A rogue programmer on the run in Los Angeles, a violent rebel desperate for dark justice, a desperate housewife looking for love, a gang of pissed off cyberpunks, a secret algorithm, Bing, and a group of Norwegians . . . are just the beginnings of a brand new series called of Mob Mentality. Be part of this ground-breaking, crowd-driven series with writers and artists from all over the world! If you've ever dreamed about making a movie, here is your chance to join the largest filmmaking team ever assembled.

MoviePals.org is a Crowd-Driven Movie Community built to organize a filmmaking “mob” to work together on a new web series created and owned by its participants.  The website is built on open source software and tracks participant contributions in open teams that will create everything from the script to the post-production effects.

MoviePals' "Crowd-Driven" process is a new direction in movie-making, one that was impossible a few years ago.  MoviePals is not solely a website, or a web series.  It is a “grass roots”, ground-up movement complete with a sense of humor and a modest set of initial resources which include a new crowd-driven community website, HD cameras, lights, a studio in Downtown LA with a green screen, a small production budget and a whole lot of enthusiasm.  MoviePals is about people coming together and actually doing something creative and powerful: making films with teamwork.  MoviePals has a method, a brand, a website and a revenue share agreement, but it’s really an idea bundled with execution and a dedicated startup team. MoviePals is an entire system for organizing a filmmaking community to create and distribute original videos while giving the fans a chance to participate.

 “When I talk about how MoviePals brings artists, movie fans, and people worldwide to work together on original movies, they are initially thrown back.  They respond with something like “You can do that?””, says MoviePals CEO Solomon Rothman “My reply is no… I can’t do that, we can do that, and we can do it right now!  We don’t need huge budgets and we don’t need Hollywood. MoviePals’ tagline re-enforces this idea: Hollywood Sux, Open Cinema for everyone.” 

Solomon Rothman had been an aspiring filmmaker long before he could drive a car. Like everyone else, he loved movies and had some of his own ideas for films. In 2006, even though his peers thought he was either crazy or a dreamer, he set out to make a movie with just $200 and any help he could get. After 3 months, with the help of creative people, he made a feature length sexual drama called "Boy Who Never Slept." He released it free online and it spread virally, reaching millions. Afterwards, he made an open-source sci-fi film, "Jathia’s Wager" with help from people in other countries he had never met in person and a social action web series "Your Computer is Killing You" with now MoviePals CTO, Brian Bentow.  In 2009 Moviepals was born with the goal is to create a global crowd-driven, original series with audience participation.  Open Cinema for Everyone!

MoviePals already has tens of thousands of social networking friends through websites like YouTube and Twitter, videos with millions of views, and has received global press (LA Times, NPR, AMC).   MoviePals’ current filmmaking team includes professionals with Hollywood experience (guilded television writers, award winning composers, etc.) working together with amateurs from various countries and cultures. MoviePals’ Mob Mentality series is scheduled to be released for FREE online in 2010.   MoviePals will always be free for participants and pays a revenue share to contributors whose work makes it in the final release.  MoviePals will offer advertising sponsorships and give 75% of the revenue to the artists involved in a project, retaining 25% to sustain its operations. To cover startup expenses, MoviePals offers commercial video services (using the same team) and custom web development.  MoviePals is actively building its filmmaking team and will begin filming the first episode of its initial web series entitled “Mob Mentality” with the help of participants from around the world.

Press and Media Contacts:

General Inquiries:  support@moviepals.org

CEO:  Solomon Rothman - solomon@moviepals.org

CTO:  Brian Bentow - brian@moviepals.org

Business Development:  Israel Rothman - info@moviepals.org

Visual Design and PR:  Hilary Law  - hilary@moviepals.org

Community Building:  Jillian Gauer - jillian@moviepals.org

Company Videos:

About MoviePals Entertainment, LLC:

Brian Bentow CTO

Solomon Rothman CEO

Question and Answer with CEO Solomon Rothman - October 2009