Hairy Feet Make Their BYU Debut

PROVO, Utah – Dec 11, 2012 – The hugely anticipated film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” tells the story of courageous Bilbo Baggins — and three Brigham Young University students.

With the goal to become extras in the film, Jonathan Wright, a 2012 MPA graduate now working in San Francisco, partnered with advertising students Mitchel Stevens, from Salt Lake City, and John Storey, from Eden, Utah — beginning an epic quest.

The adventure started in the BYU Ad Lab. After listening to a forum from Zach Canfield, an advertising agency recruiter, Wright was inspired to prove his skills on a large scale.

“He said you can’t wait for the perfect project to come across your desk. You have to go out and make it happen. He inspired me to create something big,” Wright says.

That evening while watching extra features on “The Lord of the Rings” DVDs, he immediately started jotting down notes. He had a novel idea.

“I started wondering if it was possible to bring “The Hobbit” fans together and influence the movie in some way,” Wright explains. “That’s where Road to the Shire was born.”

The team began campaigning to be featured as extras in the upcoming movie “The Hobbit” by creating videos, taking photos, and developing their website — Roadtotheshire.com. They presented themselves as hobbits who were looking to return to the Shire for a halfling reunion.

Local and international news stations gained interest. Interviews followed with The Salt Lake Tribune, National Public Radio, and The Dominion Post — one of the largest newspapers in New Zealand.

As the media attention increased, the $10,000 needed to get the hobbits to the Shire began rolling in. The three made it to New Zealand but can’t say more than that thanks to a non-disclosure agreement. A tell-all documentary is in the making, though.

Wright credits much of the success of the Road to the Shire campaign to his training at the Romney Institute. In fact, he often applied classroom lessons directly to his quest.

“My MPA classes helped me think differently — to find what was working and wasn’t,” he says. “I also learned I was as professional as the next guy. I just had to get to work.”

The final result will premiere in theaters on Dec.14, and BYU’s hobbits couldn’t be more excited. Local theaters near Provo have invited them to be at their premiere of the showing.

“We’re definitely going to go see the film,” Wright says. “And we’ll probably be wearing hobbit ears.”

The Romney Institute of Public Management, part of the Marriott School’s Master of Public Administration program, was named in 1998 for three-term Michigan Governor George W. Romney. A part of the Brigham Young University’s Marriott School, the Romney Institute offers a master’s degree in public administration through both pre-service and executive programs. The Romney Institute has a long tradition of preparing young people for careers in public service and is dedicated to educating men and women of faith, character and professional ability who will become outstanding managers and leaders in public and not-for-profit institutions. Brigham Young University is the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States.