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National TV ad features local park, kids
By JANE BOKUN WESTCHASE -- If you think the park in that Slip and Slide commercial looks familiar, it's not your imagination. It's none other than Westchase's Glencliff Park. Regent Films, a New York-based commercial film company, chose the county-owned park on Countryway Boulevard for a national Whammo Slip and Slide commercial that will air this summer. They filmed near the soccer field for three days in January. "It was a mock summer shoot," said Brian Lamb, the assistant director for Moyers & Associates, the Coral Gables-based management company for Westchase's Community Development District. "They did a survey of area parks, and they liked this one best," Lamb said. "They just laid out a plastic Slip and Slide on the basketball court." "Of course, the week they were here, the temperatures were down to 50 and 60 degrees, but they were happy and they used local residents in the shoot." Most of the Westchase children used in the commercial were already playing in the park when shooting began. At the end of the shoot, the children received free Whammo merchandise, Lamb said. Homeowners gave the venture mixed reviews. Kris DiGiovanni of the Westchase Community Association said she wished Moyers & Associates had consulted the community about the commercial. "We didn't have anything to do with it," DiGiovanni said. "It's a county park and they maintain it. The community was largely unaware that it was happening." As Lamb described the venture, "It was a one-time deal and our area worked out for them." Companies that wish to film in Westchase must go through an approval process that includes insurance, licensing, a security deposit and police protection if necessary. "These parks weren't designed for the filming of events, and I don't want it to turn into that," Lamb said. "However, it was kind of neat."
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