Raiderette Voz and her DirecTV cast teammates, Megan from the Indianapolis Colts, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals, Denee from the Seattle Seahawks and Megan from the San Francisco 49ers check out the progress of the commercial shoot.
Recently, I received a phone call from my Raiderettes director informing me that I was chosen to be in a DirecTV commercial. DirecTV picked four other cheerleaders from different NFL teams to be in the advertisement. It was explained to me that this would be a national promotion and that I was flying down to Los Angeles a few days later! Not only was I excited to be one of the girls featured in the ad, I was also excited to get the chance to go back to my hometown and spend some time with my family. When I arrived in L.A., I was taken to my hotel, Sunset Towers, on Sunset Boulevard. Since we were not scheduled to shoot until the next morning, I had the chance to meet with my family for an early dinner. I do not get to see my family as often as I would like so it was a perfect way to settle my nerves and prepare me for a long day on set.
Raiderette Voz and her DirecTV cast teammates, Megan from the Indianapolis Colts, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals, Denee from the Seattle Seahawks and Megan from the San Francisco 49ers act out a scene for the spot.
The next day, I had to be up at 4 a.m. to be ready for my call time at 5:15. I had yet to see the other cheerleaders and was anxious to meet them. All of the girls were down in the lobby of our hotel by 5 ready to go in our team gear. The girls were well spoken, kind, and gorgeous, but also nervous. I was joined by Megan from the Indianapolis Colts, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals, Denee from the Seattle Seahawks and another Megan from the San Francisco 49ers. On our way to Sunset Gower Studios we told each other a little bit about ourselves and cracked a few jokes to loosen up. Much to our surprise, we all had a lot in common. Because it was so easy to get along, it made for a day of professionalism and, of course, a few shenanigans.
Raiderette Voz and her DirecTV cast teammates, Megan from the Indianapolis Colts, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals, Denee from the Seattle Seahawks and Megan from the San Francisco 49ers pose for a photo with the famous Hollywood sign in the background.
As soon as we arrived on set, we met with the director. He explained the concept of the commercial and walked us through all we would be doing. Our roles were simple: Cheerleader #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. I was cheerleader #3. Before his explanation we had no clue what we would be doing in the commercial, but we were all excited to learn that we were about to be part of a minute and half of pure hilarity! From that brief rehearsal, we figured the shoot wouldn't take any longer than a couple hours to complete. Wrong! We did not realize how much time and effort went into creating a 90-second TV spot. Rather than the quick shoot we expected, we were on set for 12 hours. The director and crew had to make sure every little detail was impeccable. Everything had to be exactly the same - from the angle I was standing in, to the expression we had on our faces, to the direction we were looking, to a random prop in the background, to a scuff on the floor - EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!
Raiderette Voz poses for a photo on set with two of her DirecTV cast teammates, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals and Denee from the Seattle Seahawks.
By the end of the shoot we had a new level of respect for every director, producer, cast and crew member in Hollywood. We were all so grateful to be featured in a nationally aired promotion for Direct TV's NFL package. Other than performing on the field, none of us had ever experienced anything like this. We gave everyone on set much thanks and praise for being patient with us "Hollywood rookies". Similarly, everyone on set was thankful to have actual NFL cheerleaders representing their teams as opposed to hired actresses. Luckily, the majority of the crew members were Raider fans and season ticket holders!
Raiderette Voz and her DirecTV cast teammates, Megan from the Indianapolis Colts, Hailey from the Arizona Cardinals, Denee from the Seattle Seahawks and Megan from the San Francisco 49ers, pose for a photo.
