Christine Scioli’s firm, Zan Media produces TV ads for political candidates and issues.
What level of political office are you usually creating ads for? Does it matter to you if they are Democrats or Republicans? If you are dealing with one or the other, do they ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement or simply expect confidentiality?
We have produced TV ads and videos for City Councils, County Supervisors, State Assembly and Congressional candidates, for Sheriffs, for Judges, for District Attorneys and for Measures, Bonds and Initiatives regarding land use issues, school and library bonds, street improvements, fire safety and many more. We work for both nonpartisan and bipartisan campaigns, and for both parties.
We have signed nondisclosure agreements, but our true strength in maintaining long standing relationships with political consultants and campaign coordinators, is to keep quiet about those things that have no business being broadcasted to the general public, that might cause a negative impact on the campaign. While we enjoy a blooper reel as much as the next guy, you’ll never seen any outtakes from a political campaign we are involved with. We also have clients who wish to remain confidential and we also respect that.
With this hard-biting elections, we’re in the fray of slam-them applaud-myself political ads so, just how fast do you have to produce these ads?
Well, we aren’t quite as fast as the Obama and McCain camps, who seem to produce ads within minutes of a negative tidbit hitting the airwaves, but we have a reputation for a quick turnaround. I think our fastest was overnight–we got the call at about 6 PM and had it approved and on the air by 10 AM. We own our own equipment and studio, so that helps a lot. (I think the presidential guys must be living in a trailer with an entire post-production unit inside!)
Who is the person you are usually dealing with from the particular campaign headquarters and what does that person expect from you?
Usually, the political consultant, and often the candidate herself/himself and the campaign coordinator. In some cases we are dealing with a confidential situation, through an intermediary. And, we’ve done quite a few “virtual” campaigns in the past few years, where we’ve done all the preproduction and creative consultation online, never meeting anyone face-to-face. Great fun!
What type of messaging do you usually have to produce? Is the messaging developed together with the video production or is it just handed to you and they expect you to make it look good?
Both actually, and everything in between. We’ve been given scripts, just talking points or a rough draft brochure, and absolutely nothing to work with. We have attended creative sessions in the “war room” with a cast of twenty, and sat in a candidate’s living room, solo. Often the consultant will say,” I want him to come off (strong, angry, congenial, in control, sympathetic. Etc. etc.)” and we work with that idea. We really enjoy the creative process and it’s exciting to watch the narrative theme unfold.
How do you translate the messages to
video? Do they supply you with images to go with the messages?
We typically get out there in the field and shoot, unless it’s a deadline deal
where we need to use still shots, not our favorite method of production, though
we work hard to instill drama in those situations by great graphics, music and
narration. We’ve been in the middle of a large pothole on a city street with the
candidate in tow, (street improvements) on the top of fire burnt mountains (fire
department bond), on top of the freeway at rush hour, many, many times
(GRIDLOCK, transportation issues), on the courthouse steps, in jail, on the
Golden Gate bridge, in vineyards, police cars, on wetlands, in casinos, in the
landfill and a garbage dump complete with a 3 story high smoking manure/compost
pile (yuck) and on many gorgeous vistas (protecting open space).
Do you work with a campaign over the election period or are they usually one-time deals?
We develop relationships. We work throughout the political season, and we also have some consultants that we work with on p0licy issues, crisis communications, and advocacy, ongoing.
What a political tv ad producer looks like.
Christine Scioli
Is there anything else that would be interesting bits of information for my readers?
It’s a great arena to add a bit of “over-the-top” drama that can be quite successful, which sometimes calls for help from family members and friends. We produced a TV commercial for California’s Safely Surrendered Baby Law, which allows an infant 72 hours old or younger to be confidentially surrendered at any hospital emergency room or other sites such as fire departments, without risk of prosecution for abandonment. Our two then teenage daughters graciously (“if you want to eat, you’ll help”) agreed, to play the part of a pregnant teen (lots of pillows) and her friend. We found a wonderful lifelike baby doll whose limbs actually moved and we shot in black and white, in silhouette, but people still recognized them when the commercial aired.
California also has a touchy situation with fireworks sales. Firework manufactures donate heavily to local non-profit groups, sports teams and the like, but scores of kids are injured every years by using them. For one of the few cities in CA that defeated the fireworks manufacturers, by banning fireworks sales within the city limits we commissioned a few dramatic young friends, and had them portray burnt and bandaged victims, complete with crutches. To this we added tearful music interspersed with the glaring sound of fire sirens. Bingo. It worked.