ELIGIBILITY: TThe LA Video Project Contest (“Contest”) is open to adults who are at least 18 years or older as of the Start Date of the Contest (or of the age of majority in jurisdictions where the age of majority is over 18 years and where such Contests are legal and do not require registration)(“Contestants”). Contest is open to U.S. citizens and current legal resident aliens of the U.S., the District of Columbia and U.S. military bases abroad. Contest is void in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, all other U.S. territories and possessions, and wherever else restricted or prohibited by law. Contest is sponsored by NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, 1438 N. Gower St., Box 21, Hollywood, CA 90028 (“Sponsor”) and administered by LA INC., LA Weekly and Equilibrium Entertainment (collectively, “Promotion Entities”). Employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives of Sponsor, the legal, promotion and advertising agencies of any aforementioned entity, and their immediate family members (defined as spouse, mother, father, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandparents and in-laws, regardless of where they live) and those living in their household (whether or not related), and each person or entity connected with the production or administration of the Contest, and each parent company, affiliate, subsidiary, agent and representative of any aforementioned entity are not eligible. This Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws.

The Contest Submission Period begins on February 15, 2011, at 12:01 AM Pacific Standard Time (“PST”), and ends on April 22, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST (the “Contest Submission Period”). ALL ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED DURING THE CONTEST SUBMISSION PERIOD. By participating, Contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the judges and/or Sponsor, which are binding and final on matters relating to this Contest.

You may enter as many Submissions as you like, but each Submission must be separately entered.

HOW TO ENTER: Online Submissions only. What is your LA? Tell us your story in a narrative, documentary, montage, experimental, commercial, animated or new media format in a way that positively highlights Los Angeles to the rest of the world.

(1) CREATE YOUR VIDEO: Decide which category you’d like to enter (Category 1 or Category 2 as described below). If you’d like to enter both categories, you may do so, but each entry must be separate. After you’ve decided on a category, make your own unique video (“Video” or “Submission”) in either or both of the following categories according to the Submission Guidelines section contained in these rules (“Submission Guidelines”). Your Submissions may be as creative as you wish. Expression forms include, but are not limited to narrative, documentary, montage, experimental, commercial, animated or new media format; and may be fiction or non-fiction, and may contain interactive content.

Category 1:  A Video lasting One Minute or Less
Category 2:  A Video lasting Two to Four Minutes

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Tell us your story in a narrative, documentary, montage, experimental, commercial, animated, or new media format in a way that positively highlights Los Angeles to the rest of the world. There are some legal limits on what you can do (see below):

• Videos must be about Los Angeles and portray the destination in a positive light.
• Videos must noticeably visually, verbally or in some other recognizable way highlight Los Angeles.
• Videos must not have had a theatrical release, US broadcast airing or be available for online reviewing prior to the premiere.
• Videos must not have had internet or DVD sales.
• Please, no personal attacks on anyone or any other discernable country, state or city.
• Videos must be appropriate for a broad audience since we’re promoting Los Angeles domestically as well as internationally.
• No video may depict harmful or illegal activity or substance, or offensive subject matter as determined at our sole discretion. No video shall portray Los Angeles in a negative light.
• Videos must also be original works of authorship. By entering, you warrant that your video does not infringe any third party’s rights, and that you have obtained any necessary permissions from all relevant third parties to submit the Submission. You may not use in your video without properly executed releases, parties who: 1) are represented under contract (e.g., by a talent agent or manager) that would limit or impair our ability to show the video in any media form; 2) have an acting or modeling contract that would make their appearance in the video a violation of any third party rights; 3) are under a merchandising agreement; or 4) are under any other contractual relationship, including but not limited to guild and/or union memberships, that may prohibit them from participating fully in this promotion, or from allowing us to use the video online, in television media and other forms of distribution at our discretion.
• Videos may be subject to disqualification if Sponsor reasonably believes there is third party content – not owned by the Contestant – that may be the subject of copyright protection. Content that may not be used without prior permission includes, but is not limited to photographic images downloaded from public sources; drawing or images; music of any kind that is not in the public domain (i.e., any music produced after 1926); and voice-over material. Contestant is solely responsible for securing permission to use any copyrighted material and may be required, upon request, to submit proof of ownership or license to Sponsor.
• Sponsor reserves the right to exclude any Submission that it believes, in its sole discretion, doesn't meet the above criteria.
• Sponsor cannot offer personalized feedback or legal advice. Entrants can email us at LA@NewFilmmakersLA.com.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS: All Submissions must be truthful and must be original works of authorship, created by the person who submits the entry. Contestants may not copy or otherwise plagiarize the Submission from any source, nor may the video or essay include third-party copyrighted material, such as music, photographs, text, or movie snippets, without the copyright holder’s permission. By entering, you warrant that your Submission does not infringe any third party’s rights, and that you have obtained all necessary permissions from all relevant third parties to submit the Submission. If you are using Creative Commons or other royalty free content, it is your responsibility to review the licenses and Terms of Use under which the content is provided and use it in compliance with those terms. Sponsor has not cleared and will not clear or certify any content and is not responsible for these third-party websites.

