Filming Commercials in Baltimore City

On Monday, Mercedes-Benz filmed vehicles driving down St. Paul Street in Guilford, from Greenway on the north end to 39th Street on the south, getting footage for advertisements.

Patch caught up with the location manager for the shoot, Jon Jolles, in an effort to better understand the way this type of event functions—how the city negotiates with companies’ ad people, and how it's decided where to shoot footage.

Patch: Do you do a lot of similar work in commercials? Many others in Baltimore and surrounding areas?

Jon Jolles: Lots of work. I’ve been a location manager for 15 years. Many commercials—Maryland Lottery spots, Carmax, which shoots here a couple times a year, lots of other spots for things, regional as well as national ... some movies and TV too.

Patch: Do you know how the Maryland film board works this type of thing out with ad companies? How is it decided where the footage is shot?

Jolles: Mercedes contacted the Baltimore Film Office—part of the Office of Promotion & The Arts—about filming here. They also contacted me, from the Maryland production guide I think, about helping them. We drove around together for a couple days, looking at different parts of the city. They saw lots of places, decided where they would like to film, and then together we worked out the logistics of where and when and how. They have been other places around the country doing the same kind of shots—I think last they were in Long Beach, CA, but they certainly did comment time and time again how they were blown away by the cooperation and assistance they were given by the Film Office and the Baltimore City police overtime unit. They shot in many places over the course of three days—Fells Point, Harbor East, Inner Harbor, Mount Vernon, downtown, etc.

Patch: Do you know what Mercedes-Benz's motivation is for choosing Guilford, even St Paul Street in particular? Is it meant to present a specific image of the product?

Jolles: Mercedes loved the look of it. They loved St. Paul street, but even more I think they loved Sherwood Gardens. Who doesn't? I live right in Hampden and sometimes if the weather isn't too brutal I'll take a walk over. It's one of the most beautiful parts of the city, I think. They were impressed with how close it was to downtown; they liked that with all the locations. Nothing was ever more than 10 or 15 minutes away from anything else. [It] made it easier to film in several locations in a day. Mercedes actually made a contribution to the Guilford Association to help support Sherwood Gardens.