A Berry Chill Opportunity For Two Columbia Students

Dimitri Moore, a part-time student and Columbia staff member along with Dave Feiferis, recent-Colum-grad-turned-staff-member, used their resourcefulness and their talent to barter a commercial deal with the yogurt company Berry Chill, while simultaneously launching their own production company.

Starring Devin Hester, the 60-second commercial features the famous Bears player and introduces treat-goers to “The Hester.” (Yogurt+ Rice Krispie Treats+ gummy bears+ fresh pineapple). The film was written and produced solely with the creative juices of Columbia’s finest, as Moore was the producer and writer, and Feiferis worked as co-producer.  

(Don’t worry, we asked. Hester was “... good to work with.")  

Wondering how these guys scored an opportunity to shoot a commercial for a largely recognizable company?  

“We were trying to raise money for The Wardrobe which was Jennifer Peepas’s grad thesis film,” says Moore. They were going from business to business hoping to get some funding when they scored a noteworthy deal with Berry Chill. Instead of getting paid for their work on the commercial, Berry Chill donated $10,000 to The Wardrobe and Moore and Feiferis were allowed the opportunity to work on a pretty sweet project. They will not only have bragging rights to a televised commercial, but the film will also be submitted to festivals like Cannes and Sundance.

Moore and Feiferis have more tricks up their sleeves and are currently looking for talented, creative people to work for their newly established production company. The company is not finalized, but the pair hopes that they will be in pre-production and development by summer. “We are looking for people or writers with unique, Chicago-based stories,” Moore says.  According to Moore and Feiferis, the production company will focus solely on Chicago stories because they want to illuminate the not-so-second-city and let the rest of the world know how great a place sweet, home Chicago is.    

Moore and Feiferis are currently looking for stories fiction or non-fiction stories about Chicago and would love to call upon the help of their alma mater. Students interested in working with the production company can contact Dimitri Moore directly at dmoore@colum.edu.