Mountain Dew announces Open Call contest winner

PURCHASE, NY— Nathan Balli has been chosen as the first winner of Mountain Dew’s Green Label Studios: Open Call contest. The contest was open to people making films of all generes.

Balli’s project, “Authenticity is Everything,” was selected from 10 other finalists to win a mentorship with “Sin City” and “Machete” filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and action series producer Roberto Orci. He also will receive a production grant of $250,000.

"I am so grateful to have been selected as the first ever, Green Label Studios: Open Call winner," Balli said. "To be recognized by such a prestigious panel of judges and to get the opportunity to be mentored by Robert Rodriguez and Roberto Orci is a dream come true — this whole experience has fueled my passion for content creation, and I can't wait to get back at it." 

The nine finalists who didn’t receive the grand prize all received grants for $10,000. Like Balli, their prize money will go toward projects that they’ll create for Mountain Dew and Complex Media’s site, Green-Label.com.

“We saw a tremendous amount of passion and some incredible content from all of the finalists, but Nathan's project really stood out,” Mountain Dew VP marketing Greg Lyons said. "We're very excited to work with a game-changing content creator like Nathan and can't wait to see what he'll produce next."