A man is spending the weekend inside a furnished billboard about 30 feet above Sunset Boulevard, complete with a chair, books, plants and a pair of binoculars.
He is there for a Netflix promotion, although anyone passing through West Hollywood without knowing that first would have a fair reason to wonder what they were looking at.
The installation sits above Sunset Boulevard near Selma Avenue and promotes The Last House, a new Netflix sci-fi thriller released August 7. The performer moved into the billboard on Thursday and is staying there through the weekend.
CBS Los Angeles filmed him inside the room, where he was seen eating, stretching, listening to music and looking down at the street through binoculars. At night, he appeared in pajamas and a robe.
The Billboard Is Basically a Small Room in the Air
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The setup is more elaborate than a person standing beside a movie poster. Netflix built an actual room into the billboard, with windows, curtains, furniture and household items around the performer.
He cannot simply call down to people on Sunset Boulevard, so he has been communicating with them using a whiteboard. When a CBS Los Angeles crew arrived, he held up a handwritten message greeting the station.
Why Netflix Put Him There
The idea comes directly from the story behind The Last House.
The film follows a family trapped inside its home by an unexplained force. They have to work out what is happening while dealing with the fact that they cannot simply walk outside.
Netflix took that basic setup and recreated part of it in public. The performer is confined to a domestic-looking room while traffic and pedestrians continue moving below him.
As movie advertising goes, I understand why they chose it. A normal billboard would tell people the movie exists. This one gives them the central idea before they know the title.
There is also very little to explain once you see it. The room is above the street. A man is living inside it. The film is about people who cannot leave their house.
People Nearby Started Checking It Out
The installation quickly drew attention from people in the area. CBS Los Angeles spoke with a local resident who said he received a Citizen app notification about a person inside a billboard and drove over because he was nearby.
That reaction is understandable because the billboard looks strange even by Sunset Strip standards.
Hollywood has spent decades covering buildings and roadsides with entertainment advertising, so most movie posters barely register after a while. Putting a furnished room above the street changes the equation because there is something happening inside it rather than another static image of a cast.
Netflix has experimented with this sort of physical promotion before. In 2018, the company advertised Altered Carbon with a lifelike figure displayed at a West Hollywood bus stop.
The company has also had a long relationship with outdoor advertising around Los Angeles.
The Location Does Half the Work
Putting this installation on Sunset Boulevard is part of why it works.
The Strip already has oversized advertising, entertainment venues and enough visual clutter that almost anything conventional disappears into the background. A person sitting in a room above traffic is harder to ignore.
There is also a nice connection between the location and the business behind the stunt. Netflix is promoting a Hollywood movie in a part of Los Angeles where outdoor entertainment advertising has been part of the scenery for generations.
He Is Only Staying for the Weekend
The performer is scheduled to remain inside the billboard through the weekend, so this is a short promotional installation rather than someone actually moving into an unusual new Los Angeles apartment.
For those passing through the area, though, the scene is genuine enough. There is a man 30 feet above Sunset Boulevard spending his day inside a furnished room while people below look up at him.
That is basically the entire story, and probably why the campaign has attracted attention. Netflix found a way to advertise a movie without requiring people to stop and read an advertisement first.
References
- Deadline, Man Living in Billboard Above Sunset Boulevard for Netflix Promotion
- New York Post, Netflix Traps Performer in Hollywood Billboard to Promote New Thriller
- CBS Los Angeles, Man Living Inside Billboard as Part of Netflix Movie Promotion for The Last House
