When Huff the Great Dane stepped off a plane fresh from the Dominican Republic as a young pup eight years ago, national stardom was the last thing on my husband Joe’s and my minds.  Rather, graduating Huff from puppy kindergarten with more than a social promotion was our top priority. 
But fast-forward to the present, and Huff finds himself “top dog,” co-starring with Derek Leonidoff in a locally produced Doritos commercial that was chosen as a “Crash the Super Bowl” Top Five Finalist from a pool of 6,000 entries nationally.   The only Finalist chosen from East of the Rockies, “Mans’ Best Friend” is the brainchild of our friend, Virginia Beach resident and writer/director/editor,  Jon Friedman, and his assistant director and brother,  Matt Friedman.
The top two winning commercials, chosen by viewer online vote, will air during the Super Bowl and share a chance to win $1,000,000.  We’re feeling a little “bowl protective,” so we hope VEER readers will take a look and, if they like what they see, vote often and share broadly.
Following is my interview with Jonathan.  In your commercial, there is death, deceit, bribery, and intimidation, yet it is really funny.  How did the concept occur to you? 
Like most good ideas I've ever had, this one kind of just "came to me." I was thinking about the contest/looking at some of the past entries, and something occurred to me: the animals in those commercials were always trying to GET the Doritos. At that moment a thought came into my mind--what about a twist on that? What if this time, the animal was giving away the Doritos instead? After I had that thought, the whole idea for the commercial just popped into my head.What was the most difficult part of telling the story in just 30 seconds?
The hard part was making sure that every shot I took made perfect sense to a viewer's mind in only a few seconds, and communicated exactly what I needed it to. Then I spent about three weeks (on and off) editing  the commercial so that every single cut (to the frame) was EXACTLY as long as it needed to be for optimal visual communication and humor.What prepared you to be able to pull off all aspects of shooting a commercial—writing, directing, editing and more—at such a high level?
I've been shooting video on and off for almost 20 years. I've shot local sports, helped out on the set of local music videos, indie films, etc. I also made my own independent feature film several years ago. Shooting my movie forced me to learn everything as I was doing it. And then I edited myself, which again, I learned/taught myself as I was doing it.I know very well how truly untrained Huff the Great Dane is.  How did you coerce him into doing what you wanted?
This was rough. Huff is really a gigantic baby, who just wanted to run around, eat treats, and sit in my lap. We really just had to "trick" him into doing what we needed (since we couldn't just tell him!) It was difficult to get him to just sit still for a few seconds with his mouth closed, but we eventually noticed that he would "stop and stare" intently whenever there was an unusual or loud noise. So (to give one example) I had our dog handler, Megan, stand behind me (and the camera), and make loud noises in order to get the shots where Huff is staring down/threatening our lead actor Derek.You have already won $25,000 as a Finalist and a ticket to the Super Bowl.  What do you plan to do with your winnings? 
I'm going put it all on black at a roulette table in Vegas! Well, that sounds better than my real answer, anyway--I don't have any specific plans for the money right now. I may upgrade some of my video gear, pay a few bills, take a short vacation when I have time.Since only the top two Finalists will air during the Super Bowl, how confident are you that one of those spots is yours? 
I think I have a good shot. But the other four ads are all great, in my opinion. So I can't make any predictions--I can only hope that enough people like mine and vote for it.Title of the Commercial: Man's Best Friend
Written, Directed, and Edited by Jonathan Friedman
Starring: Derek Leonidoff and Huff the Great Dane
Assistant Director: Matthew Friedman
Dog Handler: Megan Foshay
Sit, Stay, Vote (through January 29):
www.crashthesuperbowl.com (click Finalists , then “Man’s Best Friend,” and follow the prompts) or www.mansbestfriendcommercial.com (here, vote 5 times per day)
Lick, er, Like Huff the Great Dane on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Huff-the-Great-Dane-DiJulio/224160284330771?sk=wall
Ad Blooper Reel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mppo1x6QUT4 NOTE: The DiJulios will not benefit financially if “Man’s Best Friend” wins.