Arts & Entertainment

Area Filmmaker Shoots Doritos Super Bowl Ad

Ryan Quinn hopes his "superb owl" commercial will be chosen by Doritos to air during the big game.

What began as a joke with one fan’s Super Bowl party invitation has turned into a television commercial that might be used by Doritos.

Ryan Quinn, a 2006 Chartiers Valley graduate, wrote and directed a 30-second video that he hopes will be chosen by Doritos as a Super Bowl ad.

It begins with the party’s host wondering why all of his guests are bringing owls to his apartment, only to realize he made an unfortunate typo on the invitations: Each guest was invited to a SUPERB OWL Party.

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*CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE COMMERCIAL*

Quinn, who lives in Scott Township and runs a small film company, sent out similar invitations last year, but decided this year to turn it into a humorous commercial. Countless people have submitted videos, which Doritos will whittle down to five before having fans choose the winner.

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“Last year, I held a Super Bowl party and that’s how I advertised it with photos of owls on it,” Quinn said. “I just woke up and remembered this party and thought ‘What if everyone thought this WAS an owl party?’ And I just ran with this idea.”

He typed the script on his iPhone and went to his business partners, Ryan Kroboth and Erica Sperber, with the idea. He later recruited a few high school friends, Derek Krystek, Evan Tobac, Joe Senchak, Rachel Losego, and Michelle McDonough, and two teachers. Robert Rodrigues, a high school history teacher, is the man who tells one of the guests that he has a “superb owl!”

“We needed a distinguished authority figure to deliver a few lines in the commercial. He was a perfect fit,” Quinn said. “We’re lucky we have friends who are both good actors and enjoy doing this.”

They spent about five hours working in a North Side apartment with four owls rented from Pittsburgh National Aviary. Different shots make the apartment look like it’s packed with people and owls.

“Four (aviary) trainers came and supervised,” Quinn said. “They were terrific. They trained the one owl to fly through a door like we needed.”

Regardless if the ad is selected for the Super Bowl, Quinn said he and his two business partners, both of whom he met while at Penn State, are looking to expand their film company in the next few years. Quinn said he got the directing bug while taking a TV and Media Production class while a sophomore at .

“That class was what really got me started,” Quinn said.

Go to www.ryanquinnfilms.com to check out Quinn’s biography and film career.


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