TV Ad needing performers (please don\'t shoot the messenger) 5th or 8th Dec 2008 UK London

Today I got a call from a man called Stuart from the Fallon advertising company (they did the Sony Brava, balls down a hill ad) and he is looking for fire performers, poi spinners, hoopers... pretty much anyone wanting to show off to be in an event ad for the relaunch of the Cadburys wispa bar.

The campaign is going under the banner of For the love of Wispa and you can see the site about the relaunch at www.fortheloveofwispa.com

The ad will be made in London on either the 5th or 8th December (yet to be confirmed) and they will pay anyone wishing to participate expenses but not a performance fee. When asked why he told me that cadburys had promised to donate the monies left over from making the ad to Children in need.

If you wish to be involved you need to email stuart.pearman@fallon.co.uk or PM me and I will forward your name to Stuart

You're name, or if you prefer, your business name will be added to the pledge page on the Cadbury website and also get you contacts with this advertising agency (maybe future work, maybe not)

Sadly for all you younger performers you will not be able to join in as you have to be over the age of 16.

Please don't shoot me for the fact that they are not going to pay performance fees, I'm just passing on the message. If you contact the guy yourself you could try getting a fee. He's a very up beat guy and could possibly be talked into it.

[edit] I forgot to mention that Stuart said "everyone participating will get a shed load of chocolate"

Chocolate eh. Expenses eh. Airfare from Brisvegas count as expenses?

Due to how fun the bouncy balls down the hill looked (I did it backwards, bought a Bravia, then someone mentioned there was a cool ad so I saw it later...) this could be worth considering!

Well I think it would be worth doing just for gaining some connections with this Ad agency. They appear to me to be big Event Advertising campaigns and I can see that it might open the door to some to get more work.

Check them out http://www.fallon.co.uk/

Hmmm...

Not paying performers, but providing expenses...

Leftover monies from advert going to Children in Need...

I'd say that's a damn good compromise. A good cause, and the company are being honest about money. Many people simply offer no expenses, and more often than not, no payment, or very little (not enough to cover expenses).

I'll pass this around

Be careful - the last thing Ed passed around still has several people itching

Gabe I emailed Stuart today and mentioned you'd like to come from Brisbane to do it. I'll see if he is willing to pay for your flight

I also emailed in the hope of flights and chocolate

No reply though

Boo.

I'm told you can just pledge on the wispa website. So if you are getting no email replies put your pledge on there anyway and hopefully they will get back to you.

I have been told today that they have yet to get the go ahead for fire spinning, so for now volunteer to use glow toys rather than fire, but maybe put fire in brackets. They are having a huge firework display so I don't really see why they would have a problem with the insurance for fire spinning.

I'll let you know if I'm told any different.

I 'll do it for chocolate! A whole shed full! Bliss!

the fireworks display will be run by a paid professional with insurance and a cv to prove they wont make mistakes....

it is the difference between asking one professional to do a job and asking any number of unpaid extras of variable skill to jump around in a mob

both the advertising agency and cadbury should know this isn't the way to get what they are after...

real good effects require skill and planning....trying to do it on the cheap could go bad

*shruggs*
I'm sure this forum is full of awesomely skilled people, but how will they be separated from people who just want a truckload of chocolate?
-sam

But what about the awesomely skilled people who want a truckload of chocolate?

always a significant portion of any crew of awesomely skilled people....:)

I notice however it wasn't obvious what I was referring to....which was the complaint about fire performers in the crowd.

Fireworks will be safe because it will come down to people with known skills. Asking for a random crew of twirlers and other circus people and just hoping they are all completely devoted to safety and not showing off...

Seems like an average plan.... what they really need is a pile of cash to get me cloned....yeah thats much better plan

Gilim as far as I know so far the groups of different people will be split up, not all mixed up. Also when I was initially asking the guy organising it if he wanted more than just hoopers (that's all he initially asked me about) because I know lots of fire spinners he seemed very keen, even though I had pointed out the fire safety aspect, and the need for public liability insurance. He assured me because of the fireworks being used they would have lots of public liability insurance, but that he would have to check if it would cover fire spinners too.

I'm sorry you feel I'm so irresponsible to suggest it would be fine for barely trained fire spinners to be allowed to light up in the midst of a large crowd of people without a by or leave. That is not at all what I'm suggesting.

Anyway, an update is that if you want to pledge to do this please just log onto the wispa website, click on the "View Pledges" button then pick one of the hearts that you think is closest to your skill and fill out the form, putting in the comments section what you can do. If you are a pro spinner let them know. Most of you would probably fit best in the juggling section. If you can't juggle then maybe still kick it and mention that in the comments.

I've sent off an offer from our troupe, offering PLI'd people on the condition we get to do a risk assessment beforehand.

However, looking at the current state of play (i.e no set date, place etc.) I'd guess there's a lot of frantic discussion going on behind the scenes while they decide what they actually are going to do

*nods* yep that sounds like most fireshows.

Knowing a little about the ad industry what's probably happened is that Fallon has decided to do a 'low-budget big ad', where they keep the entire budget of the advert themselves and get people to do work they'd normally be paid for, for free. Because it'd be fun and somebody might have worked out that by saying any 'left-over' money will go to Children in Need they can get people to work for free.

But I'd be dubious about that 'left over' amount unless it was writ in stone. You can be sure Fallon are still charging rates that you'd find astronomical.

My boyfriend is doing his music for this as well, perhaps i'll come along too, could do with a lifetime supply of chocolate! x

I agree with Dom on this subject

Dom and Sichainey, feel free to contact them and ask them about it. You can try and pin them down to an amount if you want.

As I said at the beginning, don't shoot the messenger. I got a phone call and agreed to pass on the message so people could research it and make up their own minds about it.

I emailed him to see if i could get any cash out of them or if not cash then a promise of some decent exposure. Basically no. From the couple of emails i have to say i agree with Dom and Si.

Still, if you want to be on telly and get a bunch of free chocolate then go for it.

*update from the man himself*

Sorry for the late reply, it's been very hectic down this end with all the pledges.

Unfortunately, I have recently been made aware that we are unable to have fire performers in the ad due to our advertising policies and for what time the ad will be shown.

because showing kids firepoi may prove to be fatal, although them being able to watch as many toy/loan/accident compensation adverts would have no effect on them whatsoever

not to mention adverts on war, chocolate anyway... is there not a law that stops junk food adverts being shown when children tv is on i.e wispa adverts = junk food to me