Crowdsourcing ads can be found on YouTube under "contests." A company puts out a theme and filmmakers make a commercial on spec. Now, Poptent, a startup company, is targeting crowdsource ads by charging companies $25,000 to put up their call for ads. The filmmakers run off and make ads ON SPEC, then the company chooses one or more spec ads for $5,000-$7,500 each.
I have mixed feelings about this business model. On the one hand, it's decent money for a contest. On the other hand, the company makes $25k, the filmmaker makes $5k-$7.5k. With the YouTube contests, the filmmaker can usually upload your commercial onto YouTube and get the exposure whether or not you win the contest. I suspect that with Poptent, if you don't win, you probably can't let it loose in the wild due to trademark and image issues. Thus, it's winner take all and the loser gets nothing but a dent in his/her checkbook and a waste of time.
On the third hand, Poptent just launched their public beta a few days ago so there should be very little competition right now...
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com
Ooh, check this out! Expert Village. You can sign up as one of their filmmakers and pick an assignment where you agree to make an instructional video and they agree to pay you about $300. The video should be split into 15, 1-3 minute clips. The number of clips and the money can vary depending on the assignment. At first, you can only take one assignment at a time but after they let you into the club, you can grab as many assignments as you like.
Pretty sweet, eh?
Susan Ee