On The Set - Vonage Bundler Spot

In June of 2007 I travelled to Portland to shoot a fun spot for Vonage. I've been a customer of theirs since 2004 so it was gratifying to do a spot for a service I use every day.

The premise was that I signed up for bundled service (tv/phone/internet) through my cable company and I no sooner hang up the phone when the coaxial cable snakes out of the wall, wraps me up python-style and steals my wallet. There was a lot of mime and physical comedy involved. My improv training definitely landed me the gig on this one!

Look at how pleased I am that I'm getting such a great deal. So smart, so self-assured... ...so clueless.

The next shot was a close-up of my legs getting wrapped up in cable. Problem being: the cable was all CGI, but they wanted my pants to crumple as the cable snaked around them.

Solution: A trick set of khakis with fishline looped inside. The director would call "action" and the wardrobe people would yank the fishline to crumple my pants.

They don't do EVERYTHING with computers, however. This shot is all real coax cable, from my ankles to my waist.

The art department built a two-piece suit of coaxial cable, created by wrapping a guy roughly my size in real coax and then cutting him out of it. They attached the resulting loops of coax to a couple of reinforcing strips with eyehooks to form a sort of harness. As you can see, it took three guys to zip-tie me into it.

Can I get a blindfold and a cigarette?

THAT is money, baby.

In between shots, it would sometimes take longer to get me in and out of the suit than it would to reposition the camera and lights. So they just had three grips lay me down on a crash mat and tuck some styrofoam under my head while they re-lit. Now you know why they call them grips.

Sometimes, when you've made a dumb mistake, your fish is your only friend. And even he won't talk to you.