PAYOUTS

Out of fairness to all involved we like to be upfront and transparent when it comes to prize money, especially when everyone is volunteering their time and talent to the project, and it takes a TEAM to be successful. Our hope is that money never gets in the way of friendships.

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Our primary commitment to a contest like this is TO WIN. That is our competitive nature. Pursuing that endeavor is our passion and it is fun. We try to foster a FUN environment for everyone on our team. Regardless of what the judges think, we plan to have a great time creating some high quality spots that everyone can be proud of and can use in self-promotion. That said, there are three opportunities to earn prize money in this contest:

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WINNER: Million Dollar Grand Prize

If we catch lightning in a bottle and win again, payouts will be as follows:

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1. First, taxes will be withheld (which is a good chunk - damn you government)!

2. Second, we are paying out to the producers triple their investment on the out-of-pocket costs to produce these ads (time is volunteered, but we still have to buy food on shoot days, props, location rentals, and misc. things like that). We/they are putting up all of the risk and therefore deserve to earn that back and then some. If you want to chip in for out-of-pocket costs to produce these commercials let us know! We have no problem sharing this investment.

3. Third, those providing expensive equipment (camera, lights, sound) are compensated in the splits below (per day credits) as if that equipment were a "volunteer".

4. With the remaining, we pay out an equal split (per day or half-day involved) for all volunteers in ANY of this year's submissions. We are submitting multiple ads (2+) in the contest, and all volunteers are included if ANY of those ads win, even if you worked on a different one that wasn't the winner. We are all ONE TEAM with multiple chances to win.

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What is a "per day credit" and how are they calculated? This is a value we assign to each team member based on their involvement (full or half-days volunteered).

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For example: An extra in one spot might get credit for one day. A camera operator working on multiple spots might get credit for 3 days. And so forth. The total number of credited days between all involved will equal some total sum that the prize money is divided by. Let's say we win the million dollar grand prize and after taxes and other expenses are taken out, there is $450,000 remaining. Let's say the total credited days between our entire team between all of our submissions is 100. $450,000 divided by 100 is $4,500. The extra who received one day's credit would get $4,500 in prize money. The example camera operator who received 3 days' credit would get three times that, $13,500 and so forth.

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When it is an all-volunteer cast and crew for a shared objective (such as a contest) we like to treat everyone equally from the extras to us a producers / directors –– except for the trip. There is also a Super Bowl trip for the winner, which goes to the team leader (Joe Herbert) who will include as many people as Doritos allows.

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RUNNER-UP: $40k Prize

If we achieve a second or third place finish, we get $40,000 per the contest rules. Splits will be handled the same as if we won the million dollar grand prize (above), except the producers out-of-pocket investment is only doubled (instead of tripled).

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TOP 25: $2k Prize

If we make the top 25 (but not the top three) there is a $2,000 prize. That will simply go back to the producers to repay out-of-pocket costs invested in producing these spots, which will likely not even cover all of the expenses.