Executive Summary   Introduction   The Pitch: It's "American Idol" meets "You Tube" for actors.   The Prize: A significant or leading role in an upcoming independent film.   The Reel Movie Deal Inc. (www.reelmoviedeal.com) is exactly what its well-phrased title implies.  It is a brand-new site where users who desire acting stardom will upload their sixty second acting audition reel to be judged within an online community of actors and critics, for a opportunity to win a role in a "reel" (real) movie.   The site will have a universal appeal to acting "wannabees" across that country, as well as the legion of "critics" who will show up to watch the parade of talent (or lack thereof – remember the success of American Idol's William Hung?).  Users will vote their opinions in four categories (Acting, Originality, Star Quality, & Likeability), as well as leave comments, or "kudos," for the acting contestants.   Since acting is, in many ways, a "less specialized" talent than singing, there is a potential for an even larger audience than "American Idol." (On May 30, 2006, Telescope announced that a total of 63.5 million votes were cast on the Season 5 Finale show.)   Because the Reel Movie Deal, Inc. will also be producing many of the low-budget independent films featured in the acting contest, the site itself provides an unprecedented promotional vehicle for low-budget independent films.  The users of the site will be motivated buyers of the product that they have participated in the creation of.  In other words, they have participated in the choosing of the winner of the contest, and of course, they will want to see how he/she does in their star-making performance. (Season 4 American Idol Winner Carrie Underwood's debut album has sold over 4 million copies to date.)   The desire for acting stardom has only been magnified in the American consciousness by the digital age of "immediate access," and the Reel Movie Deal is the next logical step, successfully providing a very real opportunity – direct access to the Hollywood dream.     Project Overview   Participants start by logging onto the reelmoviedeal.com website, allowing them to upload video auditions, view auditions from others, and to vote. These initial 60 second free form auditions remain on the site for a specific period of time in which participants promote their own video (and the reelmoviedeal.com website) in order to garner the most votes – a "viral" marketing approach.  Their scores are also supplemented by the number of e-mails that they send out through our system to their friends, which further "virally" promotes and perpetuates the site.   When voting is closed, the top 100 semi-finalists move to a structured audition phase. Each participant submits a monologue based on the same material provided to them, and voting continues to determine the top ten "Finalists."   The 10 Finalists participate in a final "free-form" uploaded audition phase. This time, the "voters" who participated in the contest the most, will also upload their "comments" about the top ten videos.  This keeps everyone involved in the website; not just the actors.  This is also a prime opportunity to interject comments from "name" actors, and other recognizable personalities.   The single winner of this final phase will be selected for a significant speaking role in a pre-determined independent feature film.   While direction, production and distribution of the film will take a traditional route to completion, there is an opportunity to spin off digital video content in order to further feed the website. For example, the Reel Movie Deal plans to follow our winner through his "first day on the set," and other significant events throughout production.  Additionally, these products can eventually be marketed on the website for DVD purchase or digital video download.   The goal is to recruit and maintain a customer base that continually grows with each contest.       Project Goal & "Hidden Agenda"   The Goal is to recruit online customers to visit and revisit the reelmoviedeal.com website, following the selection of an actor for a role in a feature film.    The "Hidden Agenda" is that the Reel Movie Deal is ultimately a clever, streamlined promotion and distribution vehicle for low budget independent films – we will promote and sell the films that are produced by the Reel Movie Deal to our own database of users.     Financial Overview   Approximately $8.5 million is needed to support the website operations for the first three years of Reel Movie Deal. In addition, Reel Movie Deal Inc. plans to "in-house" produce eleven of our own films within the first three years, with budgets ranging from $600,000 to $1,000,000, an additional cost of $9.5 million.         For more information and access to the password protected area, email Andrew MacNaughton @ andrew@reelmoviedeal.com. Thanks for your interest and visiting us.