Commercial Filmed at Farmers' Market

It’s not a sight seen regularly at any farmers’ market, so it was certainly both a surprise and a novelty at our very own weekly Friday affair: A 50-person film crew in action as it set up a prop market stand, filled with fake fruit and vegetables.

The crew filmed a short sequence in the afternoon for a new commercial for the financial firm Ameriprise.

In the sequence, a grandmother and granddaughter visit the market. The crew displayed real fruit and produce, too, which was shot from up close and later distributed to anyone interested in it.

In addition to filming in front of their prop market stand, the film crew redecorated surrounding stands with flags and other décor—paying a gratuity to the vendors and rent to market organizers is after all much cheaper than building an entire market from scratch, explained John Cefalu, the shoot’s location manager.

Cefalu, who said he had enjoyed previous shoots in Eagle Rock, picked the farmers’ market location because it’s close to a location in Pasadena, where his crew had shot a sequence earlier in the day.