Producing a project for a brand like The Home Depot comes with a lot of complexity. When Kevin Conway, the Executive Producer at Flightless, asked my Producing Partner Annie and I to lead this project, we had no idea how crazy it would get! The creative focused around multiple human moments where The Home Depot’s staff were able to answer each customer's question by pointing them to a THD solution.
There were a lot of different home and backyard setups and specific items to feature in each scene, not to mention shots of employees in a Home Depot store being the helpful element to each creative storyline…oh yeah and all of this in two days! It was a tall order, and after taking in the task at hand Annie and I, along with our PM Katie Kranz, set out to make the impossible possible.
Director Cam Busby punched up the creative with unique filming techniques, camera angles and solid casting choices. We all knew that first we needed to find a location which would allow us to do everything in one spot, aside from the Home Depot shots. We turned to a backlot outside of LA, which gave us multiple homes to play with. It was perfect, but needed an immense amount of art to make each empty facade look lived in. Our original art team tripled in size and worked around the clock to transform each space so that when our DP Sam Brave looked through the camera lens you would never have known we were standing on a backlot.
No matter if it was before the crack of dawn or past the midnight hour, the interior scenes looked like the sun was beaming through the windows of our “homes”. It’s the magic of film, creating something beautiful out of seemingly nothing at all. And after months of post production, watching the end product and how effortless it all looks, makes the countless hours we worked in the production office and the additional gray hair I now have worth it.
Sr Specialist Multicultural Marketing: Nikke Gant
Advertising, Brand and Creative: Kevin Bosse
Art Direction (Brand): Nicole Gess
Art Direction (Events): Rachel Triplett
Art Direction: Taylor Pratt
Art Direction: Thomas Manley
Executive Producer: Kevin Conway
Production Company: Flightless
Principal Talent:
Abigail Achiri
Durrell Lyons
D. Elliot Woods
Shelley Robertson
Bernadette Speakes
Ra Miller
Kenia Rivera
Tifini Pea
Leslie Covington
Background Talent:
Khalima S. Gaston
Ava Celine
Prince Hammond
Deborah Marcano
Alonzo Rouege
Gary Newkirk
Shaan Legros
Cindy Choi
Director: Cameron Busby
Co-Producer: Bryan Fellows
Co-Producer: Annie Varberg
Associate Producer: Chris Blanch
Production Manager: Katie Kranz
Production Coordinators: Giulia Alexander, Lola Noh
2nd AD: Michael Rubman
Script Supervisor: Nicole Jolly
Director of Photography: Sam Brave
Camera: Red Letter Rentals
Steadicam: Jaron Tauch
1st AC: Christopher Powers
2nd AC: Carolina Thompson
DIT / VTR: Timothy Gaer
G&E: New World Light & Power
Gaffer: Bradford Jamieson
Best Boy Electric: Justin Dickson
Electrics: Christian Rice, Chandler Tango, Dwayne Coote
Electric / Driver: Scott Moody
Key Grip: Adam Shambour
Best Boy Grips: Alex Reilly, Aaron Neas
Grips: Lucas Reilly, Daniel Valles
Grip / Driver: Harrison Reilly
Production Designer: Brandon Mendez
Set Decorator: Christian Corio
Prop Master: Casey Baker
Prop Asst: Kyle Vannoy
Leadperson / Driver: Nicolas Cruz
Driver / Set Driver: Richard Anderson
On Set Dresser: Shauna Nevens
Set Dressers: Daniel Padilla, Joe O’Neal, Kenneth Ojeda, Michael Lopez, Miguel Burris
Buyer: Steve Kiratsous
Art Coordinator: Sydney Mills
Art PA: Hani Kim
THD Art Dept Head: Adam Pratt
THD Art Production Asst: Jerry Butt
THD Art Warehouse Asst’s: Po Chiang, Shabazz Burwell, Dan Wasserman
THD Art PA: Nathan Blakemore
Sound Mixer: Jessie Marek
Sound PA: Brent Knipper
Wardrobe Stylist: Bethany Bankston
Wardrobe Assistant: Anitra Michelle
HMU: Andrea Samuels, Jasmine Nelson
FSA: Bob Castillejo
SPFX: Lee Cole
PA’s: Anthony McBurney, Thomas Murray, Granville Davis, Alexa Gabriel, Auggie Yu, Miguel Flores, Via Lemieux
Ambassador Associates: Johnny Guerrero, Sergio Serrano
Stills Photographer: Andre Perry
Stills Producer: Anabella Casanova
Stills Asst: Christopher Hart
Digi Tech: Evan Perkins
Food Styling: Amy Holt, Sofia Kraft
Catering: Camille’s Culinary Creations
Locations: RSI Studios, The Home Depot
Location Scout: Travis Beck
Special Thanks:
To our Art Department for all of their work making this project happen.
Shot on Arri Alexa 35 w/ Arri Master Prime Lenses