To showcase this year's Las Vegas-themed Big Bash for charity NABS, Thomas Thomas director Kim Albright lured a group of industry big shots to a dark Soho basement to show off their poker skills - we find out what went down behind the scenes from the lady herself.

"I get the call from Ogilvy in November asking if I'd be interested in shooting the promo for NABS Big Bash. Of course I'm interested, I'm excited. I'd shot last year's and it was a lot of fun, there was something refreshing and sickly satisfying about turning the tables on our advertising luminaries. And it's such a great cause. The call comes at the end of what's been a God-awful year for the industry (well, a God-awful year for everyone). It seems like a pretty good time to do my little bit to support a charity that offers so much support to people in our industry should they find themselves down on their luck or in a difficult place through no fault of their own.

But fitting it in will be tough, I'm shooting two sets of idents and need to somehow shoe-horn this one in between. On top of that I'm working with Film London to get my next short through to the Pulse scheme... a million unrelated ideas, only one brain...

The aim was to get six to ten uber-heavyweight players from the media and advertising industry involved, so Ogilvy got on the phone, and did brilliantly, getting: chairman and CEO of DDB Stephen Woodford, ECD at RKCR/Y&R Damon Collins, M&C Saatchi deputy creative director/head of art Tiger Savage, creative director of CST Dave Trott, managing partner/head of press for Mediacom Claudine Collins, Facebook's UK commercial director Blake Chandlee, CEO of MPG Mark Mendoza, and director of advertising for Mirror Group Newspapers David Emin.

It was brilliant to see Tiger and Damon on the list. They were involved in last year's and I know what they can bring. As for the others, I'm completely in the dark; well, not completely, last year's NABS gave me some idea of what to expect working with these superstars, but I'm really nervous. They're not actors and chances are they've never been in front of the camera before. They'll be used to giving directions, not taking direction...

My nerves are calmed in the PPM. The call with the creatives, Will and Jordan, and agency producer Sally lasts for ten minutes. We're all immediately on the same page. Why can't all PPMs be like that?

I wanted to work with a new DP on this, to find someone young and bursting with energy, someone with loads to offer. And we found the perfect guy in Philipp Blaubach. Together with our fantastic art director, Rosy Thomas, we created a very simple and atmospheric lighting set up, and decided to shoot on 16mm. With a budget of zero pounds, zero pence they manage to get everything we need to make it look like a seedy, smoky poker game. A million thank yous.

The morning of the shoot arrives and it's a classic London day, pouring rain and grey skies. We're shooting in a basement in Soho, and it's a building site outside. The cast look lost as they arrive, Claudine attracts some proper builders' whistles as she heads to set. They all look great... tuxes, sexy dresses, made right up, the works... not least Tiger who brings the most amazing Vivienne Westwood shawl (I spend half the morning trying to figure out how I can nick it).

They all seem to know each other. Chatting away, like it's totally normal to be in a dark, dingy Soho basement dressed to the nines at eight o'clock in the morning.

It's ridiculous, what we've set out to do; I've got the cast together for one hour to get the establishing shot, and then 10 to 15 minutes with each individual to get close-ups, singles, cut aways... everything else. I try not to dwell on the problems.

Time to get to work. I sit the cast and tell them they're having a serious, high stakes poker match. Incidentally, I'm no poker expert. In fact I only learnt how to play the night before. For some reason I was expecting most of them to know the game, but nobody has a clue... except Blake. Phew! His poker knowledge comes in handy, big time.

We start shooting the close-ups, with a pre-prepared list I'd put together with the creatives. Some we use, some we don't. But every single one of the cast comes up with their own stuff. I let them go with it, and it turns out to be the best material. Like David sticking chips in his eyes, Claudine sliding chips down her top, Tiger calling Damon a perv as he tries to sneak a look down her top. Stephen proves to be an absolute legend, sticking around for two hours (although I'm not so sure he was given much choice, as NABS president!).

Everyone, absolutely everyone, was awesome. Cast and crew all went above and beyond. And given that they're not actors I couldn't have hoped for more. I loved it. Bring on the Big Bash."