Hollywood comes to rodeo arena

HOLLYWOOD IN FORT MADISON

It’s pretty cool. It’s bringing Hollywood to Fort Madison. I’m looking forward to seeing what everything looks like.”

Bobby Holtkamp, TSR General Chairman

FORT MADISON - It wasn’t the usual size of a rodeo crowd at C.E. “Eddie” Richards Arena.
It will look like a packed house in the commercial that was being filmed.
A production company from Los Angeles, North of Now, was in southeast Iowa to film a commercial for the National Football League, and Fort Madison’s rodeo arena was chosen as one of the locations.
A call to Tri-State Rodeo Committee chairman Bobby Holtkamp put the production into motion, and on Monday night, an estimated 200 people showed up to be in the grandstands as part of the commercial that is expected to air sometime this football season.
“A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a producer in Los Angeles,” Holtkamp said. “I didn’t know how serious it was, but they were persistent and kept calling me, and here we are.”
Laurent Lawson, a coordinator for the shoot, said scenes for the commercial have been shot in Texas and Utah, with shots in Illinois and California still scheduled.
“The commercial is supposed to show the whole country,” Lawson said.
“They reached out and they were looking for a Midwestern vibe to go with the commercial,” Holtkamp said. “And what better way to showcase that than a rodeo, right?”
The hope was to shoot scenes during the late evening hours around sunset, but a cloudy evening took away that part.
“We were a little concerned it could rain,” Lawson said. “We don’t really know Iowa weather.”
Lawson laughed.
“So that’s why I was like, ‘We’re going to shoot the rodeo today and of course it’s going to rain,” he said.
Lawson said there were some problems trying to come up with rodeo stock and riders for the commercial.
“It was kind of a challenge because we’re right in the middle of rodeo season and it was pretty challenging being able to find guys to ride,” he said. “We kept looking online, trying to find some production companies, and we found one in Illinois.”
“They found a stock contractor, riders, everything they needed,” Holtkamp said. “They’ve been great to work with, very courteous, and we’ve been glad to help them out with whatever they needed.”
There was also the challenge of finding people to be in the grandstands.
“They asked us to get 200 extras,” Holtkamp said. “So I just reached out to the rodeo committee, the saddle club, people at my store, and just said, ‘Hey, invite a friend or two to come out.’ I think we’re going to get pretty close to the number they wanted.”
The company shot scenes in downtown Burlington as well during their visit to the area.
“It’s a pretty fast turnaround,” Lawson said of the production. “As soon as we’re done shooting at a location, we send a hard drive with the video, either to L.A. or New York, to be edited right away. And at the end, we’ll put it all together.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Holtkamp said. “It’s bringing Hollywood to Fort Madison. I’m looking forward to seeing what everything looks like."
The production crew thanked the rodeo committee for their help in pulling the production together on rather short notice.