Marketers have begun placing ads against machinima, and not just video game and entertainment advertisers, either. Heavy.com, a site that produces original machinima, boasts sponsorships from Sony, Unilever's Axe, Burger King, Coca-Cola, and Diesel.
The Lionhead tool "The Movies" positions the player as a Hollywood studio owner. In addition to the business management aspect of the game, players can shoot their own movies, design costumes, choose sets, add subtitles, and dub audio.
It's typically only the most hard-core gamers and game designers who create machinima. But that may be changing. David Carson, co-CEO of Heavy.com, says that machinima have capitalized on the growing popularity of video games. "Nobody in Hollywood would've ever considered, 'Oh my God, this is great entertainment,' but people online say it is, and millions of people are watching it."