Michael Bay Offers 'Transformers 4' Job to Winner of Doritos Super Bowl Ad Contest

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Want to work for Michael Bay on Transformers 4? This could be your shot.

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The filmmaker is partnering with Doritos for the company’s Crash the Super Bowl contest, which allows aspiring filmmakers to create homemade commercials for the snack chip brand, with the two finalist ads airing during the Super Bowl in January.

The partnership is somewhat fitting since Bay is perhaps the ultimate example of a director who began in the world of commercials and transitioned successfully to movies. His films have grossed more than $4.5 billion worldwide.

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In an interview, Bay tells THR that Doritos pitched him on the idea of collaborating and showed him some work by the finalists this past year. He says he was blown away to find out that the ads were made by non-pros.

“When you find out where these guys came from…its great,” Bay says. “If you want to get noticed, this is the way to do it.”

One finalist in the seventh-annual competition will be selected via an online poll and the other by the Doritos team. Bay will also act as a judge. (He declined to say what he's looking for, although he promises to be a “tough judge.”)

The director behind the ad that gets the highest score on USA Today’s Ad Meter ranking of Super Bowl commercials will win the chance to work with Bay on Transformers 4 in a yet-to-be-determined capacity. (If a consumer-created ad scores the top spot on the ad meter, it also will be awarded a $1 million cash prize.)

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If there’s a team behind the winning spot, it’ll be up to team members to decide who gets to work with Bay (might we suggest Hunger Games style?) But whomever wins better be prepared for tough work, as Bay has reputation for pushing his crews to the limit. He doesn’t deny that the work will be grueling but he says the experience will be worth it.

Bay recalled how years ago a barista at the Starbucks he frequented would pepper him with moviemaking questions. One day, he spotted the barista at his company and was told that the kid, an aspiring filmmaker, was a new hire.

“He wanted to quit on Pearl Harbor!” Bay recalls. “And I said, ‘You are not quitting. This is the best education you are going to get.’ And now he is a director.” (He wouldn't say who.)

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Bay says he's participating in the Doritos promotion because believes that working on a film, in any capacity, is the ultimate learning experience.

“When I was a film student, I would have killed for this kind of opportunity,” says Bay, who is currently in post-production on Pain & Gain for Paramount before turning to Transformers 4, which will be released in June 2014. “When you’re on the set, you get to see it all go down.”

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @Borys_Kit