Well the results are in from the Amazon Ad Contest, and my entry “Wish List” came in 2nd place overall.  First place went to Angela Kohler and her ad “Kindlicious.” After the initial disappointment of not being named a winner, I’m definitely truly excited that we were named as a finalist and that we just missed the top spot.  I’ve added the spot to the video section of the site, so if you haven’t seen it, you can head over and check it out.  You can also shoot over to Amazon’s site to check out all the  finalist videos.

Amazon.com announced today that my commercial is one of five finalists of the Your Amazon Ad Contest, Amazon’s first national competition in search of a television commercial idea from its customers. My submission, “WISH LIST,” along with all five finalists’ videos are available for customers to view and rate until September 6 at www.amazon.com/yaac.

“We were absolutely delighted with the level of creativity our customers demonstrated in their submissions,” said Steve Shure, vice president of global marketing at Amazon.com. “It was not an easy feat choosing only five finalists, and we’re very excited to see what our customers think about the videos.”

Props go out to all the cast and crew that volunteered their time and efforts to help pull this off.  Special recognition must be given to producer Paul Irwin for his mad producing skills, Casting director Ann Gillette for pulling together a solid core of actors in just a few days, Get-Kinetic for the donations, D.P. Kevin Hackenberg for his slick eye, Gato, Inc. & Abad Rosa for the insane moco move, and GK’s editor/Visual FX guru, Dan Gauthier who made the project sing!

OK, so now onto the really important part.  I have two big favors to ask of you:

1. Please head over to Amazon and please vote 5 stars for “Wish List” .
2. I would love some help spreading the word via email, facebook, twitter, LinkedIN, etc.

Here is the direct link to my submission.

In an effort to make this as easy and painless as possible (Because I know you’re all busy folks) please feel free to copy and paste the post into an email/blog/etc. Also, below is a quick headline that you can use in the social site(s) of you desire….

“Gary Irwin’s submission for the Amazon Ad Contest has been named as a finalist! Please do me a huge favor and Vote 5 stars for “Wish List.” http://tinyurl.com/ldg5za and please post this as your status and get all of your friends to vote too! Thanks everyone!”

Update: Voting has ended and we placed 2nd overall!  Thanks to all who voted.  View the completed piece here

For the first time in a while  I found myself back in director’s chair yesterday and it felt great. (I posted a few snapshots I took up on Flickr)   I got wind of a contest that Amazon was having about a week and half ago and thought it would be a great opportunity to shoot another spec for my director’s reel.  Last Monday I came up w/ a slick concept and pitched it to the gang over at Get-Kinetic, who I’d been in talks with about collaborating on another spec idea.  They loved the concept and off we went.

In order for the spot to work, three key elements had to come together in a weeks time. Actors, location and motion control.  Now, with a budget, these things wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but on a no-budget project, and less than a week prep, they became make or break.  Fortunately, much to the credit of producer Paul Irwin and casting director Ann Gillette, casting and locations came together without a hitch.  Paul found us a killer space over at Memphis Flats in Fishtown and Ann pulled together a solid group of actors.  The last piece of the puzzle was finding a motion control rig, and thankfully, Abad Rosa (of Gato Inc.) and his rig were available and he was ready, willing and able to lend a hand.

I don’t want to spoil the concept, so I’ll just say that the day on set went better than could have been expected and I’m crazy excited to see the ad come together.  Now it’s in the hands of Get-Kinetic’s editor/FX guru Daniel Gauthier and we hope to be finished with post this week.  The deadline for the contest is July 31st, and I think we’ll definitely turn some heads, so keep checking back for updates….and wish us luck.

Update: Check out the latest news on this project!