My Favorite Christmas Spot

OK, I know this should be titled “My Favorite Seasons Greetings spot”, but let's face it, I didn't get too many requests for Hannukah Harry.  The spot was for WMAQ, the NBC affiliate in Chicago.  It's actually where Rich and I met.  He headed up the department and I was a freelancer. 

Confession:  I love doing Xmas spots.  November sweeps are over.  People are in a good mood.  January is a lifetime away.  All of which gives me a chance to produce a feel-good love letter to the city.  And this wasn't just any city.  It was my hometown.  And I had always thought of myself as a Channel 5 kind of guy. 

The spot was an easy sell.  I'll go out and get “real” shots of the city, people enjoying the store windows at Marshall Field's, and intercut shots of happy, smiling anchors among their fellow Chicagoans.  All this to a Frank Sinatra sound-alike crooning out a swing track that incorporated the copy, “It's not the holidays without Channel Five.”

As I recall, Randy and the talented folks at 615 hit it out of the park.

For two days, we're on the streets, getting everything we wanted (including my 4-year-old niece, which scored many points).  We've got street musicians with Santa hats.  Roasting chestnuts with rising steam.  Horses.  Carriages.  We even get all the talent looking at store windows, smiling, happy, caught in the act of being themselves – coincidentally with their on-air partners.

All except one.

It seems as though the main talent viewed herself as a Big J journalist, above the pretense of promotion, and refused to pose for anything.  Hard news, you know.  Wouldn't smile in a set-up shot with her co-anchor.  Wouldn't walk down Michigan Avenue.  Wouldn't even toast the camera with a cup o' egg nog.

We had to do something and an air-check wasn't gonna cut it.  After days of negotiating (!), she let it be known throughout the land that she will be walking from her office across the newsroom at exactly 2:30.  If all went well, she might even look up.

So, 2:30 rolls around and we're rolling tape like crazy, even though it's just her door.  Seconds later, she exits, holding papers.  As we follow her into the newsroom, she looks up ever so slightly and gives us The Smile.  For some reason, I remember thanking her.

As we head to the edit bay, I think, Victory is ours!  We did it!  We got her to smile in a Xmas spot that promoted her!  It may have taken days, but it was totally worth it. 

And then it hits me: This is one strange way to earn a living.

--Ed the Head Elf

Subscribe below for e-mail updates

Follow us!