As I biked past my neigh­bor­hood Sub­way restau­rant last night I spot­ted what has become a strangely com­mon sight in down­town Boston: a bat­tery of lights set up on the side­walk, blast­ing at the front win­dow. A hand­ful of grip trucks and a makeup trailer were parked outside.

Scrims and flags and light­ing stands blocked my view of what was going on inside—needless to say they were closed for business—but rumor has it that if I had stuck around a lit­tle longer, I would have seen Michael Phelps shoot­ing a Super Bowl commercial.