Part of Traffic Circle Closing to Film TV Ad

The Orange traffic circle’s North Glassell Street spoke will be closed Monday for the filming of a commercial for Snapple soft drinks.

Propaganda Films will be setting up lights and cameras starting about 7 a.m. The rest of the traffic circle still will be open to shoppers and drivers, said Linda Boone, the city’s interim economic development director.

Producers will shoot a script involving Republicans on one side of the street and Democrats on the other. “I don’t want to give away the ending because Snapple commercials usually have a little punch at the end,” Boone said.

Monday is a good day for filming because half of the businesses in the area are closed anyway, said Lori Corbett, the city’s liaison for film crews. Stores that usually are open but are closing for the filming will be compensated by Propaganda, she said.

Dick Gould, a business owner on the block, said he was delighted with the prospect of the filming.

“Most of us are in favor of this kind of activity downtown,” he said. “There will be 60 cast members and 60 production people. I just like the idea of 120 additional people in our town.”

Some spectators probably will be on hand too, though the occasion will not draw a crowd nearly as big as the one that gathered when part of a Tom Hanks movie was filmed here in December, Boone said.