Behind the Scenes Filming Facebook's New Boost My Business Show

By Jamie Ratner, CertifiKID Founder & CEO
Posted Jul 01, 2020 News

Wow! Another exciting experience to add to the book! Back in February, we filmed an episode of Facebook Live's new miniseries "Boost My Business" hosted by Tan France. This was a perk of being one of Kevin O’Leary's businesses; a few of his companies were asked to participate. It was a very cool experience and I thought I would fill you in on the back story!

Check out our episode on July 13, 2020 on Facebook Watch. 

Finding a Venue

Since we have a virtual office, we had to find a venue that represented CertifiKID and would provide some great content. We could not have done better than our partners at ZavaZone. I will never forget the expression on the faces of the large crew when they rolled into ZazaZone that first day and realized this would be their home for the next three days! It was like kids in a candy store. They had never seen such a cool place for both kids and adults.

From a filming perspective, ZavaZone offered so many cool options, and they were incredible to work with during the whole process, making sure we had space to film while allowing customers to enjoy the facility at the same time.

Day 1

I headed out to meet the crew that first day and get to know everyone. There were about 25 people and everyone was super nice. It was really awesome to meet new people of all different ages and backgrounds as I am so used to spending most of my times with moms!

Day 2

I had to be up, dressed and at ZavaZone by 6 a.m. I had to make sure I wore something super basic for the filming. There was a hair and makeup lady when I arrived to get me done up. They set up a whole spread for breakfast and then again for snacks and lunches.

My first scene was a meeting with Tan France. For those of you who don't know, Tan France is the fashion guru on "Queer Eye." He also just released his own Netflix series "Next in Fashion", which is a play on "Project Runway," and he wrote a best selling book called "Naturally Tan: A Memoir." I listened to the audiobook the week before the filming and it blew me away. I am a big memoir reader and his hooked me from start to finish. I felt like I knew him from listening to his amazing life story so when I finally met him for the taping I just wanted to give him a big hug. And guess what....he gave me a lot of hugs!

I quickly picked up on life as an actor and followed all the directions. It reminded me of yoga. You just have to listen carefully to the queues and do as you are told.

The rest of the day involved a scene where I introduced Tan to my family and then I went off to work on an ad with a Facebook consultant.

I was finally finished around 4 p.m., and I passed out like a baby as soon as my head hit the pillow that night around 8 p.m.! I can't remember the last time I was that exhausted!

Day 3

Once again, I was up bright and early to do exactly what I did on Day 2. The day started with an interview with the director. Then my family arrived. This next stretch was probably the most fun part of the filming. This section involved Brian and my kids PLAYING with Tan France. I think it was so entertaining because I have not seen Brian jump around on a trampoline before. Anyway, I thought it would be great for you to hear it all from the perspective of my kids and Brian.

Lila: It was a super fun experience that I got to film with Tan France. He is so fun and hilarious. My favorite part was at the end when he went in the air machine and our hair went so crazy - me and Tan! I can't wait to watch it!

Noah: My mom, dad, sister and I got to spend the weekend with Tan France! How cool is that. He was very funny, happy, and loved his life. We filmed a lot of stuff that is going to be on Facebook Live. He made us feel really comfortable and the day super fun. I loved spending time with him and my family. My favorite part was bouncing on the trampolines, and the lunch spread was great too. I got my hair done and had to be mic’d up. Very fun time!

Brian: Tan and Facebook were such pros and it was a pleasure to work with them on this project. They made this family experience really easy and fun and offered great guidance to help boost business which we have already put to good use. Kevin was right that this would be a “wonderful” opportunity for CertifiKID.

As you see, my family had so much fun and I think it was all such a great experience for them to learn what it is like to actually make TV. Between "Shark Tank" and this experience, they have a great sense of the business!

Overall, it was a super memorable weekend (and February feels like a decade ago since the pandemic) and I cannot wait to watch the airing on July 13, 2020. I hope you check it out too on Facebook Watch.

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