If your house has a "Brady Bunch" vibe, it could star in a commercial.
Lisa Stark, a freelance scouting agent from Signal Mountain, said she is looking for a midcentury or Scandinavian-style home in the Chattanooga area to use as a filming location May 20-21. The homeowners will receive $1,000 a day for their trouble.
A post on the Nextdoor app has already garnered responses. Most of them were serious, though one man bemoaned that he had "just ripped out my orange shag rugs and got rid of my brown paneling and sold all my turquoise and avocado appliances."
He was joking, but Stark said "an updated 'Brady Bunch' house" is what she's seeking anyway. "The lines of the 'Brady Bunch' house, minus the orange shag carpeting and the overload of brown and avocado. 'Brady Bunch,' but neutralized."
Though different eras impart their own influences on these architectural styles, both midcentury modern and Scandinavian designs are typically characterized as uncluttered and sleek. The look is functional, not fussy.
While she can appreciate a strict adherence to either style, Stark said producers are looking for more of a contemporary hybrid. "Not hardcore, not funky," she said.
Stark said producers will want to film in the kitchen, living room and dining room, plus exteriors in the yard, patio or garden.
"They want all those options, not that they all will make the final cut," she said. "It could be a second here, a second there when it all comes down to editing."
The commercial, for an air purifying system, is being filmed by Chattanooga ad agency Humanaut, whose clients include Splenda and Organic Valley.
Online
View the "Chattanooga Thank You" commercial at https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ZE1g/volkswagen-chattanooga-thank-you-t1
Homeowners can send photos and a pitch to Stark at noogextra@gmail.com. She'll share the most promising sites with the director and producer. If they see something they like, she'll set up an appointment to take more photos. In-person visits with other members of the creative team will follow.
For convenience, homeowners get a hotel stay while equipment is spread out around the house. They can be home during filming, "but it's typically better if they're not," Stark said. "There's a lot of people and a lot of moving parts."
Liability insurance is provided, and the house will be professionally cleaned and disinfected when shooting wraps. Production could take up to two and a half days, a potential $2,500 paycheck for the selected homeowner.
"And you get bragging rights as well," Stark said. "You see a commercial on TV, and you get to say, 'There's my house.'"
Stark knows that from experience. Her house appears in a predawn shot in Volkswagen's "Chattanooga Thank You" commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2020.
Producers with Los Angeles-based Prettybird "used the exterior of my house for a light going on," she said.
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.