out of cars on mountain bikes. I did some little jumps, but I doubt that they’ll use them. We worked 2 hours of overtime. I should make about $1,300 for the day. I hope you can see my face in the commercial. Because if my face is shown, I’ll get paid residuals for every time it airs on TV. It could be a lot of money! I got home late & went to bed.
Looking Back Now:
Ahhh, the good ol’ days of shooting commercials & making easy money! I used to be a member of S.A.G (Screen Actors Guild) back in the day. I was only ever in a handful of commercials, but they were always easy money. They were always long days, but easy money.
This commercial shoot wasn’t all too exciting. First of all, I was riding a mountain bike all day. And second, the only thing we did all day was riding through staged traffic. I can’t remember the exact pay scale to be in a commercial, but it was something like this: $650 for the 8hr day, $175/hr for overtime, and $250 for other weird “union” pay. They probably paid me $150 for having to drive to LA for the shoot, $100 for using my own bike, and $50 for using my own clothes. Yeah, just like I said: Easy money.
Just my luck though, my face was not visible once the actual commercial aired. So I didn’t get to sit back, relax, & count the money when the residual checks came in. I remember Brian Lopes telling me that he made over $30,000 on a Mtn Dew commercial he was in. Oh wells, $1,300 for the day still wasn’t too bad.
Photo:
See all those people, cars & stuff in the background behind me? It was all part of the commercial shoot. The day consisted of probably 30 people from the production crew, 50 “extras”, 20 cars, caterers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 4 of us riding. And 10 hours of filming. All of this equaled to a clip in the commercial that was about 4 seconds long. Once it was all edited & aired on TV the only thing you could see of me was my shoulder as I was riding next to one of the other guys. Damn. I’m always getting edited out of stuff. Just like the “Rob & Big” show that aired the other night….
-Todd Lyons
February 4th, 1996 - Filming for a 1-800-Collect Commercial by Todd Lyons
Feb 22, 2008
Read 3305 times
Todd Lyons sent over another story out of his life. Some people can tell stories on end and should write a book. TL is on his way. He's got some stories to tell. Actual Journal Entry:
I woke up at 4:45 am & drove up to Los Angeles for the filming of the 1-800-COLLECT commercial. It was me & three other guys on mountain bikes. One was Anthony Freeman (a BMXer). We just did these scenes of going through “New York” traffic, weaving in and
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.