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Nike – The Music of Baseball
00:30 broadcast television commercial
kudos - AICP honoree and permanent resident of MoMA, NY
NOTE: (I wrote and storyboarded this particular script, and it was produced shot-for-shot, as it was scripted.)
Situation: Writing partner and I were tasked with creating a “co-op” 30 second television commercial for Nike and Dick’s Sporting Goods. While we had several decent ideas scripted and ready to pitch in the afternoon. My partner came to work that morning with a new concept, one that we agreed was brilliant, only he was about to go to a pre-scheduled event.
Task: to present the concept that afternoon, *I* would have to *write* the detailed script myself without my writer partner.
Action: I often say "I'm an artist, not an athlete,” however my pop was a minor league ball player. He spent one year in the minor league and when he didn’t get picked for the majors, he abandoned the dream. However he raised three boys and we all played a little baseball, so I sat down and worked out a script, describing shot for shot, note for note, how “Take me out to the ballgame” might play with the sounds surrounding baseball.
Results: While you’ll have to take my work for this, the script was loved by Nike and Dicks, and went into production precisely as I had scripted it. As I remember it, nary a shot was changed from the original script. When it was finished, Nike was so pleased with the commercial, they renegotiated their co-op deal with Dick’s for the rights to run the commercial for themselves, without the Dick’s logo at the end. Nike then ran the commercial during the college world series 2004/2005 and afterward it was honored by the AICP [association of independent commercial producers] and became a permanent resident of MoMA, NY.