Wanted: Ambitious Young Filmmakers

After her original editor bailed, writer/director Nancy O'Mallon desperately needed a film editor for her first feature documentary, about a journey across New Jersey's blueberry country.

She turned to the online network Shooting People and found Melissa Ulto in New York.

"We ended up working really well together, and now we are partnering on a few other projects," said Ulto, who became both editor and animator for O'Mallon's The Mighty Humble Blueberry.

Part social network, part job search and message board, and part video showcase, Shooting People and other new sites like it are helping filmmakers, actors and crew find each other to produce films - and also to show films to new audiences.

Other specialty film sites include the Asian American Filmmakers Network, the Louisiana Independent Filmmakers Network, Queer Screen (for Australian gay and lesbian filmmakers), and Intellifilm, aimed at college film students.

Three New York University film students started Intellifilm in 2006, to help their film school peers cast and produce their work. Membership is free, and more than 1,000 filmmakers and movie-lovers have joined.

"People put all this money into making their movies, but the sad truth is, a lot of them don't get watched," said Eric Krausz, who started Intellifilm with fellow students Surjyakiran Das and Steve Gnoza in 2006. "Short films don't have a long life after they're made. So we wanted to make a venue where they could be watched, where a film doesn't get lost among viral videos, like on YouTube."

Before they find an audience, though, filmmakers need a team to make a movie.

"You can't make a film on your own," said Jess Search, who co-founded Shooting People with fellow filmmaker Cath Le Couteur in London, then helped expand it to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. "Film is different from photography or painting or really any other art. People come together to make a film."