Behind The Scenes - A Sneak Peek At A TV Commercial Filmed in Harrisburg

Behind The Scenes
A Sneak Peek At A TV Commercial Filmed In Harrisburg

By Tony Roberts

Product: Café Latte Commercial
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Producer: Jay Tsukamoto

Dispel all the rumors that producers filming in Harrisburg, PA, just don’t talk to the press. MODE caught up with Jay Tsukamoto, owner of Clockwork 906, Inc., an international production company and the producer for a Café Latte commercial that was shot on location in Harrisburg this past February.

Interestingly, the two 30-second commercials Jay produced that weekend will never air in the United States. As a matter of fact, the featured product in the commercial isn’t even sold in the US. Café Latte is manufactured and distributed by Morinaga Milk Industries only in Japan.

The Art Association Building on Front Street Why would anyone shooting a commercial for a product that will only air in Japan ever want to go on location in Harrisburg, PA? We’ll give you one hint… Wynona Ryder. That’s right, you sly dog. Ms. Ryder — Wynona, if we may — was contracted by Morinaga for the commercial, and production schedules dictated that it had to happen concurrently with Wynona’s other project, and thus it had to happen in Harrisburg.

But Jay Tsukamoto is no stranger to Harrisburg, PA. As a matter of fact, he was happy to be back after an 8 year absence. In 1991 Jay filmed an American Cotton commercial in the Harrisburg Transportation Building. “The train station was selected from over 100 choices all over the country,” Tsukamoto noted. “Scouting is a major part of what we do,” he added.

And who else would a big television producer turn to for scouting help on a project like this but Tod Shedlosky, owner of Micro Enterprises in Camp Hill. MicroE, as they’re referred to, is listed with the Pennsylvania Film Bureau as a location scouting service for the midstate. Tsukamoto’s company found that information on the Internet and contacted Shedlosky immediately.

Producer Jay Tsukamoto w/ Sarah and Tod Shedlosky An animated and very knowledgeable character, Shedlosky was instrumental in assisting Tsukamoto in finding the right location for the shoot. “They wanted an New York City-style space that could be converted into a very eclectic apartment,” Shedlosky told us. After looking at several dozen locations, they finally chose the Art Association of Harrisburg, located on Front Street. Managed by President Carrie Wissler-Thomas, the AAH was more than gracious to open its doors to this production company. Clockwork 906 took over just about all four floors, from the basement where they set up their break room, to the third floor where the actual commercial was shot.

Foam rubber lined the floors and bubble wrap protected the doorways and walls as the technicians brought an incomprehensible amount of equipment into the building. Set designers scoured New York for the appropriate eclectic props and trucked them to Harrisburg overnight for the shoot. A complete hardwood floor was laid and temporary walls were erected to transform the artist’s painting room into an apartment that Wynona Ryder would live in … an apartment supposedly in Seattle, Washington.

The film crew doing lighting and camera tests If you would have driven down Front Street the weekend of the shooting, you would have seen a giant crane hoisting a fabricated tree in front of the AAH building to give the commercial viewers the sensation of seeing a Spring scene out the window. Other Spring cut-away shots were scheduled to be shot in San Francisco after the Harrisburg shoot.

We asked Jay Tsukamoto if this kind of intense work is the norm. “When we go into a private home, our number one goal is the courtesy of protecting the owner’s property and sanity. We’re not here to ruin their place,” he commented.

“You’re pretty nice, so why do film crews have such bad reputations?” I asked Tsukamoto. “I don’t know. We’re a small company, and can be much more accommodating. Big film companies worry about lawsuits and never want to let anyone know what’s going on until the press releases hit the streets. They’re usually trying to be careful,” he answered.

A Little Q&A With Jay:

MODE: Will Wynona have to speak Japanese?

JT: Actually, no. She will be speaking English, and there will be announcer narrative in Japanese. This is very typical for Japanese commercials featuring American stars.
MODE: Are Americans big in Japan?

JT: Yes, I’ve worked with Sylvester Stallone, Jodie Foster, Steven Segal.
MODE: Were any of them hard to work with?

JT: No one is really easy to work with. They’ve got their own thing. They’re famous, they make a lot of money, and they don’t just listen to anybody.
MODE: Do you think they consider doing a commercial like this an annoyance?

JT: Sometimes you feel that way, but I really don’t know. I can’t get into their heads.
MODE: What about Wynona, do you think she’ll be hard to work with?

JT: This is a tough one. Wynona is working on a feature film, and we’ve got to get her on one of her days off. The situation itself makes me feel like she doesn’t want to do it, but I’m sure that’s not the case. She’s very busy and she’s trying to squeeze it in for us, and for that I’m grateful.
MODE: How come we never see these stars in commercials in the US?

JT: They do these commercials specifically because they don’t air in the US. It’s in their contract that the commercial can only air overseas. As a matter of fact, every once in a while a news show catches it on, and airs it here, somebody freaks out, and it becomes a big lawsuit.
MODE: Any major problems with this particular shoot?

JT: Just one disappointment. We couldn’t find any professional local crews. We had to bring in all outside people, and that increased our budget considerably. Otherwise, the City of Harrisburg and the people here at the Art Association have been very cooperative, and we appreciate that.

And that’s a wrap. Another “cool” chapter penned in Harrisburg history books.

P.S. I must admit though, it’s tough to write a Behind The Scenes piece when no one (in this market at least) will ever see the finished commercial. Hopefully someone in Japan will find this article on our website and let us know about the commercial, or even send us a screen capture. In any event, check the article online in a few weeks for a possible update.

[files/NavBar/DefaultNavBar.htm]