So Michigan has (had) been doing a lot of film credits to attract the film industry to the area, and because of that, there had been requests for product placements in the Metro Detroit area for some upcoming films. I'm pleased to announce that B. Nektar Meadery is due to make cameos in both an upcoming motion picture and again in an HBO TV series.
First, a movie that's due to be released sometime in 2011 called Right Angle, starring Jeff Daniels and Aaron Paul (Jessie, from the Breaking Bad TV series). B. Nektar bottles of mead, posters, and glassware were picked up by the prop crew to be used in various scenes. No more is known. We'll just have to see the movie.
Second. We just filmed part of the opening of HBO's TV series, Hung at the meadery last night. They were looking for local businesses that portrayed Detroit people picking themselves up and creating a rebirth of the city. They talked about a guy who makes coffee tables out of old engine blocks. An artist who turns abandoned houses into works of art. An out of work homebrewer that starts a brewery in his garage (HINT: that's US!).
When I first heard that the location scout for Hung was looking for a location, I called him right away. He described a brewery in someone's garage. I explained to him that though we're not a brewery, our facility looks as close to a garage (read: small-time and low budget) as you'll get. He loved our story (you can read it here) and agreed to come and see the meadery for himself. We both arrived in the parking lot at the same time. As he stepped out of his car, he took one look at Ian (our assistant meadmaker) and asked, "does HE work here?" I said, "yes" and he immediately started taking pictures of a surprised Ian. Now, if you've never seen Ian, he's a 6' lumberjack looking dude with a knit skullcap, flannel shirt, and crazy neon palm tree slip on shoes. Apparently, he looked EXACTLY like the guy in the script the writers had imagined. After a couple months of back and forth with the writers, the location scout calls me up and said, "we'll be filming next week. Tell Ian not to change a thing about his look. Not to shave, shower, NOTHING!". He also told me that there was a picture of Ian hanging up in the writers room. Apparently they really liked his look.
So to make a long story short (TOO LATE!!), the film crew showed up last night and filmed us doing a bottling run. We had a lot of fun, and sold a lot of mead and T-Shirts to a very receptive film crew. We're told that (assuming the piece doesn't get cut in editing) it will be part of the opening of Season 3, Episode 1. I think they said sometime in September 2011. Damn! Now I need to get cable and subscribe to HBO, or wait until it hits Netflix.
Cheers,
First, a movie that's due to be released sometime in 2011 called Right Angle, starring Jeff Daniels and Aaron Paul (Jessie, from the Breaking Bad TV series). B. Nektar bottles of mead, posters, and glassware were picked up by the prop crew to be used in various scenes. No more is known. We'll just have to see the movie.
Second. We just filmed part of the opening of HBO's TV series, Hung at the meadery last night. They were looking for local businesses that portrayed Detroit people picking themselves up and creating a rebirth of the city. They talked about a guy who makes coffee tables out of old engine blocks. An artist who turns abandoned houses into works of art. An out of work homebrewer that starts a brewery in his garage (HINT: that's US!).
When I first heard that the location scout for Hung was looking for a location, I called him right away. He described a brewery in someone's garage. I explained to him that though we're not a brewery, our facility looks as close to a garage (read: small-time and low budget) as you'll get. He loved our story (you can read it here) and agreed to come and see the meadery for himself. We both arrived in the parking lot at the same time. As he stepped out of his car, he took one look at Ian (our assistant meadmaker) and asked, "does HE work here?" I said, "yes" and he immediately started taking pictures of a surprised Ian. Now, if you've never seen Ian, he's a 6' lumberjack looking dude with a knit skullcap, flannel shirt, and crazy neon palm tree slip on shoes. Apparently, he looked EXACTLY like the guy in the script the writers had imagined. After a couple months of back and forth with the writers, the location scout calls me up and said, "we'll be filming next week. Tell Ian not to change a thing about his look. Not to shave, shower, NOTHING!". He also told me that there was a picture of Ian hanging up in the writers room. Apparently they really liked his look.
So to make a long story short (TOO LATE!!), the film crew showed up last night and filmed us doing a bottling run. We had a lot of fun, and sold a lot of mead and T-Shirts to a very receptive film crew. We're told that (assuming the piece doesn't get cut in editing) it will be part of the opening of Season 3, Episode 1. I think they said sometime in September 2011. Damn! Now I need to get cable and subscribe to HBO, or wait until it hits Netflix.
Cheers,
;D But, I am glad that both crews got to sample some first-quality product (assuming the Right Angle guys drank some -- I figure that assumption is a no-brainer!). You may do more for the industry by exposing a few media types to quality mead than all the past attempts at publicity and marketing have done. Ain't nothing like a little new-generation product placement to pique peoples' curiosity! Glad to hear it!! ;D
