Day 6 - Final Day of Shooting

Andrea flew in to LAX and drove to Ventura, CA to arrive a 1:30am. The boys were very excited to see her when they woke up for the final day of shooting. I left at 8:00am with Grant since he had to sit in on the set for pre-shoot set up. Andrea and Hunter left at 9:00am. After breakfast on set, Grant and Daniel had to sit in on the first shoot scene. The scene was set in an old red barn where Tim and Richard are playing checkers on two stools with fruit surrounding them. After a while on set Andrea showed up to see Grant in action. Grant has done a great job this week and has been very disciplined. Not 5 minutes after Andrea shows up Grant decides to plant his hands in between his thighs on the stool and raise himself up and go into a split. Yep...you guessed it...he falls backwards off the stool and knocks over a pale that dominos into some boots. I have never seen him move so fast to recover. Andrea and I had a good laugh...he is 7 years old and is a spitting imagine of his cut up father!!! After they had set the scene it was Hunter's turn to do his thing. He really amazes me with his ability to memorize his lines and deliver over and over without messing up. He had to recite 16 of his favorite flavors of Jam. The Smuckers executives changed the arrangement 3 times and Hunter handled it like a pro. I didn't count how many takes they did but they usually do around 30. They try different things like changing the speed of the lines or facial expressions to make sure the executives like it. The Smuckers executives and the Grey agency executives sit in a nearby tent with head phones and flat screen televisions to monitor every take and give feed back. The day consisted of multiple scenes that finished at sunset with the famous words "That's a wrap". Everyone cheered and hugged. This was bitter sweet because as far as we know this is the final shoot. We never expected this campaign to end up being 10 national commercials so we are very thankful. Hunter went around and thanked everyone involved. It was an emotional moment because after 2 years and 10 commercial we have gained many new friends. Hunter took a picture with the director Leslie Dector and thanked him for his direction. Leslie is a legend in the commercial word and is one of the most respected directors in the business. After the picture with Leslie, Hunter broke down crying which was very touching to see all of the executives get teary eyed as well. They said not to be too sad and hinted that this was not the end of the campaign which was very exciting to hear. After a long day we celebrated by going out to Hunter's favorite...Sushi. After Sushi, we hit the sack. We are off to Anaheim tomorrow.

Day 4 - Santa Paula Shoot

We shot in the town of Santa Paula, CA and the weather was perfect blue skies, not a cloud to be seen. There was more excitement on set today since there were about 10 extras which were mostly children. Grant started the day out with Hunter's stand in Daniel to make sure the lighting and scene was good on the bus. Hunter and Daniel have become good buddies. Hunter met Daniel last month in Lake Tahoe for the Holiday shoot. Today's first scene was shot on a vintage 1954 school bus. The bus was loaded with school kids dressed in vintage clothing. It was amazing to see how creative the film crew was to depict a moving bus. They wedged 10' long 4"x4" boards under the bus to rock the bus to make it look as though they were moving. They also had multiple reflective boards that they spun around 360 degrees to reflect random light like a passing car would do. After they completed the bus shoot we moved to a new location a couple of miles away to a beautiful school house. It was like little house on the prairie on steroids. This shot was depicting the boys getting out of school. They had the extra's walking vintage bikes and little girls skipping while Tim and Richard exited school. After the school shoot we were shuttled back to the original set for lunch. The food on set is awesome. Hunter and I had trout over a bed of rice and Grant had beef tips over noodles. The catering company is continuously coming around with little appetizers or shots of espresso. There is a snack truck on set with tons of goodies. Needless to say I have got to hit the gym when I get home. After lunch we shot a new scene of the boys running down the stairs of their front porch to catch the bus. When I arrived on set in the morning the porch was a stage out in the middle of the dirt parking lot. The next thing I know they had completely built a replica of the front porch of the house we shoot in a previous commercial. They laid grass sod, brought in plants, and painted it to the exact specs of the original home. They also shot another scene on the porch stairs of Hunter reciting his favorite jams which end up totaling 16 different flavors. The final scene of the day was the boys getting picked up by the bus at the end of their drive way next to the mail box with Smucker written on it. After a long successful day of shooting, the day had come to an end. Grant, Hunter, and Daddy get a treat tonight. Mommy (Andrea) is arriving to catch the final day of shooting before we are off to Disney Land on the weekend......keep posted!!!

Day 3 - And.....Action!!!

Today started out at 6:00am with a 40 minute ride out to the country. We arrived on location for a complete catered breakfast. I had eggs and corned beef hash and Hunter had smoked salmon on a bagel. After breakfast it was time to work. Hunter and Nolan got situated in their own mobile dressing rooms (pictured above) like they were little movie stars. Needless to say Smuckers is a complete class act in everything they do. Even though this is our 4 shoot I am always amazed to see all the lighting and grip trucks. These commercials support about 50 crew members and they are all running around, each with a task at hand. After getting situated the boys both got quick hair cuts and makeup. I had to run up to the set with Grant for his big national commercial debut. His job as a stand in for Nolan (Richard Smucker) is to sit out on the set while they position the cameras and lighting. They use stand inn's to minimize the amount of time the actual actors are on set. Depending on their age, the actors are only aloud to work a certain amount of hours. Grant was very excited to do his job and I was very proud to see him earn his strips. The majority of today's shoot was for a commercial where Richard can't seem to understand how so many strawberries fit in one jar??? It is very cute and the boys completed take after take like true professional actors. The location we shot was breath taking. It is a privately owned working orange grove nestled in between surrounding hills. The orange trees were in blossom and the smell was incredible. The sun was beaming with blue skies and a comfortable 75 degree temperature. It was a long successful day of shooting that broke at 5pm. We were shuttled back to Ventura, CA and were too tired to go out for dinner so we settled for some delivered pizza. We are off to a new location tomorrow. Stay posted and thanks for the kind comments and support. We are grateful for your support and prayers.

