--- description: The thing literally no one was asking for title: Wendy's Is Making A 9 Minute, Black and White, Italian Short Film About a Sandwich image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Fast Food Company Is Finally Making A 9-Minute Long, Italian Short Film by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2014 3:08 PM CUT by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2014 3:08 PM CUT Rather than stick a [breakfast taco in a waffle](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-27/taco-bells-waffle-taco-arrives-dot-how-does-it-taste "undefined") or create a [prom corsage out of fried chicken](http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2014/0415/Drumstick-corsage-from-KFC-Are-fast-food-chains-this-desperate-for-young-customers-video "undefined"), Wendy’s strategy to go viral isn’t by creating a strange food hybrid but rather creating a 9-minute long, black and white, Italian short film for a relatively traditional Tuscan Chicken on Ciabatta sandwich. That’s probably not what the internet was expecting. The fast food chain’s CMO promised [“to explode digital”](http://adage.com/article/news/wendy-s-sells-italian-chicken-sandwich-short-film/292709/ "undefined") when he joined Wendy’s two years ago, and he’s doing that by having foreign film loving millennials submit subtitles that can be written into the short film — which will be split into three acts. Now we just have to wait, with bated breath, for a Fellini-esque take on a fried chicken sandwich. There might have been a reason why he never dedicated a short to fast food… ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/70103/wendys-short-film-italian/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/70103/wendys-short-film-italian/"},"headline":"This Fast Food Company Is Finally Making A 9-Minute Long, Italian Short Film","datePublished":"2014-04-21T15:08:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:57.004Z","description":"The thing literally no one was asking for","url":"https://time.com/70103/wendys-short-film-italian/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Wendy's","viral","Fast Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/70103/wendys-short-film-italian/","name":"This Fast Food Company Is Finally Making A 9-Minute Long, Italian Short Film"}}]}] ```