Landscaper’s home
featured in TV ad
BY MAURA DOWGIN
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Cornerstone Pictures (above) films a commercial for E.P. Henry, a manufacturer of building materials, on Sept. 17 in Holmdel. At right, David and Sheryl DeNicola, Holmdel, watch their son Hunter, 5, swim during the filming in their back yard.

HOLMDEL — A television commercial crew descended on a township residence last week.

Cornerstone Pictures shot three commercials for E.P. Henry, Woodbury, at David DeNicola’s Flora Drive home Sept. 17. The company makes landscaping products such as concrete pavers.

About 20 crew members, including directors, cameramen, makeup artists, and production assistants worked for hours to produce one 30-second and two 15-second commercials.

E.P. Henry performed an extensive search for the right location to shoot the ads, which will begin airing in January on the major networks in Philadelphia and some area Comcast cable stations, said Marianne W. Anzaldo, director of marketing for E.P. Henry.

The picturesque back yard has a patio, an in-ground pool and a gazebo. It also contains many trees, plants and flowers that make the space comfortable and beautiful.

The home backs up to a secluded horse farm, which adds a serene beauty to the yard.

The location "needed to be tight enough to look private but open enough to have the sun come in," Anzaldo said.

The DeNicola house has been featured in many marketing brochures for the company.

DeNicola Landscaping, Holmdel, an installer of the advertised products, is based in Monmouth County.

The back yard of the DeNicola house is landscaped with all E.P. Henry products, said Kerry Ascione, marketing manager of DeNicola Landscaping.

The commercials, which are only the fifth set of commercials the 100-year-old company ever made, were written by Kelly Simmons of Bubble, an agency in Rosemont, Pa., and directed by Jeff Weiser, of CPI Communications, Bryn Mawr, Pa., Anzaldo said.

Crew members visited the house several times in the weeks before the filming, Ascione said. The prop directors added walls and fencing where needed so that the commercials would look as perfect as possible.

Each commercial has the same theme.

A neighbor, played by professional actor Walker Reid, tries everything he can to see over a fence and into the beautifully landscaped back yard next door.

The whole premise is a "nosy neighbor is trying to look into his neighbor’s back yard," DeNicola said.

In one of the commercials, he is jumping up and down on a trampoline to see all of the fun the DeNicolas are having in their beautifully landscaped back yard.

In another of the commercials, Reid is seen hanging off a tree limb and falls — he actually fell out of a tree in the back yard of the DeNicola house. There were 90 empty cardboard boxes roped together under the tree to break his fall.

Stunt coordinator Rick Sordelet led a three-man stunt team that supervised the stunt to make sure no one was hurt and the fall would look real on camera.

Each commercial also features the DeNicola family: David, wife Sheryl, and their two sons, Hunter, 5, and Trevor, 2.

The family is shown sitting around the pool, cooking, or swimming in the background.

The raw footage shot at the house is now being edited to be ready for the January airing.