TV Commercial

Cecil Atkission Motors is a regional car dealership in Texas, providing several small towns with a quality dealership experience. Cecil sells tires in addition to vehicles, but their obstacle was awareness; people in their markets weren’t aware Cecil sold tires, and never considered them as an option. 

 

Messaging for Cecil was paramount. They wanted a TV commercial featuring tire sales. But the traditional car dealership spot with spiraling numbers and a man yelling about soon-to-go deals was not going to work here. This spot needed to be engaging from the jump, humorous without being hokey, and informational without being clunky – a tall order when the message is “we sell tires.”

 

Though creative development jumps can be made in moments of inspiration, we place a high degree of emphasis on development process. One of the most vital aspects of a strong process is knowing your role in it. For this Cecil commercial, Sawyer took on the role of concept creator. His first step was to develop a simple idea that could be the seed for the whole commercial. After a few hours of research and brainstorming, Sawyer landed on a simple concept with plenty of openness for specific direction. 

 

What if we connected tires to shoes? Tires for your vehicle being like shoes for your feet.

 

It was simple and clean. The type of idea that, when you think on it, makes you say, “Yeah, that’s nice. I like it.” 

 

Visually, Sawyer determined the spot should be a walk and talk with a spokesperson moving through the dealership, and at some point, the spokesperson would use shoes as a visual tool to connect the audience to tires. 

 

Caleb’s role as writer came next. Due to budget constraints, the script needed to be accomplishable in one day with minimal crew, one actress as spokesperson, and all on location at Cecil’s flagship store in Kerrville, TX. These parameters created a box within which Caleb needed to operate. 

 

It was at that point the commercial began to take shape. After review sessions with Sawyer and the client, Caleb solidified the script and moved onto casting while Sawyer developed the shot list. Austin based actress, Olivia Nice, snuck in her submission at the last second before the casting call closed, and showed both range and creativity in her call back. We offered her the part and were off to the races. 

 

The shoot day came with unexpected technical difficulties, last second script changes, and scheduling issues requiring us to adjust locations on the fly. Without the upbeat, and positive attitudes from both Olivia and HMU/Sound/PA assistant, Victoria Bacon, the shoot would not have been possible.

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Writer/Director: Caleb McKnight

DP/Director: Sawyer Richburg

HMU/Sound/PA: Victoria Bacon

Actress: Olivia Nice

Post-Production Sound Design: Stuck On On