It’s amazing what one can do on a quiet summer afternoon. It may even be award-winning. A special Judges’ Award from this year’s regional Addy Awards was given to Asher Agency’s creative director Matt Georgi, writer Reid Trumble and director Rick Thompson of Richmarc for their work on “Bloopers” for IndianaCareerConnect.com. After Asher cooked up the concept of a mock commercial shoot gone awry, a casting net was thrown out to two of the Midwest’s funniest guys.

Chicago’s Second City has a reputation for producing some of the funniest actors and actresses in the world, and the two that worked on this spot did not disappoint. Working with these two guys was a blast, and what Matt, Reid and Rick quickly realized was that hilarious improvisation only happens once and was a moment in time never to be repeated.  It was clear in the casting that "re-takes" even with a "do that again" direction always yielded a new vibe, a new interpretation, a different take.  Realizing this was going to be a one-take only and the need to make this feel like real time, but NO script, Rick opted for 3 cameras for total coverage, eliminating the need to go back and get cut aways of different angles.  He also brought in Director/DP Michael Bowie (San Antonio, TX) to help with coverage. "Michael is a good ‘people’ person with a keen sense for funny stuff. He has razor sharp instincts of where to be and when on something like this, where you do not get a chance for a second take. I needed someone there I could count on to get it right the first time, and he nailed it," Thompson noted after the shoot. The shoot wrapped up, the spot proved to be very effective and delivered the desired results, making for a happy client. And that was that.

That is, until Joyce and Rick Thompson delved back into the film can months later, knowing there was a lot more un-mined comedic gold. The extra footage was loaded into the Avid, and Joyce and Rick proceeded to cut this two and a half minute video.  Inspired by the original concept, they flushed out an amusing story of a director suffering through a poorly cast actor while trying to save his own rear end with not much luck. Who hasn’t been there? Everyone loved it, and apparently so did the judges.

And a few more . . . Congrats to everyone!