Tuesday afternoon, the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway was closed down and transformed into an executive office for four hours.
Ad Partners, a local ad agency, set up the shoot, complete with a snazzy rug, desk and office chair.
“The purpose of the Selmon Expressway in particular was to stage a master scene with massive production values,” says Jonni Watts, the film’s producer who is also a former veteran with the St. Pete Clearwater Film Commission. “The scene in the film shows a man working at a desk in the middle of the Selmon Expressway, and it is the vastness of the Selmon behind him that adds a sense of desolation and cinema grandeur to the idea.”
In order to shoot, the company needed special permitting and approval, as well as extra police officers to block both entrances of the Selmon, while a third served as a chaperone.
“Tampa is a unique area with so many interesting set opportunities for film makers,” says Skeek Allen, the film’s director. “Even local commercial production work is often produced out-of-market – and in so many cases that is completely unnecessary. Tampa Bay has many location opportunities – from Ybor City to the beaches, to downtown, and in our case, the upper deck of the Selmon.”
