Kész and Sprite -- The Dr Pepper Mop Dogs
DrPepper 'Mop Dog' from Rogue Films on Vimeo.
In the Fall of 2014, the ad agency for
Dr Pepper softdrinks put out a search for 2 Puli dogs who could perform in an ad
they were creating. They needed two to be sure neither was overworked during the
shoot.
They first found Sprite (CH Prydain
X-Ceptional Sprite OA OAJ), whose human parents are Anita and Frank Ritenour. Then
they found our Kész. Both Pulik were auditioned by Cheryl Harris of
Silver Screen
Animals of Acton, CA at their respective homes, partly to ensure they would
look good in the ad, but mostly to see if they could learn the part quickly and
be able to perform in front of the camera. Both Sprite and Kész had done a
variety of performance training, obedience and competition, and both passed their
auditions.
The commercial was shot over two days in early November, 2014. Kész is the
one in the walking shots, and Sprite is the happy Puli in the moving truck.
The theme of the commercial is that Dr. Pepper is one of a kind (different from
colas). And we all know the Puli is one of a kind. The story is that this dog is
homeless and lonely and looking for a friend. He meets a Dr Pepper delivery
truck driver (played by
Max Arciniega
from Breaking Bad, Bosch and other series), who decides to take the dog to
an animal shelter, but ultimately relents.
Next step was to send Hollywood animal trainers to our respective homes. Cathy
was hoping she could watch the trainer and learn from him, and she did. Joe
spent only 6 days training Kész, but they became best friends. He taught Kész
how to act for the camera in that short time. Sprite’s trainer did the same. The
trainers found both Pulik had a strong learning foundation such they had only to
"teach to the script".
Anita & Frank, and Cathy & Jim converged on Fillmore, a small town north of Los
Angeles. The actual shooting days were really long, literally lasting from
before sunrise to after sunset. We were able to watch them work, but we kept our
distance to avoid creating a distraction. Each shot was re-done many times; the
shot where the Puli meets two other dogs on the street was done 26 times, for
instance.
The commercial appeared over 2,000 times on a variety of networks and programs.
The 60 second version on YouTube had 2.2 million views.
Preparing to drive to LA, I guessed they would use about ten people to do the
commercial (little do I know about the industry). When we arrived at the motel
where the production staff was staying, we saw bunches of huge semi trucks with
all kinds of equipment. The first morning of the shoot, I asked how many people
were involved. Turns out there were about 100 people there to video our two
Pulik. We got a little nervous about that....
But no worry. Kész’s trainer was
Joe McCarter; Sprite’s was
William Grisco. Both
have considerable experience presenting various kinds of animals in feature
films. The advertising agency was
Deutch LA and the
production company, Imperial Woodpecker of Santa Monica. The Director was
Simon McQuoid.
Editor was Steve Gandolfi of
Cut+Run.
The people from Dr Pepper, the ad agency and all the production people were
really nice to us. We came away with a better appreciation for the hard and
creative work people do to make the commercials we see. It was a once in a
lifetime
experience, and it was fun for us to learn from top quality TV/Film animal trainers.
Copyright © 2009-2017 James M. Moen. All rights reserved.