AMC’s The Pitch

Tomorrow night I’ll be featured in AMC’s The Pitch, as a part of Neuron Syndicate’s campaign idea for client Tommy Bahama. Well, I don’t know if I’ll actually be featured, as no one, not even the ad agencies themselves, know what the episode looks like – they will be watching it for the first time on Thursday night, right along with everyone else.

If you’re a commercial voice actor (or on-camera actor) and you’ve never seen The Pitch, you must. It is a really educational show that reveals the behind the scenes of ad agencies and their process in creating a campaign.

I work with ad agencies every day. It’s my job to be the icing on the cake, so to speak – that final touch that complements an idea that has been in the works and mulled over by a whole team of people for weeks, months or sometimes, in the case of this show, just a couple of days! Watching this show gives me such a better sense of what goes on and how as actors we’re just a small – albeit integral – part of the entire process. Seems obvious, but as performers, sometimes it’s easy to live in a vacuum of “It’s all about me”. It so really isn’t!

I’ve been watching The Pitch since its debut last year. For me, it’s honestly like doing homework. Fun homework! I get to learn more about my craft from a completely different angle. It’s kind of like working in restaurant as a waiter and then getting to do a night as the host. OH! Now I see why she doesn’t just seat people at the open tables I’m noticing… I also get to learn about all of these specific ad agencies that happen to be in Los Angeles, which is where I live!

Watching the show is also kind of oddly interactive and fun, if you play along. When my husband and I watch, we pause it just after the first client meeting, and we brainstorm on how we would approach the problem to be solved. Okay, am I revealing my inner geek, here or what? Probably! But it’s interesting to see how close we get to their ideas. On that note, I am usually blown away by the creativity of the agencies – the things they come up with and how they execute what the client is going for…totally fascinating to watch the process!

So, tomorrow (Thursday 9/5) at 8pm PST/11pm EST, check out AMC’s The Pitch. Not just because I’m a part of it. It really is one of the coolest reality shows I’ve ever seen…and it’s actually educational for us geeks…I mean, actors. Real life Mad Men!