Making BMW TV: Part 1, Meet AERO FILM

I've spent the last couple months pitching TV commercials to BMW. We're about to start shooting them this week, and I'm going to try to document as much of it as I can here.

Things really got going last week. Up until Wednesday, it felt like it was just a string of meetings to sort out details: budgets, locations, budgets, casting, budgets, schedules, budgets, production studios, budgets. There were also a few meetings about budgets. But Wed we flew down to LA to meet with AERO Film for the first time -- great group of people. We still had a ton of meetings, but at least we got to see more refined directors boards, look at some wardrobe examples and start to make some real, tangible progress. The AERO offices are pretty sweet as well. They're located right next to the Santa Monica airport, so you get to see jets parked right next to the building (literally) and the interior design has a pretty cool aeronautical theme.

Friday was the first day of callbacks. Previously it had all been done via the internets, so it was good to have some of the team there in person to get a better look at the talent. Our director, Brent Jones, was fantastic. The dude did about 10 or 11 hours straight with nearly 60 actors, actresses and dancers and never let up. His energy and enthusiasm was as strong at the end of the day as it was in the morning. We saw some great performances and have solid options to choose from.

This weekend will be spent going through the rest of the callback video, making some decisions about casting and making some progress towards finalizing our wardrobe and locations.

Tomorrow it's back to LA for tech scouting.

Pics from the day.