Well, not exactly Hollywood (yet) – but Tim Lawhorn has made his TV debut by appearing as the cooking sponsor for the 10th season of Jimmy Sites National Award-Winning “Spiritual Outdoor Adventures” Cable TV show. Tim cooks several different recipes during the segments with Jimmy’s lovely and talented wife Amanda Sites in a feature called “Cooking With Amanda“. Look for Tim and Amanda to be cooking up some interesting “game” on America’s top-rated hunting and fishing shows with over 60 million enthusiasts tuning in. All of those Great Recipes from the whole season are posted on the Lawhorn’s Blog.
Now Tim is no stranger to Press Coverage, having been featured in newspapers and magazines frequently as his small seasoning company in Haines City, FL has grown at an amazing pace. Lawhorn’s is on it’s way to building a National flavor in only three short years. But a phone interview or a reporter with a photographer is one thing – this was something totally different! It was a GREAT experience for both Tim Lawhorn and his son Evan. Sure, they got to go turkey hunting with Jimmy Sites and stayed as guests in his Tennessee home, but let’s start at the beginning…
It all started this past October, when Tim attended the Annual Wild Game Feast at the Still Water Christian Life Center, his home church in Haines City, FL. Jimmy Sites was the keynote speaker at the event. He’s quite a seasoned veteran as a speaker, and even served for several years as the Senior Minister at one of the largest churches in Nashville, Tennessee. His speaking engagements have taken him all over the world to such places as Africa, Mexico, Canada, South and Central America, Grenada, the Caribbean islands, Scotland, Israel, Egypt, and the Ukraine.
The event included a charity auction as well and as it turns out Tim Lawhorn won the chance to go turkey hunting with Jimmy Sites with the thought in mind to give this as a once-in-a-lifetime gift to his son Evan. At the close of the event there was a sizable line queuing up for an autograph or picture with Jimmy, so Tim joined in for a chance to meet Jimmy face-to-face. Little did he realize that by doing so, he was setting in motion a series of events that would lead to Lawhorn’s Signature Seasonings being the cooking sponsor for the new season of Jimmy’s TV show!
When it was Tim’s time to get his autograph, a short conversation turned the tables and Jimmy actually ended up asking Tim to autograph a bottle of his seasoning for him. Unbeknownst to Tim, Jimmy and his family were actually already big fans of Lawhorn’s! When Tim told Jimmy what business he was in that was the beginning of this amazing adventure. For now, the two simply exchanged business cards (and autographs) and finished enjoying their evening.
A little over a week later on the way to the Bulldogs / Gators Halloween weekend game, Tim received an unexpected call on his cell phone from Jimmy Sites. Jimmy said that “he wanted to do something a little different on his show”, and he asked “how many different things can you cook with your seasoning.” Then he got more specific, asking “can you cook at least 13 different things”? Tim was surely up for that challenge, since Lawhorn’s taste great just about any anything. The two discussed briefly what Jimmy had in mind, a cooking sponsorship that would involve Tim using Lawhorn’s Signature Seasonings during each of his new seasons shows.
The production costs alone would be staggering for a small, growing company like Lawhorn’s, but Jimmy was looking to build a longer term brand relationship and was willing to work on the costs in order to make things work. Jimmy Sites has had a long history of helping brands increase their success through his show and he really thought this was a great partnership idea. So did Tim. Over the next few weeks the details were all ironed out and plans were made to visit the Sites home studio to do the filming in Amanda Sites kitchen.
Since there was that turkey hunting prize to be considered too, the trip was all planned to be one big adventure. Evan, Jimmy and his hunting party would get a couple days of hunting and Tim and Amanda Sites would get a few days to get in all the “takes” needed for the entire season’s cooking spots. The date was set in early April and Tim and Amanda began working on the recipes to be featured.
Tim receiving his morning makeover
Finally that Friday in April arrived for Tim and Evan to start the nearly 800 mile trip from Florida to Tennessee for what was to be one of the greatest weeks to remember for father and son, and for the Lawhorn business too. When they pulled up to the Sites homestead after twelve hours on the road, Amanda was pulling up the driveway at the same time with all of the groceries that the pair had decided would be needed for the two days of cooking – what timing. Starting off the visit by helping to carry in groceries and unpacking the Lawhorn’s truck was just the beginning of Tim and Evan feeling completely welcome and like they were a part of the Sites home. That Friday evening everyone went out for Pizza and relaxed at one of the Sites favorite local spots.
