Thanks to all those who entered Massify and After Dark’s casting contest.  It’s time you got to know the top 20 finalists.  These actors’ professional screen tests will be on the site soon.  Till voting opens on May 15th, go ahead and check out their first-round auditions.

Here are the Top 20:

Females -

Shayla Beesley: An ambitious teenager who just starred in a movie set to premiere at Sundance ’09.  Aubrey Mozino: A Meisner-trained actress who also studied theater in Stratford-Upon-Avon.  Katherine Pawlak: A singer/songwriter in Los Angeles.  Roni Jonah: A professional wrestler and seamstress who lives in New Jersey.  Jessica Villarreal: Co-host and news girl for All Games Interactive.  Jannette Bloom: A recent college grad who likes to paint and play piano.  Stephanie Joyce: An aspiring pilot who has produced news and films for Americorp.  Anne Luna: A golfer who has always been interested in film.  Heather Tocquigny: A professional dancer who has entertained U.S. troops abroad.  Christine Barger: An award-winning ventriloquist who has scored roles on TV shows such as E.R. and movies such as Made of Honor.

Males - 

Trey Farley: A veteran of MTV UK, the BBC and National Geographic.  Bill McLean: A lumberjack “from a small town and a large family” who lives in Maine.  Josh Davidson: A web designer who founded a film challenge to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  Jim Hasani: A college student from Des Plaines, Illinois.  Jason Crowe: A native of Kentucky who discovered his love of acting at 21.  Jon Savoy: A stand-up comic living in Astoria, Queens.  Bobby Howard: A “pretty laid back, down-to-earth guy” from Nevada.  Artie Brennan: A DJ, bartender and movie junkie living in NYC.  Peter Hoey: A freshman in college who likes busting out ‘crazy dance moves’.  Andres Martin: A Texan who loves comic books.

Check out our interview with Jeremy Donaldson, an aspiring filmmaker from South Carolina. He won the pitch portion of the Ghosts in the Machine contest. His original horror movie idea, Perkins’ 14, can be found here.

Congratulations to JeremyisHORROR. His winning pitch in the “Ghosts in the Machine” competition, Perkins’ 14, will be produced by After Dark Films and in theaters for Horrorfest 2008.

Jeremy, who hails from Bennetsville, SC, says in his bio that, “Growing up, I always wanted to make my own horror movies.” Check out Jeremy’s complete profile page here.

Perkins’ 14 follows the saga of Robert Perkins. When police arrest him, his 14 brainwashed ‘protectors’ are unwittingly unleashed onto a small town. These 14 have one thing on their minds: “Kill for Mr. Perkins.” Check out the winning pitch here.

We’ll have an interview with Jeremy up soon!

Hey all,

We know some of you have been discussing our voting system for “Ghosts in the Machine,” and we wanted to answer some of your questions. We have always believed that the promise of Massify is to democratize which films get made. This is why we are committed to creating a system where everyone has a voice – not just the powerful few.

That being said, this is a groundbreaking event and the first step towards creating a new production model. We need to work together to continue improving the platform so that it is not only enjoyable to use, but also identifies those projects that the audience wants to see. So please, leave a comment below and share your ideas for where you want to see the system go.

A few people have also brought suspected incidences of cheating to our attention. I can’t reiterate enough how seriously we treat voting. We have database systems in place that track all votes, and we respond rigorously to any fraudulent activity. We’re disqualifying all votes and disabling those accounts that are in violation. As for disqualifying the pitches themselves, that wouldn’t be fair. The rules insist that we disqualify the votes and the accounts they came from – unless we find incontrovertible proof that the pitch creator was responsible for the manipulation. Otherwise, you could sabotage your competition by voting for them illegally!

Please sound off here and tell us what you think. Ultimately, Massify lives and dies by how effectively we create a system that you enjoy using.

For our launch, we’ve partnered with After Dark films to bring you a groundbreaking new filmmaking competition – an opportunity for you to redefine the horror genre.

We’re calling it Ghosts in the Machine. Think you have a great idea for a horror movie? Submit your pitch into competition and win the opportunity to work with a professional production crew to turn it into a feature film. One idea, as selected by the Massify community, will be produced – and in theaters – as part of After Dark’s Horrorfest 2008.

Aspiring actors also have a chance to launch their careers: we’re going to cast four of the film’s principal roles on the site. This is a huge opportunity for actors to be seen on the big screen in a breakout role.

Check out the links below….

Learn more about Ghosts in the Machine. We’ve already begun accepting pitches so there’s no time to waste!

Create a pitch now. Then just submit it to the competition and you are on your way.

After four months of closed beta, Massify is officially launched!

To those of you who are checking us out for the first time, Massify is a production network for filmmakers, actors and everybody involved in the filmmaking process. Our site utilizes the advantages of social networking and digital tools to help users collaborate and make the films the community wants to see. We provide funding through competitions, production tools, a community of peers, and much more.

We envision this blog as an open forum for us to describe what we’re doing, and for you to tell us what you think. We are always looking to make Massify better and look forward to your ideas and feedback.

Thanks again to those who participated in our closed beta. Your feedback was invaluable and we hope you’re happy with the recent updates. For those of you who are new to the site, we offered a $10,000 short film grant to New York based students. Check out the finalists and winner of that grant.

Register for Massify now.