Even though we are nearing the end of our fifth contest season, we still get this question pretty regularly. Here’s the scoop…
YOBI.tv is a network of talent contest websites. We currently have five talent contests in our lineup:
- YOBISing – which features original songs (i.e. no covers allowed) by singers and other musical artists
- YOBIAct – where aspiring actors and on-screen performers can upload shorts and sketches that show their performances
- YOBIFilm – which features trailers and short films that highlight a filmmaker’s technical and artistic skills
- YOBILaugh – where comedians and other funny folks can upload their sketch comedy or stand-up routines *
- YOBIPics – where photographers and others with an artistic sense can upload their best photographs
In our first two contest seasons, we put together cash and travel prize packages for our winners. These prize packages were fun for our winners, of course, but they didn’t provide the sort of career-changing opportunities that we ultimately wanted YOBI.tv to provide to aspiring artists.
Beginning in our third season, we began to offer precisely this sort of career-changing opportunity to our winners by placing them in the cast and crew of our original webseries. This placement gives our winners specific, career-related experiences that could prove invaluable to their career development.
All of our talent contest winners from Season 3 were placed in our first two webseries — Dream Maker, starring Audrina Patridge of MTV’s The Hills, and New Stage, starring Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of MTV’s Jersey Shore.
Our YOBISing winners from Season 4 were placed in the Take The Stage webseries, where they were mentored by music industry superstars Johnny Wright and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and are now competing for the grand prize: to be signed to a music management contract with Johnny Wright’s Wright Entertainment Group and YOBI.tv. Episodes of Take The Stage are now airing concurrently on YOBI.tv and the MySpace Take The Stage page, and voting is open. (There is no Simon Cowell on Take The Stage. Our viewers’ votes will determine who wins the grand prize.)
Our YOBIAct, YOBIFilm, YOBILaugh, and YOBIPics winners from Season 4 were placed in our Aspire webseries, which is still in the works but tentatively scheduled to go into production in the Fall of 2012.
We will be using this same model in Season 5, with our YOBISing winners moving on to compete in the second season of Take The Stage and the winners of our other contests being placed in the cast or crew of our next original webseries.
Our Season 5 talent contests are currently in their preliminary rounds, which means that there are still chances to advance to the finals in all of the contests. If you or someone you know might be a good fit for our talent contests, we encourage you all to upload a contest entry or two. There is no YOBI.tv membership fee, no contest entry fee, and no voting fee. Aspiring artists really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by becoming a part of the YOBI.tv talent network.
Best wishes and good luck to all!
Jen O’Meara, PhD
CIO, YOBI.tv
* In Season 6, comedy sketches will move into YOBIAct, and YOBILaugh will be for stand-up performances only.
