Louisiana
A Louisiana-shot Doritos commercial is in the running to air during Super Bowl in New Orleans
John Paul Summers has always watched the Super Bowl more for the commercials than the action on the football field. This year, one of those spots could be his.
Summers, an Abbeville-based filmmaker, has written and directed a semifinalist entry in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest. Earlier this month, a panel at Doritos selected the 25 semifinalists from around 2,000 entries in its revived Super Bowl contest that offers viewers the challenge of making a better commercial than Doritos can.
On Tuesday, three finalists will be announced, and the public will have the chance to vote online for the winning commercial. The creator of the top vote-getting spot will receive $1 million and an all-expenses paid trip to New Orleans for the Feb. 9 Super Bowl — and of course, the thrill of seeing their commercial air during the big game.
Also making the top 25 is a spot called “Home from Work,” FUGO Productions’ humorous take on the return to the office post-COVID. Longtime Lafayette actor Bruce Coen, who now lives in Georgia, stars in that commercial … in his boxers, no less.
Meanwhile, Becca Begnaud, a traiteur, or faith healer from Scott, is the sole cast of Summers’ “Ashes to Ashes” commercial.
In search of someone to act in the spot, Summers called John David Mahoney, a Lafayette producer who he’s worked with for years.
“And he was like, ‘What about Becca Begnaud?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s perfect,’” Summers said.
Becca Begnaud works as a traiteur and more recently as an actress.
“I met Becca in 2017 on a short film, ’17 Year Locust.’ And then, we had also collaborated on a documentary she’s in,” he said. “Becca is a lot of things — she does healing work, and she also deals with death and dying, which ended up being a good synchronicity for the content of this commercial idea.”
In the spot, the ashes of Begnaud’s character’s loved one and Doritos manage to collide in humorous fashion.
“When he asked me to do this, he knew that we have an understanding of death and dying and people need to start understanding that, you know what I’m saying?” Begnaud said. “So it’s a dark, humorous take on it, but it’s like we are all going to die and we need to own that.”
Summers said “Ashes to Ashes” was a group effort by his employer, Baton Rouge-based Movee Media, which produced it, and his boss, Stuart Poulton, executive producer, along with on-set sound man Lance Willie.
Actress Becca Begnaud stands on the beach at Fontainebleau State Park for filming of a commercial for a contest by Doritos.
“It was a lot more homegrown than a normal commercial set, you know what I mean?” Summers said.
On the day of the shoot, Begnaud said Summers chose the earrings and shirt that she would wear for filming, and inquired if she had capri pants. A quick wardrobe change and they were off to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville. They set up on the park’s beach for the shoot.
“It was a really simple idea,” said Summers. “That was kind of what was great about it, is that it really didn’t require a lot of resources to pull off.”
And Begnaud didn’t disappoint.
“A lot of times I feel like you really have to force things to happen, but this, everything just came together, the idea came to me very easily — JD recommending Becca, and she was perfect,” he said. “I really believe, you know, if somebody would’ve come up with this idea in a boardroom somewhere, they couldn’t have found a better person in the whole world to play it than Becca Begnaud because I feel like that’s something that would actually happen to her.”
Becca Begnaud, from left, JP Summers and Lance Willie on the set of ‘Ashes to Ashes.’
Summers has worked in the industry since 2011 doing regional, national and international projects — most notably filming famous flamboyant designer Iris Apfel for an Apple commercial called “Behind the Mac,” as well as music videos with Sir Paul McCartney. He’s also done many commercials for The Ochsner Health System, several for Gulf Coast Bank & Trust, and a national PSA for the Wounded Warrior Project.
Sizing up his competition for the Doritos prize, Summers thinks “Ashes to Ashes” stands out.
“It’s the only one with no dialogue and I think it has its own unique style,” he said. “It’s been super well-received by all the people that we’ve shared it with. We’re honored to have gotten this far, obviously, but also still very much holding out hope that we can win. And with the Super Bowl being in New Orleans and us kind of being the home team, I think is cool too.”
To check out the other semifinalists’ entries, go to doritoscrash.com.
A state lawmaker whose district includes Iberville and nine other parishes will lead the way on the drawing of a new congressional map when the committee convenes Friday.
Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, will chair the hearings to draw a new congressional district map. He currently serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee.
On Wednesday, Kleinpeter said he has not worked on any maps. He is letting the committee members and the members of the Senate work on this with staff.
The move will come nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court on a 6-3 vote ruled one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black U.S. House districts unconstitutional.
“We can’t base it on race anymore, so the minority party is the Democrats,” he said. “The Democrats have migrated away from the New Orléans area, so we’re looking at Democrats versus Republicans, so the minority party — the Democrats — which means it’s more favored toward Baton Rouge.”
The move would work in favor of incumbent 6th District Congressman Cleo Fields, who was a candidate for the race which Gov. Jeff Lndry suspended in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
The ruling stemmed from Louisiana vs. Callais – a consolidation of Robinson vs. Callais – that centered on racial gerrymandering and redistricting in the state of Louisiana following the 2020 United States census. The lead plaintiff, Phillip “Bert” Callais, is a resident of Brusly.
The Supreme Court vote came despite the African American population comprising nearly one-third of the state’s population.
According to the 2020 Census, the Black or African American population in Louisiana was approximately 1,464,023,representing 31.4%of the state’s total population. Louisiana has one of the highest percentages of Black residents in the United States, ranking second behind Mississippi.
The Baton Rouge district would likely be the area to undergo the remap, he said.
It amounts to an intricate balancing act.
“What far-right Republicans don’t understand is that with Congress maps, you have to be within 776, 280 votes – within 50 votes of the other districts,” Kleinpeter said. “It’s not like our legislative maps where you can be off by thousands … when you start changing a precinct, it can run down a rabbit hole chasing this precinct over here and over there.
“We can easily draw a really strong nine Republican and one strong Democrat, so if you start watering districts down you could wind up with a 4-2 map.”
Republicans currently have a two-vote super majority vote.
“But some Republican districts are strong and others are weak,” Kleinpeter said. “If you take 58 percent Democrats and put them in Republican districts, you could end up losing Republicans.
“Drawing congress maps is very difficult – you have the leader of the party, and you have the Speaker of the House you have to protect,” he said. “You don’t want to jeopardize their maps at hole.”
One other issue is looming for the state, Kleinpeter said.
“What people don’t understand is that we will have to do this all over again in five years, after the next census comes out,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll people by that time.”
The 2030 Census will play a key role in the process, but it still requires participation.
“I had plenty of next-door neighbors who didn’t want to fill out their census” he said. “I’m going to push to fill out their census. We miss out on federal money and potentially risk losing a seat. “
Neuty, the iconic Bucktown nutria visits the state capitol, with Myra Lacoste, Denny Lacoste, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Dennis Lacoste Sr., and Louisiana state Senator J. Cameron Henry Jr. Neuty was an orphan, rescued by the Lacostes. In March 2023, LDWF agents attempted to confiscate the illegal pet.
VIDALIA, La. — Louisiana State Police arrested 18-year-old Gregory Steele early Sunday morning on two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of underage operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, one count vehicular negligent injuring and one count careless operation, according to Concordia Parish Jail records.
Steele, 18, a white male, was arrested in connection with an accident that occurred at approximately 1:54 a.m. on Sunday morning on Minorca Road in Vidalia. Two passengers in the vehicle were killed. Steele and another passenger were able to escape the vehicle.
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