Matthew McConaughey and Sports Stars Sleigh in Dick’s Texan Holiday Campaign

For Christmas this year, Dick’s Sporting Goods is giving a Texas twist to the festivities, inviting some of the state’s most famous athletes (and a very special guest) to help decorate their local stores.

Created and produced by OBB Media, and directed by independent writer/director, Peter Novosel - formerly an ECD at 72andSunny - the 60-second spot and four short films follow Dick’s 'Holiday Decorating Officer', Doug and a cast of sporting heroes competing to bring the most Christmas cheer to stores: Simone Biles in Houston, Dak Prescott in Dallas, Chris Paul in San Antonio, and Quinn Ewers in Austin. 

Texan icon Matthew McConaughey also lends a hand, and the physical, festive installations will remain in the Dick’s stores throughout the holiday season.

Speaking to LBB, Peter shares that OBB producer, and previous collaborator, Lana Womack, called the director onto the project a month before shooting, with the decorating athletes idea already in motion. However, not wanting to rely on the four athletes - despite how capable their performances turned out to be, and how “lovely and generous” they were as people - Peter pitched the idea of creating an additional character, ‘Doug’, as the comedic foil.

“It’s a lot to ask of any one actor to carry an entire film, and I think that’s especially true for comedy,” he says. “Then there’s the added layer of casting athletes, where you never quite know how comfortable they will be in front of a camera… When I mentioned it on a call with OBB, it was actually Lana who blurted out, ‘What if they were the Dick’s Chief Decorator?’. Doug was born.”

Peter then fleshed out the Doug character, “a guy with an unbridled enthusiasm for all things sports, holidays, and decorations”, and set to work on his first-ever Christmas campaign. “We shared a lot of references and had early conversations about tone, which made the client feel comfortable, and gave me enough information to disappear and start writing.”

“Huge credit to the Dick’s team,” he says. “They really understood the challenges we faced with a tight schedule and were so helpful throughout the process. That level of trust is rare, but when it clicks, it makes for such a fun and productive creative experience.”

He adds, “Walking into the locations, real stores in Texas, and seeing these incredible sets created by the art department, along with all the lights and decorations everywhere, really added an extra layer of fun to the whole process.” This process was led by designer Jen Chu and art director Tyler Raifsnider, who ensured each installation was balanced between the corresponding athlete and their sport, while also nodding to their hometown. 

“The installation I’m particularly proud of is the McConaugh-Sleigh,” says Peter. “We found out pretty last minute that we were able to get Matthew McConaughey for a cameo in the Austin film. I pitched the ‘McConaugh-Sleigh’ idea, which everyone seemed to think was just dumb enough to work, and in a matter of days, there it was.”

He continues, “I feel very lucky that I got to work on a project where it almost became normal that a few days after an idea comes flying out of someone’s mouth, it somehow becomes a real physical thing. Meanwhile, I’m running lines about it with one of my favourite actors on a script that I’d barely finished writing. There’s an in-the-momentness about that which I weirdly enjoy, and I also think is conducive to taking some chances.”

With the real stores as their locations, the sheer scale of the sets posed significant logistical challenges - particularly when it came to lighting. However, with a bespoke setup, the art team went in three days ahead of the shoots and installed the custom built displays, while Peter photoboarded each scene to dial in which parts of the stores needed to be dressed.

“The best part about everyone being on the same page going into a shoot is that it makes it easier to pivot in the moment, which will inevitably happen sooner or later. Because everyone has done the homework together - including, and perhaps especially, the client - each person is a part of the process. A shared understanding means everyone is aware of the guardrails and the sacrifices that might be necessary later if too much time is spent second-guessing decisions that we made together days ago.”

Peter treated the TVCs like “trailers for the campaign”, deliberately over-writing the scripts so he could cut a sequence of quick-fire vignettes and flexibly swap parts in and out. Meanwhile, he also filmed four “mini-doc”-style short films about the whole process. Fortunately, each of the athletes was generous with their time, and Peter could run lines with the talent and smooth over any problems between setups. 

“Top athletes are inherently wired to perform precisely drawn up plays and rehearse things down to a tee, so my job, by the time it comes to them stepping onto a set, is just to show them the play and explain what their part is in, and hopefully getting their ideas on how to make it better. Most athletes know the drill and, in Chris Paul’s case especially, have been on countless film sets.” 

For the Austin film, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, Quinn Ewers, was paired with the team’s most famous cheerleader, Matthew McConaughey. Their interaction in the film happens over video call, but was shot on different days. However, Peter persuaded the actor to record a pep talk for Quinn before the football player filmed his part.

“Grabbing my phone with the nonchalant energy of a man who’s never lost a coin toss, McConaughey rattled off a simple message for Quinn… ‘You cannot fuck it up, even if you try. In fact, I dare you to try’... And there it was, the simplest reminder that messing around, making mistakes, trying stuff, might just mean we’ll stumble onto something.”

Throughout the production, Peter was chasing a familiar goal - making scripted moments feel as unscripted as possible. “Even in these films, I’m fully aware that there are lines of dialogue that feel blatantly straight off the page - I think, to a certain extent, that’s unavoidable with these types of films. But my favorite moments are the ones that happened spontaneously,” he says, “or, at least, feel like they did.” 

These moments include Doug pushing Chris Paul in the tractor, Doug hitting the over-the-head shot for real (and Chris Paul’s response), Simone trying to teach Doug how to get onto the balance beam, and Dak improvising how to make a snowman. “Just little, real, human moments that we tried on the fly and that fit so nicely into the edit.”

He adds, “I also got so lucky with all four of the athletes, as well as Matt MacNelly, who played Doug. I’m always trying to create an environment on set where everyone feels comfortable throwing ideas into the mix, and everyone was up for it. These were the kind of days that make you feel lucky to go to work.”

While the turnaround was a challenge - with just 12 days between the project being awarded and the first shoot - Peter says that he prefers this experience to ‘writing in circles for weeks with people overthinking everything’. The result was over 20 minutes of content with some of Texas’ brightest Lone Stars, and lasting in-store installations for the festive period - not to mention a brand new character in 'Holiday Decorating Officer’ Doug.

“At the end of the day, it was a lot, sure. But it was also a blast,” says Peter. “What we do, really, is a kind of joyful absurdity: shaping ideas into something shiny and ridiculous and calling it work. It’s a privilege, make no mistake about it. The kind of thing that reminds me not to take myself, or the process, too seriously. Whenever the wheels feel like they’re coming off, I try to remind myself of that.”