This spot has obviously been made by a first-rate team. Excellent production values. I wonder how many days it took the Saturday Night Live guys to scout and shoot? Probably two — a day of location scouting (northern New Jersey?), a day of shooting. TV commercials tend to take a couple and sometimes three or four days to shoot, and they always cost a shitload. I’ve watched a couple so don’t tell me. It takes them forever to dress and light shots, and the director is always playing the role of the heavy-cat artist, sitting in his canvas chair like Michelangelo Antonioni…shades, furrowed brow, impassioned discussions with his dp and top crew people.

Incidentally: Late start today. Every three or four weeks my overworked system insists on getting nine or ten hours of sleep, and this was one of those times. No worries. It always feels like the right thing when I finally wake up. And I’m not planning on a big work day either. I’m going to a backyard barbecue around 1 pm, and if this means fewer posts that’ll be just too bad, won’t it?