• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, April 7, 2011

With so much video pouring onto the Web from so many different directions, there must be a young Spielberg in here somewhere, no? A budding Roger Corman, maybe? Well, okay, how about just something other than the unctuous Fred?

According to Break Media, there is indeed a line developing between online video production and cross platform media success. The company says that some of its creative efforts have helped along talents like Justin Halpem, who went on to write the "Sh*t My Dad Says" upon which the later TV show was based. And they have their eyes set on developing more serious talent for the entertainment supply chain. They recently hired former Endeavor talent agent Greg Siegel as SVP Entertainment Development to bridge the online media and traditional industry realms. The in-house Break Creative Lab is designed to incubate new talent and ideas.

And now they are using a contest to ferret out the next big vid-cam thing. In a partnership with screenwriter community Scripped.com, the "Break's Big Break" is a good old-fashioned talent scout hunt. For the next six weeks, aspiring writers can submit their scripts via a contest page at Scripped.com for the "next great digital short." Five finalists will receive $500 prizes and the grand prize winner may see their script come to life via the Creative Labs as a Break Original.

Break and Scripped give fair warning to wannabe vid moguls. Pop culture parodies are great when they haven't worn out their topical shelf life. And don't count on celebs. Will Farrell and Ben Stiller are kinda busy, anyway. Parodies involving songs have special viral appeal Break recommends. And generally, the worse the voice the better.

But the entrants will be judged by some old pros of the offline world. Actor Ed Burns and Die Hard writer Steven De Souza are on the panel as are execs from Break's development and video creative teams.

Break Media says that its in-house team is moving full steam ahead at creating its own digital laugh factory. The company is aiming to produce more than 1,000 of its own videos this year, five times the number it made last year. According to CEO Keith Richman, Break is seeing explosive growth in video demand on its servers. "We did 18 billion video views in 2010, and 2.2 billion alone last month, with monthly uniques across our network now topping 125 million," he says.

Among the big success in recent months was the genuinely funny musical parody "She's Too Good For Everyone" about "hot girl oppression."

The somewhat less funny but more elaborate "Geek and Gamer Girls Song" made it onto Spike TV's Scream awards last year. In this case, celebrities were secured - a hip hopping Seth Green and a cameo from Stan Lee - and more geek pop culture references in one minute than any five episodes of "Big Bang Theory."
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