After months of going through the ideation process, the team started shooting the week of the NFL Draft. Thanks to coordination with our PR and alumni departments, we were able to get Marcus Allen, Jim Plunkett, Ashton Jeanty, The Violater and Gorilla Rilla all in one day of production.
As we continued filming, it was all hands on deck as members from every part of the organization joined in as "actors."
The final push to get us across the finish line came 24 hours before we were set to announce the schedule as editor Ray Arzate placed all the skits in order and put the finishing touches on the piece.
It was risky attempting to shoot 17 different skits – but one that was pulled off. I would say without a hitch, but you can't expect a big project to not have a few obstacles!
The biggest was bringing a minihorse and a goat to HQ.
Yes. The horse in the Denver Broncos skit is real…and also the sweetest horse I've met. Shoutout to Jamie, Kurt and Killer the horse, who made his acting debut and is officially a Raider.
Making sure a horse doesn't run rampant while also not interrupting our business staff from their calls and meetings – well, we didn't succeed at that last one (sorry, coworkers!) but I _think_ they enjoyed the hilarity of a horse by their desks and seeing schedule release come to life.
As for the goat, he did a great Tom Brady impression, didn't he? We were amazed at how easy going both the animals were at being directed around.