How the F* Do We Get an ATV Into a House?

That was the first question we asked ourselves when bidding on the Sunwing project for John St. The answer seemed obvious - shoot in a studio, right? Wrong. Our director, Pete Marquis, was determined from day one to shoot this practically on location. The reason was simple: we wanted to feel the bones of a real house, with a real ATV ripping through it. So, we went for it.

Sunwing introduced a new character to their brand: the 'Flynancial advisor' and When we saw the brief, we knew Pete was the perfect fit. It’s the subtle nuances he adds to characters that made him the right choice. With 28 shots to get through on a one-day shoot (we were also shooting a French version), we decided to lean into Pete’s strengths. For him, it’s all about the characters, the dialogue, and those organic moments he creates with his cast. He doesn’t need to lean on fancy camera work; instead, it’s his ability to work as a writer-director, feeding lines to the talent and discovering beats organically with the creative team during pre-production that really shines through.

Being Sunwing, we still needed to show some sun. So, we converted the backyard of our location into a blue screen studio, giving us the flexibility to create a backyard beach vacation. Our production designer, Hope Little, was the lifeblood of the spot, designing everything from an ATV-shaped wall to a ton of props and a backyard bluescreen studio that brought the beach to the backyard.

As always, it takes an army to make a project like this happen. A huge thank you goes out to our talented crew of producers, technicians, special effects experts, and post-production partners who helped pull it all together.