Evan Lawhorn at the Camera - Day Two of Shooting
Jimmy and Amanda live in a beautiful area in the rolling hills of Hendersonville, TN. This neighborhood is also home to many Nashville area notables like Johnny Carter Cash, Trisha Yearwood and Rascal Flats members. Not exactly the kind of place where you can look out the window and see who’s next door though, you are much more likely to see a small herd of deer strolling by.
After a solid nights sleep, everyone was up at 8am to enjoy some breakfast that Tim had fixed up. Oranges, grapefruit and ponderosa lemons delivered from Tim’s backyard in Florida came fresh off the Lawhorn express to make for a spectacular Fruit Ambrosia with yogurt and granola. A healthy start to a day of cooking some great dishes like pulled-pork, deep-fried turkey, elk and venison sloppy joes, braised country cabbage, apple-cider coleslaw and much more.
Jimmy is director, producer and cinematographer and as we swing into action he is clearly in his (other) environment. Completely at home with all aspects of movie-making magic right in his own kitchen. The entire room had been transformed into a set, complete with two professional video camera set ups, perfect shot angles, lighting, light umbrellas, microphones, make-up area, stage decorations and perfect product placement for Lawhorn’s. It was clear that when it comes to shooting video Jimmy is as good a shot behind the camera as he is during the hunt.
Before shooting one frame, all the set had to be crafted to look just the way Jimmy had planned including making Tim look camera-ready too. That meant sitting tight in the torture (make-up) chair while he was made over into the best he could be for the unforgiving camera eye. Shortly after getting through a few takes, it was apparent that Jimmy deserved the nickname used for the rest of the filming, “Spielberg”. Tim and Amanda had worked for hours getting each 45 second script down perfect but after a few takes they moved quickly into ad-lib mode. The chemistry between the two was amazing and they did much better with a quick review of the script followed by an unscripted delivery that flowed perfectly (most of the time). This translated into great finished spots that are now in the can and appearing all season during the “Spiritual Outdoor Adventures” TV show on the Pursuit Channel. There is also enough film to make a good bloopers reel too, maybe an upcoming blog post will visit that idea. The worst situation was that when you are spending this much time living and cooking together, once somebody starts laughing it can take 20 minutes and several “takes” to calm down again.
When Jimmy says the editing is done in-house, he really means “in the house”, because his trophy lined production studio is just one level down, right below the kitchen. At the end of our 10 hour cooking and filming day, we all got a sneak peek at some of the “b-roll” footage there in the fully-equipped editing suite that was right downstairs.
Next morning we all were up for an early breakfast, then off to church at the family’s local place of worship. We got started cooking again around noon and did some outdoor grilling on the deck, in the front yard and more in-kitchen work to put a wrap on the “Cooking with Amanda” sponsorship segments. On Sunday, Evan even got to sit in as a cameraman. Not a stretch at all – since he has several years of experience behind similar cameras at school, so Evan was right at home behind the camera.
Now that all the work was done, Monday was time to start the fun – turkey hunting. We were headed off to spend a few days with Jimmy at the Five Star Retreat in Lyles, TN. This exclusive camp is just amazing – from the beautiful 8500 sq. ft. lodge to the spacious cabins and beautiful surroundings the whole visit was a blessing and an experience of a lifetime. The resorts owner, Greg Gough joined Jimmy, Evan and a few others in the turkey hunting. 
Evan shot a huge turkey in the last hour on the last day of hunting that weighed in as the 5th largest Eastern wild turkey in Tennessee history – on his 1st hunt EVER! Now that was just the icing on the cake for this story.
To see all the spots the Tim Lawhorn and Amanda Sites produced for Jimmy Sites Award-Winning TV Show, “Spiritual Outdoor Adventures” just visit our TV page.
All the Great Recipes are posted here on our blog at the special “Cooking with Amanda” Recipe Page.
