New Media for Self Promotion

Digital media have opened new doors to amateur entertainers in search of stardom. Specifically, they've enabled low-cost production and marketing of videos and short films. By leveraging video sharing sites, like You Tube, along with blogs, wikis, social sites, chat rooms and other viral-friendly media, budding directors, writers, comedians and actors have generated buzz, built a global fan base, and forced the hand of Hollywood players in search of the next big thing.

USA Today reports that, as online content becomes the calling card for talent, Hollywood agencies are trawling the web for talent and network executives are making deals with online auteurs.

Says Larry Gerbrandt, an entertainment industry media consultant: "The media companies know they will ignore this trend at their peril. The Internet is what cable TV was two decades ago. At first, the big guys balked at it. Now, they own it."

Consider the lonelygirl15 phenomenon. You Tube-posted videos of a high school girl's web confessionals (under the name "lonelygirl15") became a hit and a viral sensation as viewers and bloggers debated their authenticity. Even after the videos were unmasked as fiction, they continued as a sort of online soap opera (in brief segments). (As an interesting side note: lonelygirl15 has embarked on product placement and sponsorship deals with companies looking toward online advertising, including a deal with skin care company Neutrogena. The Neutrogena deal involves a step beyond product placement in the form of a "branded" character on the show, a "scientist" that happens to work at Neutrogena.)

As more lonelygirls turn to You Tube and blogs to hawk their wares (and there seem to be any number of one-hit wonders out there at the moment), the competition will stiffen. But for now, opportunities still remain:

An example: David Young, 25, and Joey Manderino, 23...After developing a following on websites such as CollegeHumor.com and YouTube, the duo was signed by (entertainment agency) CAA. The result: Besides a deal with Warner Bros, the two are writing a comedy pilot for TBS with the support of fellow CAA clients Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) and Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men).