Bertolli Wants to Screen Users’ Romantic Evenings
Pasta and frozen-food maker Bertolli used Sunday night’s Academy Awards show to announce that it’s searching for a consumer story about “the perfect night in”—and is ready to turn the winning video into a short theatrical movie.
Celebrity contest spokesman and TV chef Rocco DiSpirito asks ordinary people to submit two-minute videos detailing their recipes for a romantic night staying in with a loved one and including Bertolli Frozen Dinners as one of the key ingredients in setting the mood.
Applicants can submit videos through March 31. A panel of judges will select four finalists by April 9 based on their demonstration of personality, their story line and the integration of Bertolli Frozen Dinner products.
Once finalists have been named, the public will get to choose a winner from among those four by voting both at the Bertolli microsite and at other online locations before midnight on April 30.
That winner will see his or her video turned into a short theatrical feature later this year and will be flown to New York twice: once for the filming and once for the premiere in a real movie theater. The three other finalists will receive second prizes of $1,000.
Videos can be posted to the contest microsite at www.BertolliNightsIn.com. In addition, Bertolli will send a “Reconnection Booth” mobile recording studio to selected cities around the country, to enable those without online or video access to enter the competition. The Bertolli Nights In Studio is now operating in Los Angeles and will move to New York, Las Vegas and Chicago before March 16.
