Bandit was getting big. He was now seven months old, and he’d doubled in size since we were in LA. Halle could no longer put him in her kitty purse. If he kept growing, he might even give Precious a run for her money.
“Why is Bandit coming with us?” I asked.
“One of the ads you’re doing is for the shelter that the Humane Society runs for the county. Bandit is going to be your rescue kitty,” she told me and then turned to Bandit. “You’re going to be a star.”
Dang it. If I’d known that, I would have brought Duke. He could be a star.
They were ready for us when we came in. The TV station wanted to get as much out of me as they could, so I only spent a few minutes in makeup. Then I was taken to stand in front of a blue screen. They would insert the appropriate background later.
I almost started laughing when Halle rushed out and handed me Bandit, then hurried to get behind the cameras. Stephanie, the lady in charge, came to me to tell me what to do.
“I talked to Halle, and she said you’ve already read the scripts. If you don’t remember what to say, just read the teleprompter. Try to look into the camera. If you mess up, don’t worry about it, we can do another take.”
I blinked a couple of times. That was it? She started to leave.
“Excuse me … uh … Stephanie? What are we doing for the first one?” I asked.
“Oh, that might help. The PSA is for pet adoption. We’re shooting a doughnut. Each week we’ll have a ‘Pet of the Week’ featured. We’ll sandwich the featured pet in between your intro and finish.”
“You ready to do this, big guy?” I asked Bandit.
He didn’t seem too sure of all the lights, or the three cameras pointed at him. Frankly, I didn’t feel too sure myself.
David A. Dawson: “Admit it. You like watching pet videos on YouTube and following the furry celebrities on other social media apps. There are dogs that bring the party. Dogs that are real-life fashion icons. And even cats who play the keyboard. Does it surprise you to learn that many of the Internet’s biggest pet celebrities got their start when they were adopted from shelters and rescue groups? Each year, 6 to 8 million dogs and cats will enter shelters and rescue groups, yet only half are adopted.
“This leaves millions of healthy dogs and cats that still need our help to find a home. A good example is my pal Bandit. He was adopted, and I’d like you to meet another friend of mine that’s available for adoption right now.”
Action: Monthly pet video inserted here.
David A. Dawson: “While not every shelter cat or dog will be a social-media star like Bandit, they all will star as someone’s new best friend. To start your own story, you need to find your costar, so contact our adoption specialist at 999-555-2525.
“What do you think, Bandit?”
To everyone’s surprise but mine, when I scratched his chest, he started to purr and rub his face against my chest to love me up. He was a little star in the making.
Caryn was in the back and gave me a thumbs-up. Halle came over, got Bandit, and handed me another shirt. I took mine off and changed to get ready for the next ad.
“While I appreciate the show, we do have dressing rooms,” Stephanie told me.
Good to know.
◊◊◊
I ended up doing eleven ads in under two hours, most of them done in only one take. When Stephanie explained that I had to read the commercials within a certain amount of time, I had her hold up her phone with a time clock. That allowed me to judge my pace and end right on time.
Caryn sent the raw footage to Frank to double-check it. Once he okayed the ads, Caryn gave her first approval. The TV station had agreed to our having a final review and sign-off when the ads were completed. We had more leverage with this studio than most because I had donated my time. I didn’t need a PSA making me look silly for the next ten years in my hometown.
I noticed that Halle was in Stephanie’s ear before each PSA. After Halle would talk to her, Stephanie would make changes, be it lighting, camera angle, or what I was to do. I could tell that Halle had learned a lot working with her mom on our movie.
They let me do four ads I wanted to do. Two were for my charities, that is, teen pregnancy and cancer patient support, and the other two were for the Homeless Coalition and childhood hunger.
When I was finally done, I felt good. This fell right in line with one of my life goals:
◊◊◊ Thursday May 5
People were supposed to start arriving today for Prom. I’d gotten a text from Ridge, from USC, saying that he and Bill were done with their finals and would be at Bill’s house tonight. John Phillips, from Kentucky, called to say he was driving over today. It looked like we would have a football get-together. Leah Johansen and Maria Dowe were on the same flight as Ridge and Bill.
