Volume 3, No. 7. April 11, 2003
Out and in
For Sara Sumner, the publicity coup of her career at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia, came about for purely selfish reasons.
Sumner
is a fan of The Learning Channel home decor show While You Were Out on
which one half of a couple is lured out of the house while the other half of
the couple has a portion of their house redecorated as a surprise to the absent
half.
“I was thinking of redecorating my own house, wondering how I could get
my own house on the show,” Sumner said. “Then I figured I’d have
better luck getting the park on the show as a destination.” Sumner checked
the show's Web site and saw notices seeking couples in Atlanta and Charlotte
to participate in the show. “I figured if they were working on Atlanta
shows we’d be a close-enough destination,” Sumner said of the south
Georgia park about four hours down Interstate 75 from the Atlanta area.
Sumner made some 20 calls to the Learning Channel and the show’s BBC producers
before reaching Associate Producer Amanda Karrh. She was working on a show featuring
Eric and Leslie Simmons, and when Sumner called her Karrh just happened to be
looking for a location to send Leslie. “She said, ‘You’ve got
to be kidding,’” Sumner said after describing her million-plus attended
Valdosta theme park. “She said, ‘As long as it was good with the husband
it was good with her,’ and she’d call me back in a day or two. I stood
up and did a little happy dance. Twenty minutes later she called back and said,
‘You’re in.’ At that point it was a big happy dance.”
Sumner conspired with Leslie’s best friend, Sharella Pruitt, sending her
letters on official stationary congratulating her on winning her trip for two
to Wild Adventures, notices Pruitt shared with Leslie to explain why they were
visiting the park. The pair spent March 24-25 in Valdosta, where Sumner explained
that the camera crew hounding the two friends were shooting a marketing video
that Pruitt had agreed to appear in.
As
part of the show, Sumner set up situations for Leslie, and Eric had to guess
her reaction. “We put her on the Skycoaster. We put her in the front row
of the snake show to see if she would hold one of our big albino pythons. We
sat her in the front row of the Wild West Show to see if she would do the chicken
dance with the cast,” Sumner said. “And she did. She was such a good
sport she did everything, and had a good time doing it.”
After a Sunday in the park Leslie returned home to find a new room awaiting
her. “I called that evening to see if she would still speak to me”
after the ruse, Sumner said. Not only was Leslie speaking to the park PR coordinator,
she is planning to return to the park May 17 to see a Yolanda Adams concert
with Sumner.
For Sumner the whole effort won for her not only a new friend but a golden publicity
moment when Leslie turned to the cameras and, unprompted, said: “I live
in Atlanta but I would buy the season pass and drive down here anytime.”
Sumner hopes that makes the show’s final edit. This episode of While
You Were Out is scheduled to run in May
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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