WILMINGTON — Dylan Bradshaw stared up at the ad lighting up one of the largest billboards in Times Square. The CeraVe campaign he had filmed with famous TikTok star Charli D’Amelio was now nearly the size of a football field.
The popular skincare company had flown him out to New York City for the flagship announcement, where he was able to see his commercial air live with his parents and brother.
“This is small compared to what you’ll do one day,” his dad assured him.
That was 2023, four years after Bradshaw graduated from UNCW’s film school. In 2020, he decided to leave everything behind to pursue his dreams in Los Angeles and has since worked with the likes of Zach King, Tom Brady, Emma Chamberlain, and more.
But his most recent project might be his biggest break yet, with $1 million riding on the line.
Bradshaw and Nate Norell are one of three filmmakers vying for cash and their 30-second Doritos commercial to air at the 2025 Super Bowl.
The Doritos Crash Superbowl Contest, revived after an eight-year hiatus, accepts videos from fans interested in shooting and editing their own commercial for the Frito-Lay company. Co-directors Bradshaw and Norell leaned into their love of sci-fi and alien movies to come up with their submission.
They workshopped the concept using the “blue sky” method, building on top of each other’s ideas without limitations. The two had a list of over 50 concepts to incorporate into their ad.
“If you just maintain positive thinking and encourage the creativity to flow, you can find some crazy stuff,” Bradshaw said in a phone interview with Port City Daily.
Their ad, named “Abduction,” stars a man fighting an alien who is attempting to steal his bag of Doritos.
The video begins with a shot of the main character, played by Michael Strassner, asleep in his office and clutching a bag of Doritos. Startled awake, the man’s computer alerts him of an approaching UFO.
The bag of Doritos is lifted into the air by a space beam, but the man quickly snatches it back and aggressively bites into a chip. In response, the space beam picks him up and throws him around the small office space amusingly.
He continues to fight until the bag of chips is ripped from his hands and out the window toward a UFO, which is then split in half and bursts into flames. The commercial then cuts to the Doritos logo, featuring the slogan, “For the bold.”
The ad ends on a humorous note, with the man and the alien sitting and enjoying Doritos together.
“I just wanted to make something that excited me,” Bradshaw said.
Originally from Dublin, Ohio, Bradshaw has loved filmmaking from a young age. When he got his first camera in sixth grade, he began shooting and directing his own YouTube videos, creating short films from a variety of genres.
The young filmmaker experimented with special effects and editing, teaching himself through books and videos.
“The best kind of film school is just making projects,” Bradshaw said. “Over the years, just getting the reps in, I naturally got better and learned more.”
Throughout middle and high school, he continued to create videos for his friends and classmates, sharing them in the cafeteria during lunchtime.
“It was the most exhilarating experience,” Bradshaw said. “The whole cafeteria would just go silent and watch and laugh at the jokes and even jump at some of the scary stuff I made.”
After high school, Bradshaw moved to Wilmington to attend UNCW’s film program. He graduated with a film studies degree and entrepreneurship minor in the spring of 2019.
As a student, Bradshaw was a member of the Flicker Film Society and TealTV. His senior year, he worked on DC’s “Swamp Thing” as a locations assistant at then-studio EUE/Screen Gems, sold to Cinespace in 2023.
In early 2020, Bradshaw made the decision to move to L.A. He had spent the summer of 2018 interning at Vertigo Entertainment and he was feeling drawn to go back.
“I picked up everything. I moved to L.A. with no job or friends waiting for me, and just tried to go out and create myself,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw began working with Zach King, a popular content creator famous for his magic videos created by special effects. Through King, Bradshaw was able to connect with more creators and brands as a commercial director, working with companies like CeraVe, Credit Karma, Webull and more.
Bradshaw showed gratitude toward professors Terry Linehan, Glenn Pack, Shannon Silva, and Dave Monahan for always encouraging him to keep creating.
The filmmaker dreams to one day direct his own sci-fi blockbusters, drawing inspiration from role-models Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
“You have the power to go out and create yourself,” Bradshaw said. “You can go out and create the life and relationships and community that you might have once thought was just a dream.”
Bradshaw and Norell’s commercial is a self-funded passion project. They brought in friends they had previously worked with to create the final entry and filmed the commercial in Topanga Canyon, California, in just one day. The two shot a mock-up version beforehand to ensure they hit the 30-second runtime.
Now, the audience can help them cross the finish line by voting on the video. The contest closes on Jan. 28 at midnight and voters are allowed to submit one vote per day here. If the two filmmakers win, they plan to reinvest the $1 million into their careers and future projects, as well as donating a portion to organizations they support.
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