We see an intense game of wheelchair basketball being played. At the end of the game, five out of the six players get up out of their chairs and exit with their one friend, who is disabled. The group heads to a local bar for a pint of Guinness to close out the evening.

For Guinness “Basketball,” casting was paramount.

If viewers didn’t believe the players were wheelchair bound, the spot would fail.

For our hero, we cast a non-actor, Steve Hoffman, to play the disabled athlete. Steve plays in a wheelchair basketball league. For us, this was crucial – otherwise, the commercial would ring false.

The five friends were the most challenging to get right. The game had to feel brutal and authentic – no easy feat for an able-bodied person.

We chose to host callbacks on a basketball court. The call was for able-bodied guys who could play basketball. Without much instruction, we had everyone scrimmage, until we identified guys who had a talent for the game. By the end of the day, there were a lot of bruises and cuts. Tensions ran high as we challenged the guys to play as hard as they could.

Once we selected a group that had the potential to play this authentic game of wheelchair basketball, we had them scrimmage for two days. The first day, they worked on technique, so that they would be playing properly. On the second day, we had them compete over and over, to build camaraderie and become game ready.

Finally, in the casting process, instead of following the beer category’s stereotype of attractive, hunky guys whom you might see in a soap opera, we chose guys you’d see on the street. Our clients embraced this non-pretty-boy approach – even agreeing that a gritty actor’s noticeable tattoos should not be hidden with make-up.