A technical and creative crew works on a commercial at the Al Quaal Recreational Area in Ishpeming recently. (Journal photo by Anthony Anderson)

ISHPEMING — A commercial was filmed at Al Quaal Recreation Area in Ishpeming over the past week.

Charthouse Films under direction from co-founder and producer Tommy Anderson flew in on Sunday from Virginia Beach, Virginia on behalf of the company Realtruck.

Anderson is known throughout the film industry for various projects such as founding the filming companies CINEXA and Coffee Stain Films; winning an award for excellence at Indie Short Fest for his film, “First Time Caller,” an award for best thriller at the Global Film Festival Awards for his film “The Red Market” and and an award for best narrative feature film at the San Diego Film Awards for his movie “Riley.”

Now he is working on filming a series of commercials for Realtruck.

Realtruck is an offroad vehicle accessory company. The Upper Peninsula showcases the products of Realtruck very well due to its snow and beautiful landscape, said Anderson.

“This area just sets itself up nicely for the camera, which is great,” Anderson said.

Anderson utilized local actors and other groups to help film the commercial, as well as working with the local Ishpeming government, even meeting with a majority of Ishpeming’s City Council.

“Our first and foremost is to find local spots to eat, local actors and local crew,” said Anderson. “Those are our three main ones because we love to. Especially in a town like this where there are only a couple thousand people, we know that every dollar we spend here is impactful and means that maybe we can come back and make something bigger. Make a movie here sometime, like a winter Hallmark movie or something more.”

The commercial will be launching on main television channels in November, and can also be found on Realtruck’s website and social media around that same time.

Antonio Anderson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. His email address is aanderson@miningjournal.net.