WATCH SEAN DANCE! SEE IT HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZokhauTjc
Read article below (with hat-tip to the N Y Times, October 21, 2010: Behind the Scenes as Barney Frank's Rival Films an Ad - NYTimes.com).
Big Money Gives Sean Bielat, Congressional Wanna-Be, Some Unflattering New Steps
U.S Congressional wanna-be Sean Bielat was dancing around the stage – boogying to Chris Brown’s “Gimme Dat.” Although in this case, the “dat” in question was actually NOT the . . . bass but the brass. And Mr. Bielat, in this case, was not a dance instructor named Kira (dressed in a makeshift fat suit), but a cardboard marionette named Llazo pretending to be the fresh faced and plausible Biz-school grad and ex-Marine Sean Bielat, as he flipped and shook his way across a hastily-erected piano-stool stage, before a makeshift screen of orange polar fleece and black felt, in a kitchen in Brookline MA.
Llazo (who did not want his last name used because he is made from a local pizza box and doesn’t want to be associated with any particular candidate) had gathered with two Boston-area women “of a certain age” who started making political ads this election cycle (today, actually), to counter the Big Money astroturfing they perceive in the making of a “$10,000 - $15,000” ad such as that Mr. Ehlinger has produced for Mr. Bielat . (These women stress that they are not connected with, paid by, nor endorsed by any political candidate, political party, or special interest group --- although their studio is now “open for business, should the right candidate come calling.” They are quite sure that their efforts would “catapult [their client] to online stardom, attract more mainstream news media coverage and donations, and bring him closer to a seat in Congress”).The premise of their spot was simple enough — Mr. Bielat “is dancing around the money all the way to the polls,” so you “take the political cliché of he’s dancing around the Big Bucks and you literally have him dancing around the bags of dough,” one of the women explained — but it took a trip to the garbage can (to make a cardboard puppet befitting a politician), a stop at a nearby Kinko’s (to make copies of the faces of political operatives Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck, as well as that of Mr. Bielat) and finding a good video editor (“can work for free, in own kitchen, in under two hours,” read the email seeking applicants) before they were ready to go.
After the video was shot, the women planned to use the “Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Karl Rove” tea bags to brew a pot of tea --- but they were “too, uh, revolting,” admitted one of the women.
On a recent Friday (today, actually), one of these women found herself in striped knee socks and an orange Talbot’s twin-set (not the color of her eyes, fortunately) striding around a makeshift screen to prepare for the day’s shoot.
“Actually, turn the de-humidifier up as high as you can because he’ll be dancing in a cardboard suit with Scotch Tape on top of that,” one woman said, referring to Llazo, who was waiting in the trunk of her car. “It will be very uncomfortable, I think, if he gets damp and goes limp.”
“This is the Tea Party Shuffle danced to Chris Brown’s ‘Gimme Dat’,” the twin-set-clad woman noted, as loud bouncy music began blaring from the other room. She was referring to the three-and-a-half minute song they had borrowed especially for the video, where text about the shadowy sources of money funding Mr. Bielat’s “independent” campaign scrolled across the screen as “Sean Bielat” (aka Llazo) gyrated to a funky beat.
The plan was to get “Mr. Bielat” in and out as quickly as possible. He did a few more takes — turned to the side, angled away from the camera, a close-up on his upper body — before it was time for “Karl Rove”, “Sarah Palin”, et al, to take the stage. A sound gal cranked the music up and “Sarah P.” strutted in, all baggy funk and flip-flop moves
“Mr. Bielat’s” line, to appear at the end of the taping, was supposed to go something like: “I don’t need to dance around the issues. I’m a Marine.” But “Mr. Bielat” said he did not feel comfortable linking his military service to a political ad in a way that felt “like a non sequitur,” so he improvised. Just “GIMMMMMMEEEEE DAT!” “Sean” begged his would-be constituents. And folded.
