WHEN THE WHITE SOX didn’t want to step up to the plate, Chicago lost a $30 million feature for this year. We heard Sox management sniffed that the club was in the baseball business and not the movie business when producers said they’d like to film “Mr. 3000” in Comisk ? sorry, U.S. Cellular Park this summer. (Some habits die hard.)
A disappointed Ron Ver Kuilen then referred the producer to Milwaukee’s Miller Park. They liked what they saw and will return in July and August for six weeks of filming with star Bernie Mac, who wanted to work in Chicago.
Milwaukee is rolling out the red carpet for its first feature since another baseball film, “Major League,” shot there in 1989. The Sheraton Hotel, for example, besides giving low room rates and lots of room amenities, will provide guests with free transportation to and from the ball park every day.
CHICAGO MUSIC MAKES ITS MARK in an upcoming VH1 show targeting the top 25 advertising jingles of all time. VH1 comes to Chicago May 22 to interview Gatorade’s 1991 “Be Like Mike” creators Bernie Pitzel, and former music partners Steve Shafer and Ira Antelis (Shafer/Antelis), and Genuine Music composer John Ferreira for his Coors Light “Love Song.” Gatorade was an FCB account at the time; Coors is still with the agency.
ARTHUR ANDERSEN IS A MEMORY, RIGHT? Surprisingly, no. Arthur Andersen& #8217;s AV division, Andersen Telemedia in St. Charles is still going strong. Tom Densmore is the director and John Haney is operations coordinator. The staff was downsized from 30 to 10, and it now produces events, multimedia and meeting support. Before the fall, Andersen Telemedia ranked as area’s biggest producer of training videos and the single biggest buyer of acting talent.
NOW AT VIDEO ARCADES is a new segment to the hit game, Golden Tee Golf, created by Incredible Technologies of Arlington Heights. Graphic artist Sean McMenemey said the game designers used DV-Cams to capture celebs, such as sports announcer Dick Vitale and musician Uncle Cracker, who are Golden Tee Golf players. One segment was taped in a New York fire station where the firemen were known to be big fans of the game. See www.itsgames.com.
THREE TELLY AWARDS were won by Tom Smith Productions: Two for patient education videos for the North American Spine Society, and the third a training video for the Massage Therapy Association.
HAWTHORN RACE TRACK is having its best year ever, so let’s ascribe the success to commercials from Jay Duncan and Jim Hill of Graziano, Krafft & Zale, partner/AE and CD, respectively.
Ted Kay’s TMK Productions produced the three comedy 15s for Duncan and Hill, his clients of 25 years. Kay directed ? until an on-set accident caused injury to his shoulder. DP Paul Sneed of Sound/Video Impressions took over and also edited.
Races were shot in HD at Tampa Downs, and locally on casino and mini-mart sets at Zet Smith’s Artisan Stage in Glenview. Cast consisted of nine principals and 25 extras. Sound/Video Impressions of Glenview also finished. TMK co-producer was Dave Golden. Kay met Golden while producing a documentary on the Adler Planetarium where Golden was director of development.
