By:Nicole Falco
The commercials began airing in the tri-state area on channels 2 (WCBS), 4 (WNBC), 5 (WNYW), 7 (WABC), 9 (WWOR) and 11 (WPIX) on Monday. In the coming days, additional spots will feature other Optimum Online customers. In future weeks, Ferro's commercial will also be airing on cable, and a 60-second version is also in the works. The commercials are unscripted and were not rehearsed. They are more like testimonials, according to Ferro.
Ferro, who will attend Central High School in the fall, didn't formally audition for the commercial. He answered a request on optimumonline.com to explain how the Internet service provider his family uses benefits him, and was contacted by the company.
Ferro's love of predicting the weather and his use of the Internet to gather information are what attracted Optimum Online's interest. Representatives of the company's advertising agency interviewed him, and filmed Ferro and his family at home. A film crew also accompanied him on a tour of Valley Stream. On the last day of school, a production crew came to Memorial to film Ferro and other students involved in the school's Memorial News Network. Ferro forecasts the weather for the school's show.
"I couldn't say anything [about the commercial] in school until the very last day, when they were taping it," Ferro said. "I couldn't tell anybody. When I did, everybody was surprised."
Ferro and his family saw the commercial for the first time on Monday. Greg, his mother, Jennifer, his brothers Michael, 9, and Christopher, 3, and Mike Serif, his social studies teacher, can be seen in it. Another brother, Daniel, 13, and a friend from school will be featured in the 60-second spot. Ferro's father, Greg, had to miss much of the taping because of work.
"I like [the commercial] a lot," said young Greg. "I like how it's very fast and how they keep changing camera angles."
"It's definitely been fun with people calling up," said Jennifer. "It's definitely not your ordinary thing."
Even after his 30 seconds of fame, Greg plans to remain devoted to meteorology. "He wants to be a meteorologist - not so much to be on TV, but because of his interest in the weather," Jennifer said.
Always interested in science, Ferro began focusing on meteorology about three years ago. "I got into the weather when there was a big snowstorm coming," he said. "I called relatives. I researched the storm. I learned more about snowstorms and how they form."
From there his passion for weather grew. He created a Web site through a free service and began compiling a list of subscribers, to whom he e-mailed daily weather reports. "It started out as family and people from my husband's jobs, and now he's got quite a few people on his list that he doesn't even know," his mother said.
Ferro uses weather reports by local meteorologists and national weather services, augmented by his own analysis of weather maps and trends, to write his daily forecasts. His reports also include weekly polls and national and local stories in which weather plays an important role
"I love the weather because it's hard to predict," he said. "It's something that's continually changing, and there's always something new."
To receive Ferro's daily forecasts, contact him at blizzard1993@hotmail.com.
