Zack Snyder.
Australian filmmaker Peter Carstairs only started working in commercials a few years ago. He works at Mr Smith (mrsmith.tv), a production company based in Melbourne.
He first heard about Crash the Super Bowl when Tom Noakes, a fellow Australian, cracked the final five in 2014 with his spot 'Finger Cleaner'.
"I've been tracking it ever since", Carstairs said.
The filmmaker calls the Super Bowl the "most-watched TV event on the planet".
Back in 2006, Doritos decided to buy airtime but invite submissions instead of producing their own spot – the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl was born.
Initially only for Americans, the contest is now open to most of the rest of the world. There's been an Australian in in the finals every year since they've been eligible.
This year's winner will have their ad screened at the game, receive a residency with Warner Bros and Zack Snyder – plus a cool $1 million USD.
The runners-up will receive $100,000, and all three will be invited to the game on February 7, where they'll be able to watch from a private suite stocked to the gills with – you guessed it.
Carstairs and his team put in $3,000, shot only for a single day at a Melbourne TAFE, and were given a mostly technical brief from Doritos. A select number of music tracks were provided as well as an end-card, and the ad had to be exactly thirty seconds.
The finished spot, Ultrasound, took two weeks to make from conception to lock, with everybody working for free on the understanding that "if we win, you'll get paid – big time".
"We were interested in the idea that the experience of childbirth is very different for dads than it is for mums", Carstairs said.
"For mums, it's often a really spiritual, emotional process, particularly when you're having an ultrasound. Cut to Dad: he's in the corner of the suite on his Ipad, or watching the footy, or eating."
After putting every submission online for all to watch, Doritos whittled them down to 50, and finally to three. The company flew Carstairs to LA in December on the pretense that all fifty shortlisted filmmakers would be there.
When the Melbourne-based father of two arrived, Zack Snyder announced that he'd made it into the top three.
"It's surreal, it's just terrific. Deep down I think we hoped that we'd be in the top three, but we really weren't holding our breath. There were a lot of really good ads in the top fifty."
And what about the two other finalists, both from the USA?
"I think the three ads are all very different. I think they each appeal to very different types of audiences. All three are very strong."
Voting closes January 31, which "makes it tricky", Carstairs said, "and makes these interviews really important."
"Nobody from Australia has ever won before. In fact nobody from outside the US has ever won before. We need to get Australians behind it as much as possible."
Voters can vote once per day, per device.
https://www.facebook.com/DoritosBabyAd/videos/1723254417906393/