Lynbrook High School alumnus Michael Doneger, 24, is going to the Super Bowl.
Doneger, a star lacrosse player at Lynbrook High School and Johns Hopkins — now known as an actor, screenwriter, videographer and director — is a semifinalist in the Pepsi Max Crash the Super Bowl commercial contest after his entry, “Elevator Girl” — which he wrote, directed and starred in — was judged one of the top five entries among more than 6,000 Pepsi received. Three will be selected to air during the Super Bowl telecast on Feb. 6 — and no one will know which commercials made the final cut until the game is under way. “They sit us in a room and tell us, ‘Your commercial is going on now,’” he said. “It’s nerve-racking, but very exciting.”
Doneger moved to Los Angeles two and a half years ago after graduating from Johns Hopkins, where he majored in screenwriting and played for the Blue Jays lacrosse team for four years.
While waiting for his big break, he works as a personal trainer for high school athletes. “I entered the contest last year after I saw that the commercials were submitted by amateurs,” he said. “I didn’t have much luck then … but this year is different.”
Doneger, the son of Hewlett residents Valerie and Abbey Doneger — members of the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre — said that he always wanted to write, but was preoccupied with lacrosse in high school and college. “I knew there was a lot to learn in L.A. about screenwriting and acting,” he said. “I found some people in the business … as a young aspiring filmmaker by myself, I knew this was the place to learn how to make films.”
He said that he is still asking the questions himself, but his advice to others is to focus on what you want to do, and emulate the people who have done it. “Woody Allen, Ed Burns, John Favreau … they took control of their own careers,” he said. “They’re the ones I look up to.”
Doneger has his first, small-budget movie ready for a spring debut. “I can’t reveal too much,” he said, “but it’s called ‘The Rebound,’ and it’s a comedy in the Woody Allen vein.”
For now, however, he is focusing on TV, and a certain football game telecast that may give his career a boost.

About the contest

“From the beginning, we set out to make this the biggest Crash the Super Bowl ever and give our fans even more opportunities to showcase their creativity,” said Rudy Wilson, vice president of marketing with Frito-Lay. “We were blown away by how our fans responded. They not only submitted the most ads ever in the contest’s history, but proved once again they have the talent to compete at the highest level.”
Since Crash the Super Bowl began in 2007, consumer-created Doritos ads have consistently ranked within the top-five spots of the USA TODAY Ad Meter, and last year the talent of Doritos fans made it the most-talked-about brand coming out of the game. This year marks the first time Pepsi MAX has partnered with Doritos for the groundbreaking contest.
“As we re-launch Pepsi MAX, we are thrilled to be returning to the Super Bowl as part of the Crash the Super Bowl contest for the first time ever,” said Angelique Krembs, vice president of Pepsi Cola Marketing. “We’re excited by the creativity of the ads submitted by our Pepsi MAX fans. And as we enter this next phase of the contest we’re eager to see which ads America will pick to run during the Super Bowl broadcast.”
Beginning today through January 31, 2011, fans can vote for their favorite submissions, with the most-voted ads taking four of the six spots that air during the Super Bowl – two for Doritos and two for Pepsi MAX. In addition, Doritos and Pepsi MAX executives will each select a winning spot for their respective brands, bringing the total spots airing on game day to six. There are four ways for fans to vote this year – through the official contest website, www.crashthesuperbowl.com, through their smart phones at m.crashthesuperbowl.com, via Xbox LIVE® and through banner advertisements on select websites. Votes can be cast once a day, per platform, per brand.
To encourage fans to vote, Doritos and Pepsi MAX will give away two pairs of Super Bowl tickets every day of the voting period to consumers who make their selections through the official program website. More information about the four voting platforms and details about this vote-and-win offer, including official rules, are also available on the website.
Each of the 10 finalists will win $25,000 and a trip to Dallas to attend Super Bowl XLV, where they will learn for the first time during the broadcast which six ads will air for a worldwide audience. Potential grand prizing for the contest will be based on how each of the six winning ads ranks on the USA TODAY Ad Meter:
· $1 million for an ad that scores the No. 1 ranking on the USA TODAY Ad Meter

· $600,000 for an ad that scores the No. 2 ranking on the USA TODAY Ad Meter

· $400,000 for an ad that scores the No. 3 ranking on the USA TODAY Ad Meter

If the consumer-created Doritos or Pepsi MAX ads sweep all top three rankings of the USA TODAY Ad Meter, an additional $1 million bonus will be awarded to each winner for a total prize giveaway of $5 million.