This commercial, featuring my wife and kids, has been running on a couple of local San Diego channels for about three weeks now. It has been so much fun watching and getting texts and calls from friends telling us they just saw us on TV. Jeremiah (12) tells us of random kids who stop him in the halls at school and you cannot imagine what a thrill this has been for Summer (8). Her teacher and friends call her a movie star.
It was good to break out of our everyday routine and try something new. The experience and memories will forever be with us. However, none of this would have happened had it not been for the stage crew. Those unsung heroes of the background are seldom seen and only noticed when something goes wrong. In this case, the stage crew consisted of me, and only me. So pardon my ego for one second as I take my curtain call, because I DESERVE IT!
The producer called me three months ago and invited us to do the commercial. I knew right away what I was up against, but committed on behalf of the actors anyway. You see, at my house during the fall, there are anywhere between two to five sports practices every day, three therapy sessions a week for Eli, plus a host of other activities and obligations. If we were to pull off this commercial, there had to be sacrifices that no one was willing to make.
Enter the stage crew (me). My first objective was to convince Robin. She is gorgeous and fun and is a natural, plus a 1000 more things. But tell her she is going to be on camera and like some women, maybe most women, okay all women, she is going to look at herself through a high-powered microscope and point out every perceived flaw that you can imagine. I’m convinced she made up a bunch of stuff just because she did not want to do it. It took my best Dale Carnegie people skills plus an act of God to convince her to do it.
Jeremiah did not want to do it, because he is twelve and he’s Jeremiah. I had to dig deep into my Vince Lombardi book of motivational speeches plus some bribery to get him on board. Summer, surprisingly did not want to do it either! It took several of my best “You Are a Princess,” “We need you to be with Eli,” “It’s going to be sooo much fun!” speeches. And these speeches were made over and over again. Eli, was the only one I did not have a problem with, but I knew come shoot time, he would be my greatest challenge. And he was.
Routines are good. But sometimes we need to break out of those routines and venture out and do something new. It was a beast convincing everyone involved and making the sacrifice of one afternoon. But the stage crew, again, that would be me, has vision! I knew, or was pretty sure, or at least I thought this is going to turn out great and would be a memory for the Daynes family vault. Thankfully, it was!
So a big slap on the back, adda-boy, take a bow, curtain call for me and all of you who are the shakers in your families. You, who are so tired and don’t want to take on the fight of disrupting the daily routine or getting everyone off the couch in the name of spontaneity. You are what gives your family wind in their sales and amusement to remember.
