So the first commercial that I ever shot just aired the other day. It was recorded back in September, when I had no clue about this whole industry at all. This was an epic moment in my life because I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
On first day of shooting this commercial, all of the guys were asking who I was signed with and what other commercials I had done and of course my answer was “Uhh nothing I just submitted online and got called to the audition.” Most of them thought I was the luckiest one because for one, I didn’t have to share my profit with an agent, and for my first commercial I was now SAG eligible because it was a national Jordan Commercial. Yay me lol.
Needless to say, I’ve been feening to see the outcome because of what these guys were telling me about something called “residuals.” Apparently when you in a SAG commercial and your face is seen, with an expression, you get paid every time the commercial aires. They were even telling me some of them received around 10-15k off residuals for other commercials. Now I’m thinking to myself like wtf why haven’t I been doing this all along!!
When the check finally came in the mail I celebrated even more than when I got the call back. I mean to keep it real, I was expecting only around 1,500 dollars. When I opened that envelope I thought it was a typo because it was 3 times what I was expecting! I should have read that principal contract thing they gave us better, but I was too impressed with everything in my surroundings. I mean everything was impressive. We had authentic jerseys, basketballs, the court was legit, we even were trained by Carmelo’s personal basketball trainer for the commercial! We got to wear authentic NBA gear and “pretend” to be playing against Carmelo Anthony…on TV! Forget the check, I would have paid them to allow me to do this, haha.
So anyways, it was truly amazing to see all that work actually on TV. I must say that I am slightly disappointed though. I mean we shot so many scenes and only a tenth of what we recorded made the final cut! Of course no ones face was shown for those magical extra checks that the guys were telling me about, but that makes sense because none of us are in the NBA. Meeting Carmelo was great too, I wish I would have gotten a pic but I didn’t want to be thirsty lol. With all that being said the commercial is below. Check it out! you can see me trying to block Carmelo’s shot at the end.