By Rick Stanton
If one is a good storyteller and has a sense of voice tone and manner, casting for a broadcast commercial can be one of the most satisfying aspects of production.
I’ve included an excerpt below from my book about one audio-casting experience in my agency days that was challenging but, in the end, rewarding.
On-camera casting is a little more daunting, and in some cases, it can put a huge dent in your client’s brand.
Witness the use of pro athletes, a fair percentage of whom have been coddled since they were 15. Later on, they’ve been surrounded by toadies and their “posses,” who tell them what they want to hear every waking minute.
So, your client really likes Joe Blow, starting outfielder for Team X and demands that he become the company’s face. The client then spends a ridiculous amount of money for the right to use him in a series of TV spots—and even more money on production.
The spots are just OK, because Mr. Blow doesn’t have the capacity to be genuine and sincere on-camera and comes off like a statue. And three weeks after the spots begin to air, he gets pulled over with a woman who’s not his wife and arrested for DUI. Oops!
The only jock I ever cast was Jack Sikma, for Desperado Jeans. That was the safest of safe bets.
Jim Copacino was the runaway local leader in casting the right guys in his years of award-winning work for the Seattle Mariners. And the players in the ads seldom were asked to do something they couldn’t pull off. Kudos to Mr. C and company.
Take this to the bank; jocks are always a risk.
But I want to call attention to the latest local category of business being compromised by bad casting: gutter-protection products.
There’s one company in particular that has cast an actor who apparently used to sell cars on Aurora. Every time one of their ads comes on, I mute the sound and/or change the station and contemplate taking a shower.
Smarmy.
Successful casting requires doing your research, understanding your client’s brand personality and asking a lot of questions. And if the client is going to shove someone down your throat (or up another part of your anatomy), go on record as having advised against it.
Now for that excerpt, which is as vivid in my memory as if it were yesterday.
Pat McCormick
Pat McCormick was a veteran comic, probably most famous for his role as Big Enos Burdette, along with Burt Reynolds, in “Smokey and the Bandit.”
My personal favorite was his role in the 1981 film “Under the Rainbow.” But his big break came when he was hired by Jack Paar to write for Paar’s version of The Tonight Show. If you’re under 45 google it.
That gig quickly led to writing jobs with Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Danny Kaye and most notably, Johnny Carson for a dozen years on his version of the Tonight Show.
Pat’s specialty was oddball humor. I got the idea of using him after doing a voice casting out of L.A. for our client, Ballard Computer.
I began writing radio and TV voice-over scripts based on the average computer user’s disdain for being made to feel like a moron when shopping for a computer. We decided that Mr. McCormick was the guy.
The most important thing I learned about sessions with Pat happened during the very first one. I scheduled the session for 2 p.m. on Cinco De Mayo.
Pat not only was a writer for Carson, he also was friends with Carson and his bandleader, Doc Severinsen, not to mention a lot of other old-school Hollywood denizens who liked to drink lunch.
And what better day to drink lunch than Cinco De Mayo?
When the patch from the L.A. studio connecting with me in Seattle went live, Pat greeted me with the following line: “Hi Rick. I just had quatro Margaritas, I mean lunch with Doc. And since it’s Cinco De Mayo, and you can’t see me, I want you to know that the only thing I have on is a sombrero.”
Pat was hammered. From that point forward, we only scheduled sessions before lunch.
Here are some links on the casting of spokespeople, including advice for clients/agencies during emergencies. Like say a global pandemic.
https://bunnystudio.com/blog/having-a-video-spokesperson-can-humanize-your-brand/
Loved the story Rick. One of life’s lessons that I still struggling to learn is that we people are all just little animals. We fall into embarrassing behavior on a regular basis. Me included!
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