Ugh! I had a feeling this was going to happen. Why do I say that? Because I think it’s official that the Marie Callendar’s/Healthy Choice commercial I booked and shot back in early March is not going to go beyond the test marketing phase. I knew there was a chance of that from the beginning, but you hope for the best…and I still am. The possible use of the campaign was as follows:
Rate: Scale. Option for foreign, theatrical, industrial, dealer, simulcast, internet and new media at SAG minimum***
Run/Usage: Test Market (probably 1 to 2 cycles as wildspot) prior to roll out Nationally***
I guess that means the campaign didn’t test as they had hoped? I don’t know, but I saw another spot for Healthy Choice/Marie Callendar’s that was very similar to the one I was in. I haven’t had the best of luck in recent years commercially; not sure why. That’s just the cycle of things and my cycle of things hasn’t been all that favorable, but I keep moving in a positive direction. It seems that if there is some way, any way, for a booking to not end up the way any actor would hope; that way finds its journey into my life. This is run down of what the most recent commercial bookings I’ve have booked have gone:
MICHELIN TIRES – October ’06 - I had to pull out of OCEAN’S THIRTEEN and a scene with Al Pacino to do this one. In the end my scene was edited out of the commercial.
WaMu – December ’07 – Multi-day shoot and a great, national airing for a couple of months.
CHEETOS – September ’08 – A few days after being booked and just before I was going to the fitting I received a call informing that my booking had been cancelled.
KY BRAND – March ’09 – I flew to New York to shoot this one. After receiving holding fees for a year the commercial never aired.
CARS.COM – December ’09 – While it was great that this was a commercial for Super Bowl; those spots don’t always continue to run after the big game. To my knowledge, they only aired it on TV once, but I’ve made a nice amount of money through other ways the client bought it.
MARIE CALLENDAR’S/HEALTHY CHOICE – March ’10 – My commercial was one of a 6-spot campaign, but it appears they cancelled the entire thing and filmed new ones.
Oh well. What can you do? Good question. What I do is realize that it’s a great “problem” to have. It’s much better than to not have booked them at all. This cycle, if that’s what it is, will change into something more favorable I’m sure. In due time; I just have to keep my head in the game.
