John Deere 42 Plow Blade

Ducor ranch to be featured in commercial

A working cattle ranch in Ducor will be the scene for an upcoming Natural Defense dog food commercial.

Matt and Karol Flynn’s ranch has been in the family for four generations and farmed since 1874.

It only took two trips to the Ducor area for a location manager to see the ranch, including its rolling hills of wheat, to decide it was perfect.

“It had the right shade and the right height of wheat in a rural setting,” said Tulare County Film Commissioner and Tourism Manager Eric Coyne. “They wanted a timeless area, one with no visual pollution. No telephone poles. Timeless, and one that could be anywhere in the country.”

Originally, the company, based out of San Francisco, thought they would need to go out of state to look for a wheat field and a marigold field.

“We scouted all the Central Coast, from Los Angeles to Northern California over a four-day period,” said Lindsey Wood, content producer with Agency BBDO of San Francisco. “This was the only place we found wheat, only place where it was turning gold. Once we saw it, we knew this was it.”

The Flynns, who were harvesting at the time, stopped and delayed everything, even leaving their bales of wheat in the fields at the company’s request.

What was interesting, Coyne said, is the turnaround time. From the scouting to the equipment being brought in, was approximately 24 hours.

That’s when everything and everyone showed up, including 42 union crew members from Canada, a catering company from the Hollywood area, a satellite truck with an editing base, and a motor home for the stars, four highly-trained dogs — two Boxers and two Afghans.

The commercial cost $471,000 to make, said Marcus Wright, location manager.

The one-day shoot turned into a two-day, and two-segment, event when rain ruined the picture-perfect setting of a field of marigolds on the Central Coast. The Central Coast was originally planned as the shooting site for the second segment of the commercial. A third segment will be shot elsewhere.

“For us it was an opportunity to double our film activity because of the weather,” Coyne said. “They ended up planting 1,200 marigold plants in an adjacent neighbor’s plowed field.” “California is awesome. There is so much landscape in such a small place,” Veran said. “This is my first time in the Valley. It’s beautiful. I’ve seen all the landscapes and the weather is great.

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