• by Tanya Gazdik , June 1, 2010

American Express is launching a contest soliciting movie ideas, and the winning entry will be made into a short film to debut at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

Film enthusiasts can visit www.amexfilm.com to upload a 60-second, dream movie pitch for the contest, appropriately titled "My Movie Pitch." American Express is getting the word out about the contest on its Facebook and Twitter pages, while the film festival is also conducting "organic outreach efforts to influential members of the online film community." The financial services company also is running online ads on key industry sites, says an American Express spokesperson.

"Year after year, we witness the power of storytelling at the Tribeca Film Festival and are committed to finding new and exciting opportunities to connect our community of Cardmembers to dynamic filmmakers and share their stories," Jessica Igoe, director of global sponsorship marketing, American Express, tells Marketing Daily . This is the first time American Express has done a movie pitch competition.

In each of two rounds, five finalists will be selected by viewers and a panel of Tribeca film directors to win an American Express Filmmaker's Toolkit, including a laptop, movie-editing software package and an HD video camera. A special panel of film directors will select the grand prize winner, who will have his or her pitch made into a 15-minute short film. The winner will receive a trip for two to New York City and VIP access to see the short film debut at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

Everyone can rate the movie pitches at www.amexfilm.com with either a "thumbs up" for the idea they believe would make the best movie or a "thumbs down" for an idea that they believe should not make the cut. The public vote will be calculated into the finalist selection as the judges help to determine the top picks.

In the first round, contestants can pitch their movies until June 24. Public voting will take place from June 25 to July 24. From July 25 to Aug. 8, American Express' panel of Tribeca Film directors will judge entries based on creativity/originality of the movie pitch, creativity/originality of the delivery of the movie pitch, popular vote and overall box office potential.

Five winners will each receive the Filmmaker's Toolkit and move on to the Grand Prize Winner judging period. Contestants will have another chance to pitch from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 with voting taking place from Sept. 16 to Oct. 15. As in the first round, judges will weigh in from Oct, 16-30 and five additional winners will each receive the Filmmaker's Toolkit and move on to the Grand Prize Winner judging period.

On Dec. 1, the panel of Tribeca film directors will select one of the 10 finalists to receive the grand prize and see their dream movie idea made into a reality by a celebrated independent filmmaker.