that Bush was going to show, but word leaked out somehow, and it was "a mob scene," Alsfeld said. Reggie had to sneak in a back door.
After the shoot, however, he stuck around, signing autographs and pressing the flesh. Ever the mindful spokesman, he ordered a couple of 6-inch sandwiches -- one club, one roast beef -- on his way out.
. . . . . . .
The camera may love Reggie Bush, but any feature-film directors who dream of building a movie around his 100-megawatt smile will have to wait. He's a man with priorities, and films have been dropped to the bottom of the list for the time being.
Top of the list: the Tennessee Titans, the Saints' next opponent, followed, in order, by the 13 other teams the Saints will face in the 2007 regular season.
"Maybe someday after football's all said and done," Bush said of expanding his film career to movies. "It's all football right now, and little things like this.
"I don't really consider myself Hollywood, although I live there. I'm still the same old Reggie, to me."
. . . . . . .
Movie writer Mike Scott can be reached at (504) 826-3444 or mscott@timespicayune.com. To comment on this story or read Scott's other film-related features and reviews, go to http://blog.nola.com/mikescott.
The Producer: Reggie Bush adds something new to his resume: production company founder
Posted by Mike Scott, Movie writer September 19, 2007 8:00AM
The lights at the Superdome were mostly dark. It was a Tuesday morning, painfully early, and there were no Saints home games scheduled for almost two weeks. But in one corner, in the tunnel just behind the Poydras Street end zone, dozens of coffee-fueled film crew members were shuffling around.
They were setting up for a Subway sandwich ad featuring Saints running back Reggie Bush and Subway sandwich poster boy Jared Fogle. Titled "The Odd Couple," the 30-second spot would feature the theme song from the old Tony Randall/Jack Klugman TV show, playing over alternating images of superstar Bush and regular guy Fogle.
Subway doesn't normally make its commercials here and, truth be told, the folks with the outfit hired to handle the nuts and bolts of this particular shoot, Boston's Element Productions, probably prefer sleeping in their own beds.
But aside from those tax incentives that are so attractive to film and video productions, Louisiana has Bush, who has become so in-demand for national endorsements -- Hummer, Subway, Adidas, Pepsi -- that he is breathing down the neck of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton "The Pitchman" Manning, the face that launched a thousand commercials.
In fact, Bush has landed so many endorsement deals -- upwards of 20 national TV spots, by the count of his marketing mentor, Mike Ornstein -- that it led him recently to launch his own New Orleans-based production company.
But this isn't your ordinary production company. 619 Productions, named after Bush's old San Diego area code, has a unique, community-oriented intent: to urge his sponsors to make their commercials down here, in Hollywood South. There's nothing contractually to oblige them to do so, but Bush's muscle isn't limited to those impressive guns he carried away from his offseason workouts.
The Subway spot was the first national commercial being handled by 619. It's a for-profit company, so Bush and his business partners in the venture -- which include Ornstein, local investment banker Leonard Alsfeld, production veteran James Brooke and former Saints defensive back Toi Cook -- stand to make more than a few dollars from it. But Bush, who in his short time in New Orleans has launched an impressive number of charitable projects -- and with another, a local battered-women's shelter, in the works -- sees it as another way of giving back to the local community.
"Knowing what went on with Katrina, the city still needs a lot of work. I'm really just trying to be an active member of the community, a light and inspiration to these people, because they really need a lot," Bush said during a break in shooting on the Subway ad set.
Alsfeld, who has experience in the business end of the local film industry, sees Bush's marketing muscle and the state's film industry tax incentives as a perfect fit.
"We figured, hey, Reggie is from USC, arguably one of the best film schools in the country," Alsfeld said, "so why don't we involve him in using his brand to direct the making of commercials featuring him down here, where he can jump-start the film industry through the commercial end?
"They don't think of New Orleans as a place where they should be doing this. Mike Ornstein realized it and said, 'Why not?' "
The potential benefits to the region are multiple. Of the 75 or so people working on the Subway shoot, about 85 percent were local, by Alsfeld's estimate. For them, the Subway production helped in two respects: It helped build up their bank accounts, and it helped build up their resumes.
Just as important, Ornstein said, is that 619 will put Louisiana on the radar of out-of-state commercial makers, such as Element. Once they see what Louisiana has to offer, he said, they might come back for more. That's particularly important during hurricane season, when many feature-film productions shy away to avoid being interrupted by a storm, and the higher insurance costs that come along with that. Two-day commercial shoots, however, likely wouldn't be affected.
"I just talked with Subway, and they had a great experience, and they want to do more commercials in town, without Reggie Bush," Ornstein said. "And that's the whole idea."
Kim Hennig, Subway's director of brand management, had nothing but praise for her experience with 619, with the "Odd Couple" crew, and with New Orleans as a whole, which she refers to as "a jewel."
Should we expect Subway back? "Absolutely," she said.
. . . . . . .
When word came down that Bush was on his way that Tuesday morning, the energy at the Superdome picked up noticeably.
"Please remind everybody not to ask Reggie for autographs," someone said over the two-way radios attached to many of the crew members' hips.
Jared wasn't scheduled to appear on camera yet -- his scenes were to be shot the following day -- but he was hanging around the set. As a gentle (or maybe not-so-gentle) jibe at Bush, he was wearing a Dallas Clark jersey -- yes, that Dallas Clark, the NFL tight end who caught two passes for 48 yards and rushed once for 14 yards during the Indianapolis Colts' 41-10 victory over the humbled Saints five days earlier.
When Bush arrived to shoot his scenes for the commercial -- which is expected to begin airing nationally later this year -- he was all business, dispensing with scenes quickly and efficiently. He shot a scene in a Dome locker room in which he was being interviewed by faux media members. He put on eye black for a close-up. He pumped iron in front of a wall in the tunnel leading to the field. He did some sprints on the Dome turf.
Then it was off to Slidell, where a particularly elegant home would double for his West Coast abode, and where he would do a scene at the Subway at Gause Boulevard's Northside Plaza Shopping Center. Nobody was supposed to know that Bush was going to show, but word leaked out somehow, and it was "a mob scene," Alsfeld said. Reggie had to sneak in a back door.
After the shoot, however, he stuck around, signing autographs and pressing the flesh. Ever the mindful spokesman, he ordered a couple of 6-inch sandwiches -- one club, one roast beef -- on his way out.
. . . . . . .
The camera may love Reggie Bush, but any feature-film directors who dream of building a movie around his 100-megawatt smile will have to wait. He's a man with priorities, and films have been dropped to the bottom of the list for the time being.
Top of the list: the Tennessee Titans, the Saints' next opponent, followed, in order, by the 13 other teams the Saints will face in the 2007 regular season.
"Maybe someday after football's all said and done," Bush said of expanding his film career to movies. "It's all football right now, and little things like this.
"I don't really consider myself Hollywood, although I live there. I'm still the same old Reggie, to me."
. . . . . . .
Movie writer Mike Scott can be reached at (504) 826-3444 or mscott@timespicayune.com. To comment on this story or read Scott's other film-related features and reviews, go to http://blog.nola.com/mikescott.
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