Little Miss Mattel

Lydia shot a Mattel commercial last week. After many Mattel callbacks for other items, and two callbacks for this spot, we were very excited for her to get the commercial. It is for a new toy called the Cure and Care Endangered Animal. There will be a panda, spotted leopard and polar bear. Lydia's commercial was for the panda and spotted leopard. It is a jungle scene and with one other girl. There is also an arctic commercial they shot the day before with two other girls.

Lydia had a fitting the day before and then waited until 5:00 pm for our call time for the next day. Because they didn't finish the commercial from the day before, our call time was 10:00 am. We had been holding off deciding if we were going to spend the night in LA or not, but then gave up around 3 pm and got a hotel room. Joel is a Priceline King and got a very nice room at the Airport Hilton for $89. The other family with the little girl in the commercial paid $149 for a La Quinta sort of place. Ryan stayed with Tony and Marguerite and continued at soccer camp.

Although the general rule is for one parent to attend, Joel and I both went. Both of the parents of the other girl were there, too. I think production was a little surprised, but they accommodated all of us. There is a fine line between keeping parents happy, yet out of the way. During shooting we were behind a black screen where the kids couldn't see us, but we could watch on monitors. I did stand in another area where I could see her live at one point, but was soon directed to my chair. They did 5 different shots. and we were there 10 am-7 pm. That is a very long day for kids. They had lots of breaks, but had to be very focused during shooting. The girls were amazing. The director would say things like "be natural" to them after the 10th take and I would think they had no idea what that meant, but sure enough, then they would be natural. They were so great that you would forget they were acting as they played so nicely and smiley with their animals, but then the director would say "Cut" and both girls would collapse.

There was one shot where Lydia had to pretend to give an injection with a play syringe using her left hand. It was a little difficult for her because she is right handed and had to also do it all one handed with the other girl holding the leopard. In the commercial, you will only see the other girl's face during that shot, because Lydia had a great look of concentration on her face and her tongue hanging out. But there will be her beautiful left hand giving the injection perfectly. I was very proud of her.

It is also a little difficult having to watch her work and not be able to say anything. The director would direct the girls to do something and I would know they had no clue what he said. He would figure it out a few takes later, but it was painful to watch. Another time, the whole crew was waiting for Lydia to say, "Ready," but she didn't really get that she had to say it out loud, so we just sat and waited and waited with me muzzled wanting to scream, "Lydia, say ready!" Another time, they had all of these toy accessories in front of the animals and told the girls not to touch them. The other girl couldn't keep her hands off of them, and they kept telling her to put them back. Lydia was being great, keeping her hands to herself. Right before they started shooting, no one was looking and Lydia grabbed a big green bandaid and put it on her panda. I was, of course, the only one who noticed this. They started shooting and a few minutes later..."Cut! Did someone want the bandaid on the bear?" There was much discussion between production while Lydia was sweetly quiet and then someone came and removed the bandaid. Painful.

All in all, though, she really amazed me. She is such a little pro and follows direction surprisingly well. The girls had to do a variety of things with their animals ("playing" with them) looking natural, all the while keeping the animals facing front and not covering their faces. A friend of mine asked me why they don't just put the kids in an area with the toy and film them playing with the toy for the commercial. One of the many reasons is that when a child naturally plays with a toy, you don't generally see the toy itself.

We met the design team who take the toy from conception to the shelves. They were even a part of selecting the girls for the commercial. They were very interesting to talk to. The girls also had stand-ins there (other 6 year olds the same height and coloring) which was a little surreal. The whole experience was a lot of fun. Joel left early to go to work, so he missed a bit. Lydia was very tired by the end of the day. I was also beat from the stress of watching her!