A few months ago, I was approached about another incredible opportunity to do some very cool puppet work. I built three puppets (one not pictured) for Balcom Agency out of Ft. Worth, TX who represents Dairy Max. After the puppets were built, they flew me out to Dallas to puppeteer for a project designed to teach kids about eating well and exercising enough every day in partnership with the NFL.
I loved building these puppets. They’re early teenagers in character, and I was told for the blue one to think Zack Effron from High School Musical. The puppet is even named Zack. Nick, the green one, was equally fun to build with his more scientific mind and more well kept appearance. It was a challenge, but also a lot of fun costuming these guys. Abby, who is not pictured but will be seen in the video, was a challenge of her own. I bought a wig for her and took it to the stylist to have it cut and styled. She wears a cute top with a fun denim jacket.
On the first shoot day, we shot on a Dairy farm about an hour and a half from Dallas that housed about 4500 cows. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been around 4500 cows, but that is a LOT of cows. And smells accordingly. For this shoot, I performed Abby live on the set, while an actress will dub her voice in post production.
On the second shoot date, we shot at the Dallas Cowboys facility and had a blast. I loved working with the crew, and with Daniel Mathews, our other puppeteer from right there in Texas. I performed Zack, and he performed Nick. It was an incredible experience to be sure. Here are pictures of two of the puppets built. I go into the booth to do some voice over work for this project today, so as soon as the final project is completed, I will post it here for all to see.