DoorDash — Commercial

DoorDash: Student Spots was another collaboration with production company Quality Meats and one of many with our friend and Director Chris Vanderwall. The creative called for two distinct locations; a coffee shop, and a gym locker room. When we began hunting for sets that would match our script, I turned to Clare Bisignano from Levinson Locations. Clare got to work right away — scouring Chicago for the perfect places. I then began casting with my good friend Julie Tallarida from Trigger Castings. After a few rounds of decisions, we all landed on our top picks, and we were off. 

In addition to "motion," we also had a "still" element to the creative and had to capture five photo "looks" for the campaign. I couldn't think of anyone better than Anthony Barlich to capture these images, and he and his Assistant worked seamlessly with our film crew to deliver all five looks at the best quality possible.

We had a lot to pack into two days. Clare had found the locations of our dreams just a few miles from one another. To create a more seamless workflow, we decided to have all cast and crew park in one garage and develop a shuttle system to move everyone from location to location. This idea was crucial to our smooth-flowing production day and helped us stay on schedule, a thing we had been keenly aware of since day 1 of pre-pro. That is why having a rock star AD (Assistant Director) is so vital. I love hiring on my buddy Paul Ruffolo who has a way of keeping everyone calm and focused at the same time. 

Being a chameleon has become vital in my career. I have to have a handle on all of the logistics, making sure there is parking for everyone, that my crew and cast are fed, that we have the correct equipment, that art and wardrobe have what they need to fulfill the creative, as well as managing budget and client expectations, and all of that has to happen at the same time. It is an impossible task, and no one is perfect, especially not me. Still, I pride myself on setting myself and everyone else up for success so they can work at their full potential and accomplish their tasks with ease. I can judge how good of a job I've done by how calm I feel while on set. On this job, there were multiple moments where I had to engage my "chameleon personality" and work through the multitude of challenges that came our way. Ultimately, due to the unparalleled flexibility and ingenuity of our cast and crew, we could accomplish not two but three separate spots for our client. It was a big win, and only possible due to the incredible team I had backing me up.