Earlier this year showbizzle.com launched a contest called The Hollywood Challenge, in which college improv teams produced funny videos about what happens when a major Hollywood production comes to their campus to shoot a movie.  New York University's Dangerbox won the Challenge, and we're excited to announce that they'll be flying out to L.A. in August to shoot more funny videos with us!

However, over the last few months showbizzle.com has discovered that our real Hollywood Challenge -- besides trying to figure out how to monetize content in the digital space (like nearly every other publisher in town) -- is to gain the trust of both the people who visit our website for the first time, and those creative types who learn about our competitions and talent searches.  It is to the latter group -- the writers, actors, writer/performers, vloggers, and funny people -- that I dedicate the rest of my Bizzle Blog.

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Dear Talented but Distrustful Persons,

Whether you live in L.A., or hate L.A.; whether you love the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" or thought it was cheesy; whether you are satisfied with the pace and direction of your career, or so frustrated you want to scream, please tell me what showbizzle.com can do to break through the digital clutter and get you to trust that we are worth your time. See, unlike those who would steal your identity, or your material, or put on an elaborate scam for the purpose of taking your money or getting in your pants, showbizzle.com is truly committed to Making Hollywood User-Friendly by offering creatives like you an additional platform on which to perform/create.

Hey, I know what you're thinking: if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is -- right Bernie Madoff? Pat Tillman? BP? John and Elizabeth Edwards? Jon and Kate? Tiger? Spencer and what's-her-name? Dick Cheney and -- ugh, don't get me started on the state of public discourse right now, which is somewhere between "Drill Baby Drill" and "The Change You Thought You Could Believe In."

The fact is, your suspicions are justified. We've all been burned by these past ten years. And why should anyone give a rat's ass about what some writer/producer/self-proclaimed hipster/boomer guy/refugee from the Hollywood Mainstream, who's old enough to be your father, has to say about show business or the world we find ourselves living in?

Well, as Richard Nixon used to say, "Let me say this about that."

#1. Check out our Terms of Service.  You own any original material you post on showbizzle.com. Period.

#2. Check out what our last contest winner has to say about us.

#3. Check out what the producer of Juno has to say about the "New Hollywood".

#4. Check out the 10 contemporary monologues that we offer for free for scene study classes and auditions.

#5. And most importantly, take a moment to meet the five characters that we are inviting writers/performers/funny folks of all types to help us bring to life as part of the Showbizzle.com Writer Search.  Winners get to see their material performed on video by dozens of actors! The Submission Deadline on the Writer Search has just been extended to August 3rd, so there's still plenty of time to submit.

That's about it for now. I'm going surfing. But here's one last slogan that seems to sum up where we are coming from these days: "Showbizzle -- it's like show business, but for a lot less money."