That Time Shaq Filmed a Commercial At Our House

Here is the story all about our Shaq Commercial last October…

It all started with a knock on our door one Friday afternoon. (Which of course, I didn’t answer because I don’t open the door to strangers.) Well, it turns out that this “stranger” left a letter and his business card and he was a location scout with a local studio here in Atlanta. They were looking to shoot a commercial on our street and potentially wanted to use our house! Oh and the shoot was supposed to happen in less than two weeks…

Oh and the commercials were going to have Shaquille O’Neal in them! 

Our Driveway on Shoot Day

From that point on, there were many phone conversations, texts and site visits with multiple production teams. Based on the four commercials they planned to film- they knew they wanted a street with sidewalks, needed a house with a pool and a house with a large indoor room for a poker scene. Finally after several days of going back and forth with different houses on the street- they decided to go with our home for the poker scene, and the neighboring homes for the pool and sidewalk scenes. (And since I get asked about this- yes, each home that was selected was offered compensation for the use of their homes.)

The shoot was set to take place over two full days- and they were going to shoot 4 spots over the two days. Each commercial spot would take roughly a half day each. Our spot was scheduled for the first afternoon.

But not only would the commercial be shot in our home, here is what made these two days SO CRAZY….

Our front entrance- they had to completely black out
all of the windows in the room to get the lighting right to shoot the commercial. 

In addition to needing the homes for the commercial spots, they needed what they called a “GREEN ROOM. ”  This would be an area for Shaq and his “entourage” to hang out in between commercial shots, do hair and makeup (funny, right?), make phone calls, etc. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for but since our master bedroom has a large sitting area and is completely private- I thought it might work well. The location scout loved it and offered additional compensation for Shaq to use this space throughout the two days. 

Our Master Bedroom- a.k.a. his Green Room 

Our Master Bedroom- a.k.a. his Green Room 

So basically, this meant Shaq would be hanging out at our house for two full days! (He went home overnight as the entire crew had to clear the street by 8pm)

Shaq Commercial: SHOOT DAY

Of course, on shoot day I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The crew showed up bright and early Monday morning and got to moving all of our furniture out to bring their own furniture in. It was like a 3 ring circus arrived on our street those two days. They had the street closed off with police escort only and no less than 30 cars lined up and down the street. Crew members were EVERYWHERE.  There were tents for production teams, tents for the agency and a tent just for snacks and drinks. 

Our Living Room with Furniture Removed to make the poker set

Our empty Living Room with their Poker table

Snapshot of Shaq and team filming the actual commercial

Shaq Commercial: Shaq Snapshots

Shaq’s entourage showed up a little bit later and got all of his personal items laid out. When I say entourage, let me specify. He had his agent, a hair and makeup woman, a clothes stylist, and a young guy that was an assistant role. There were also several agency ladies that helped keep everyone on schedule. In addition, there was a “double” that was around the full two days that would sit in while the production team got all of the lighting set up so Shaq wouldn’t have to! 

Now, when Shaq arrived, I wondered again what to expect! Would he be friendly? Would he be approachable?

The answer?

 

This smile says it all! Shaq hanging in our kitchen.

YESSSSSS!

From the minute he walked in he called himself “Uncle Shaq” to the boys and was genuinely a nice guy. He was friendly to every single person that he came across. Not only did he engage with my boys, but he made sure that every boy and girl on our street that came by to get a picture and autograph were taken care of. It didn’t matter if he was interrupted while he was eating lunch- he took the time to make sure everyone got attention. And at the end of the shoot before he drove away, he also made sure that everyone had gotten their picture or autograph that wanted it.

Uncle Shaq tickling Sweet B

Uncle Shaq shooting hoops with Sweet P between commercial shoots in our driveway.

Me, Sweet B and Uncle Shaq… I am 5’9″ by the way!!! 🙂

 

Shaq Commercial: FUN SHAQ PICS

Guys, here is Shaq’s shoe along side my husband’s shoe. And yes, I looked at the size. It was a size 22. 

My shoe vs his. 

One of the funniest things that happened was him eating his breakfast at our kitchen island. After just hanging with me for a few minutes, he insisted on doing his own dishes.

I was like- “Hey Shaq- it’s cool- I’ll get your dishes!”

And he said “No, I’ve got them…my mama would kill me if I didn’t do my own dishes.”

OK Shaq, sounds good- I’ll just snap a selfie with you doing dishes instead!!! 🙂

My mom with Shaq! He referred to her as “Grandma” and loved egging her on. 

He gave us this signed jersey.  This is Sweet P wearing it! Might be a few years before it will fit, ha ha.

Needless to say, the boys had a ball and loved the entire experience. I mean, how often does someone flip you upside down and have you walk on the ceiling? Effortlessly might I add! 

 

Why yes, that is us chilling with Shaq in a robe on our couch. LOLOLOL.

Overall, the Shaq commercial shoot was a very cool experience and definitely one for the memory book!  (That said, I am not sure I would ever agree to it again as we were completely disrupted for two full days of chaos!) I definitely tried to play it cool although I do admit I was tweaked the full two days! I mean, I am just a boring old housewife after all- so this was some pretty exciting stuff. 🙂 

I haven’t seen the spot yet on TV yet either but I will definitely keep you posted when I do!

I hope you enjoyed reading our Shaq Attack! 🙂

xoxo-

Heather