Kansas City actor Nedra Dixon delivered just one line in the first episode of the newest season of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” but it was an important one.
She was tasked with yelling the iconic Gates Bar-B-Q greeting: “Hi, may I help you?” She also was on-site at the Gates midtown location nearly the entire day when she was brought in to film last summer.
“I was called at 6 a.m. and I didn't get home until 11:30 that night. For the … three minutes of time that you see in the outcome, it takes a long time,” Dixon told KCUR’s Up To Date.
The scene follows Ted Lasso as he takes his British soccer colleagues to try Kansas City barbecue in his fictional — and actor Jason Sudeikis’ real-life — hometown.
Rachel Kephart, who is the director for the Kansas City Film Office, said most calls she gets from companies looking to bring crews to the city want guidance on where to film. With “Ted Lasso,” however, Sudeikis was directly involved in selecting filming locations such as Gates.
“This was meant to be a sort of origin story for this character that he based so much on the people that he interacted with in his youth in the Midwest, and so he wanted to show it off in the best way possible,” Kephart said.
While Dixon had many takes, Kansas City actor Michelle Davidson had one shot to get her line in the show. She played a tour guide for CPKC Stadium.
“I was the very first line of the scene, so you really don't want to mess it up because they're not coming in and getting coverage, which means a wide shot and then close-ups where they can edit together things. You cannot mess up,” Davidson said.
Kephart said she has been using “Ted Lasso” as a “case study” to attract other large-scale filming projects to Kansas City, where there is a cash rebate of up to 12% on any qualified production expense made within the city’s six districts and cash-back benefits for hiring local residents.
“Over half of the crew that were on this project were from Kansas City. It was Kansas City through and through,” Kephart said.
- Rachel Kephart, Kansas City Film Office director
- Nedra Dixon, actor
- Michelle Davidson, actor
