My dream is to make science documentaries that aren't dumbed down and that use humor as part of the story telling; however, not knowing a thing about film production, I decided to try making something small. It's The Homeprobe! was written in late 2007 and promptly filed under “Puerile”. In February of 2008 I reconnected with a long lost group of friends that included Eddy Petersen, a talented freelance graphic artist and animator. Drunk, I sheepishly mentioned to him that I had this silly idea for a phony commercial that, because we were in an election year, its production was necessary. To my surprise, he liked the idea and said he could help me with the editing and animation. Presumably he was drunk, too. Anyhow, not wanting to squander the opportunity to work with someone skilled in these mysterious arts, I endeavored to get this project off the ground. I read Shoot to Kill by Christine Vachon and (parts of) Directing by Michael Rabiger. I wont pretend to have understood a lot of what they were talking about except for their profuse illustrations of how things always go wrong and that planning, organization, adaptability and problem solving are what get films made. 

Now that the shit was scared out of me, I tried as hard as possible to acquire these skills. After 7 re-writes and story-board sets I had something doable on my budget. I began recruiting the crew in May and June of 2008 through ads placed on Mandy.com. The title of the project then was Untitled Satirical Commercial (USC). Convincing Cybel Martin to be our DP was the key step. Graciously, she talked me through assembling the crew. They were talented, professional and really nice to be around. The cast were great - my friends, family and colleagues generously volunteered their time. This was shot on a Panasonic HVX200 P2 over 3 days in July 2008. Eddy did the editing and graphics/animation.

This commercial is intended to be an amusing aside in the very serious and necessary debate about the cost of health care in the US.

Thanks for stopping by. --Dan

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