Online auditions for crowdsourced movie

Director Alex Jovy has come up with a novel way to try to get the masses to come out and see his next film, “The Flirting Club”: he’s inviting them to be part of the film-making process. Anyone can log onto the itsourmovie.com website to join the fun. The site offers three key ways for participants to take part. First—and perhaps most notably—they can upload their own auditions, taken with digital camcorders, mobile phones or any other device that records video, for parts in the film, much the same way as they might upload clips to YouTube or other video sharing sites. (Those who can’t upload their own videos can go to in-person open auditions in London, where their auditions will be recorded for them.) Registration also gives users the chance to vote on other people’s auditions, the end result being that average Joes and Janes are not just competing for roles, but are collectively casting the film. And, thirdly, in case crowdsourced acting and directing weren’t enough, those who want part of the financial action can invest as part-producers for as little as GBP 10, each pound invested going straight to the movie budget and buying additional votes on the scripting. Would-be stars and starlets can learn more about the film and available roles on the website and can submit auditions for as many parts as they like. For each character, the top three choices will get the chance to audition before an expert panel of judges to decide who ultimately gets the part. Another innovative way of tapping directly into consumer interests, itsourmovie won Best New Film Idea at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and is bound to gather even more notice when “The Flirting Club” hits the box office. itsourmovie isn’t the first crowdsourced film project we’ve covered. This time last year, we wrote about A Swarm of Angels, which aims to create a GBP 1 million film and give it away to over 1 million people. They recently completed phase 2 of 5, and the community is working on two scripts. (Related: Crowd-buying a soccer team, Crowd-managing a band and Bands funded by their fans.) Spotted by: Georgia Lee Cleland