Day 2 - Work permit - Coogan Account - Relocate

• Today was a free day to do some pre shoot chores and to relocate near the commercial shoot locations. The production company had to do wardrobe fittings for 7 extras and take the Smuckers executives out to the proposed shoot locations to make sure they approve of their selections. This gave us a half day to get Grants work permit and set up his Coogan account. A Coogan account is a California state requirement that automatically takes 15% of their earnings and puts them in a trust account for them until the age of 18. I decided to take the bus because I thought it would be a great opportunity to show the boys the realities of life from other peoples perspectives. While waiting at the bus stop we couldn't help but notice a homeless guy with 2 missing hands. He continuously talked to himself and some how picked change off the cement by pinching the ends of his limbs together. It gave me a great opportunity to talk to the boys about the less fortunate and how fortunate and grateful we are for our health and happiness. We held hands and said nice prayer for the man. Life really is brutal at times and I really felt for that guy. Before the bus picked us up I had a talk with my 7 year old Grant. "Now Grant...Please keep to yourself and stay close to me". The bus pulls up we board the bus and sit down, 5 seconds into the bus ride Grant picks out the craziest looking lady on the bus, busts out a huge toothless smile and says "HELLO". Needless to say Hunter and I had a good chuckle and Grant had a blast riding the bus. After completing our chores were picked up and shuttled of to Ventura, CA which is beautiful ocean side town. Ventura is the closest populated city to the upcoming shoot locations. The ocean beach is only two blocks away from our Hotel. It didn't take us long to grab our baseball mits and head down to the beach to sink our toes into the sand. There is nothing like the sound of crashing waves, the smell of the ocean air, and a beautuful sunset to enjoy with my boys (Thank you Lord). Tomorrow we have a call time of 6am to meet in the lobby and be shuttled off to the first shoot location. I am sure the boys will be getting their 50's hair cuts after arrival. The action is about to happen so stay tuned.......

Day One - Travel & Wardrobe

Today was the start of our journey. Grant, Hunter, and I flew in a sweet new Boeing 777. The flight took 2:50 at an altitude of 40,000 and an average speed of 462 miles an hour. There were 9 seats across & every seat on the plane had an interactive touch screen. Upon arrival at LAX we met Nolan (Richard Smucker) and his parents. We were all taken to The Cartel (Production Company) for a quick lunch and the wardrobe fitting. Since there are 3 commercials to shoot on this trip they have to try on all the proposed outfits and make sure they fit and the executives decide which look they like the best. The clothes are all authentic 50's apparel and believe it or not some of the clothes are original clothes from the real Tim & Richard Smucker. The boys were really happy to see each other and were making the best of trying on outfit after outfit. It is comical to see the boys in the different outfits. Some look cute and some got a good laugh. One of the scenes this year is the boys in their pajamas and robes which was pretty funny to see. After the wardrobe fitting we were coiffured to the Renaissance Hotel & Spa in Hollywood. What a sweet set up. The Renaissance is right in the heart of Hollywood boulevard. I am pretty sure this is the hotel were all of the American Idol contestants stay since you can literally throw a stone to the Kodak Theater. The view out of our 13th floor room looks right down on the Kodak Theater, The El Captain, and the Chinese Theater. Needless to say we didn't stay in our room very long. We were really hungry and the boys were attracted to the fifties dinner Johnny Rockets were the boys had milkshakes and burgers. The waiter gave the boys paper dinner caps to wear. The looked like Arnold from Happy Days. After dinner we strolled down Hollywood Blvd and looked like the typical tourist taking pictures. After a long day were ready to call it quits and rest up. See you tomorrow for a new adventure 1:30 east out to the commercial shoot location.

Pre-trip Information & Background

Hello Friends and Family,

First off, thanks for your interest in following our journey. Previously, I created a blog to documented our 3 month adventure to Los Angeles for the 2009 pilot season at http://www.hunterknoche.blogspot.com/ . People really seemed to enjoy following or pilot season journey so I figured I would share this journey as well. We are off to Los Angeles again to shoot 3 new commercials for Smuckers. Just a quick background for those who don't know. Hunter has been completely blessed to land the Smuckers commercials. There was a nation wide search with agents submitting audition tapes of thousands of boys to find two boys to portray Tim and Richard Smucker. The ad campain was to reenact Tim & Richard on the farm in 1954 Orrville, Ohio. Tim and Richard are all grown up now and are the 3rd generation owners of Smuckers today. When Hunter learned that he had landed the role of Tim, the initial agreement was a one year deal to shoot 3 commercials. If the commercials went well there was an option on a 2nd and 3rd year. Smuckers has been very happy with results of the commercials and the boys have shot 7 National commercials so far 4 of which are currently airing. The first 6 commercials were shot in Santa Rosa, CA (Sonoma Valley). Last month, Hunter shot the 7th commercial in Lake Tahoe which was in the snow and will air for the Christmas holidays. This trip will be the 8th, 9th, and 10th commercials in the series. This will be a week long adventure from April 5th thru the 12th. One thing different about this trip is that Grant (My 7 year old) will be participating in a back up roll of Richard Smucker. Grant tried out for Richard initially and did not get a call back. Andrea submitted Grants resume and Grant was accepted to be the stand in for Nolan(Richard). Needless to say Grant is very excited to get to go on the trip and be a part of the Smuckers commercials like his big brother. I hope you enjoy our journey.