Game-Changing Insights: On Set with Sporting Talent
The UK loves sport and that’s a simple fact. From sporting events on home territory to major tournaments abroad, Brits love nothing more than supporting their favourite athletes and teams. As such, sporting advertising investment continues to grow with sporting events reaching ever more diverse audiences, like the recent explosive popularity of Formula 1 racing for example. This is further opening up the creative possibilities for advertisers and brands and driving the competition to create truly eye-catching work. Production company The Gate Films, part of Tag, has collaborated with numerous global sports brands over the past several years including Nike, STATSports, and New Balance and the team intuitively understands sport and its unique market challenges.
With a team of top directors, photographers, and producers, The Gate’s expertise and experience spans multiple campaigns and productions starring some of the world’s top athletes. Today, Rhiannon Lewis, head of production at The Gate Films, shares some best practices and advice to guarantee success when working with sporting talent and brands.
Know your time limits
You’ll often get told you have a certain amount of time with an athlete - this can be anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes - it’s very rare you get more than that. It’s important to schedule things well and keep everything running by the clock. One thing is always for sure - you’ll get very little opportunity for any additional time.
Arm yourself with a stopwatch
Continuing on from above, an old fashioned stopwatch goes a long way in not only keeping everyone on track, but avoiding any arguments with tetchy sports agents who insist you’ve had your allocated time!
Stand ins / lookalikes are worth their weight in gold
We always rehearse, rehearse, rehearse with a stand in, so when we get the talent on set, we know exactly what we’re doing. Lookalikes can also be great to get any cutaways you might not have time to get with the main talent - hands, shoulders, backs of heads - it’s amazing what you can get away with!
Know your content
What do you need to get within this time? Stills? Film? TikToks? Be super clear who is capturing what - we have crews who work beside each other, so we’re making sure all content is captured. When working on the STATSports campaigns we navigated a multi-platform, multi-superstar, logistically challenging project to successfully produce over 500 TV, film, photography and social media assets for the brand, and the key to this was knowing what deliverables we had to create up front so we could manage the crew and talent effectively.
Communication
Sports stars and their agents are used to being pushed from pillar to post - and most crews make the mistake of presuming they know what they’re there to do. Quite often they don’t. It makes all the difference having one point of contact who talks them through what’s going on, who the key people on set are (director, client, etc), and how long it’s all going to take.
Choose the right director
The right director will not only make sure they get the shots they need in time, but they will also engage the talent - who often would rather be anywhere but in front of a crew. Getting a genuine performance out of an athlete is a skill - make sure you choose a director who has a track record in that. On a recent shoot starring Joe Burrow, we worked with an LA-based director on the project, not only for his expertise in shooting with talent but because he was familiar with the locations and areas we needed to shoot in, which helped maximise the time we had with Joe.
Choose the right crew
Many athletes have a favoured make-up artist, sound recordist or stylist. If you don’t have this specified to you, do some research and find out who they work with on a regular basis.
Respect the rider
Riders are a list of what the athlete wants available on set and in their dressing room - don’t ignore it - it’s there for a reason. We’ve been known to hand make macadamia nut milk in order to keep an athlete happy! If they don’t send a rider, be sure to have plenty of healthy snacks on hand anyway.
Consider the ‘extras’
Clients often want autographs and photos with the talent - make sure you factor this into your plans to ensure a happy client.
Post production sign off
Remember the talent and their agent are going to always want to sign off - ensure enough time in post production for this to happen.
Service with a smile
Sports shoots can be very pressured environments but it’s worth remembering that no one is saving lives and that keeping a good vibe on set ensures a better product at the end of the day. We pride ourselves on running a set with great energy, but also, in the words of Toto Wolf, “you run an exceptionally professional set.”
See more of The Gate Film’s sport work here.
