Cue the neon, don the skates
WaMu gets down tonight in the bank’s retro 30-second disco commercial. Currently on TV, the spot features a young man catching dance fever on roller skates when he learns he’ll get free checking for life at Washington Mutual.
The neon-lighted skate sequence flashes by in a blink during the commercial. But thankfully, the actual shoot took long enough for photographer David Strick to don his boogie shoes while capturing the action on a 20th Century Fox sound stage in February. Kristian Pasion, a young San Francisco-based dancer, auditioned and won the role of the young man who dreams of roller disco stardom.
Guiding the commercial was the advertising directing team of Josh Gordon and Will Speck, best known for those Geico caveman commercials; they were also co-developers and executive producers of the short-lived ABC sitcom “Cavemen.” The team certainly knows a lot about skating, having directed Will Ferrell’s 2007 comedy hit “Blades of Glory.”
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David Strick is a veteran photographer whose work in capturing entertainment productions has given him access to behind-the-scenes Hollywood.
