1984′: As Good as It Gets
A single TV commercial redefined Super Bowl advertising. How was it made?
Jan 30, 2011
Because I’m a writer and “1984” had no dialogue, I actually didn’t go on the shoot. Instead, I covered a shoot with director Adrian Lyne in Los Angeles that did have dialogue.
The “1984” spot nearly died when the client on the shoot refused to sign the estimate for a second day of shooting. O’Neill called me from London again, saying the spot was dead if we couldn’t get two full days of shooting. I had just been promoted to vp at Chiat/Day, therefore becoming an officer of the company. I asked O’Neill if he could proceed on my signature. He said, “Hey, you’re an officer—I can go ahead on your say so. But if it doesn’t work out, you’re fired.” I thought it was a risk well worth taking.
Ironically, the spot that the client was really interested in was a commercial for Lisa, the $10,000 Mac-like business computer that never really got off the ground. Ridley gave us a deal, agreeing to shoot both the Lisa spot and the Macintosh launch spot for a package price of about $600,000. Jay Chiat used to delight in showing the spot the clients cared most about—a nothing bit of braggadocio that dropped from public consciousness like a stone. Thank God.
The “1984” spot nearly died when the client on the shoot refused to sign the estimate for a second day of shooting. O’Neill called me from London again, saying the spot was dead if we couldn’t get two full days of shooting. I had just been promoted to vp at Chiat/Day, therefore becoming an officer of the company. I asked O’Neill if he could proceed on my signature. He said, “Hey, you’re an officer—I can go ahead on your say so. But if it doesn’t work out, you’re fired.” I thought it was a risk well worth taking.
Ironically, the spot that the client was really interested in was a commercial for Lisa, the $10,000 Mac-like business computer that never really got off the ground. Ridley gave us a deal, agreeing to shoot both the Lisa spot and the Macintosh launch spot for a package price of about $600,000. Jay Chiat used to delight in showing the spot the clients cared most about—a nothing bit of braggadocio that dropped from public consciousness like a stone. Thank God.
and some lovely man scanned this in …
In the Fall of 1984 Apple published a 16-page (with fold-out) advertising insert in Newsweek magazine….