Although Sponsor is not reviewing Submissions for copyright violations, if, in the sole discretion of Sponsor, it is believed your Submission constitutes or may constitute copyright infringement, the Submission will be disqualified. Contestant must hold all rights to the entire Submission. Contestant must secure - and finalists will be required to submit – a written release from any actors and/or any other video participant to use their name and likeness under the terms and conditions of these Official Rules. Any actors, music, voice-overs, or images contained in any Submission must be properly licensed, and evidence of such may be requested by Sponsor at any time during or after the Contest Submission Period. Failure to produce this evidence shall result in disqualification. Contestant agrees to indemnify Sponsor against any and all claims of infringement from any third party for any use by Sponsor of Submission. Any music or images used in the video Submission must be an original work of authorship under U.S. Copyright Law. Contestants must not enter a Submission that would prohibit Sponsor from using, royalty-free, the Submission worldwide in all media in perpetuity.

No Submission may depict any nudity, animal or plant cruelty, harmful or illegal activity or substances, or offensive, obscene subject matter as determined in Sponsor’s sole discretion. No Submission shall portray Sponsor in a negative light. Please, no personal attacks on anyone. Sponsor reserves the right to exclude any Submission that it believes doesn't meet the above criteria, at its sole discretion.

JUDGING: All entries will be prescreened to make certain they are qualified, according to the Submission Guidelines, entry qualifications (“Qualified Submissions”). A panel of qualified judges from Sponsor will select up to 40 finalists, based upon the judging criteria outlined below in the First Round section of these rules, by a panel of qualified judges from Sponsor and Promotion Entities. The entry with the overall highest score (judged by LA INC. specifically) will be deemed the LA INC. Prize Winner. All 40 entries will proceed to the final round of judging and compete for the remaining prizes.

At any time before, during or after the Contest Period, Sponsor and Promotion Entities may, in their discretion, choose to post or distribute one or more Submissions, their creator’s name and profile information online (including Animation Mentor’s websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, YouTube channels and third-party websites) for promotional and entertainment purposes only. Posting of this/these Submission(s) will not mean that said Submissions are eligible to win or are a Finalist or Selected Contestant.

First Round:

On or around [April 23, 2011] (“Screening, LA INC. Prize and First Place Award Selection”), Qualified Submissions will be reviewed and scored by a panel of qualified judges, according to the following criteria, on a 100-point scale:

• Visual quality/production value (25 points)
• Creativity/originality (25 points)
• Relevancy; Effectively communicates topic (25 points)
• Passion/enthusiasm (25 points)

LA INC. Prize: The single entry from among both categories with the highest score judged solely by LA INC. representatives shall be deemed the LA INC. Prize Winner. This winner will not be announced until Sponsor’s Premiere, as outlined below.

First Place Awards: The single entry from each category with the highest score judged by a panel of qualified judges shall be deemed the First Place Award winners. These two winners will not be announced until Sponsor’s Premiere, as outlined below.

All Finalists, including the LA INC. Prize winner and First Place Award winners, will be debuted at the [ON LOCATION: THE LA VIDEO PROJECT] (“Premiere”).

Up to forty (40) Qualified Submissions (including the LA INC. and First Place Award winners) will be selected as finalists to move to the Second Round of judging (“Finalists”) in the following manner. Up to 30 Finalists will be selected as Finalists in Category 1; Up to 10 Finalists will be selected as Finalists in Category 2. Before public posting, Sponsor reserves the right to edit the Finalist Video, for formatting or other reasonable purpose, and may embed its logo or other trademarks in the Video.

Finalists will be notified by phone or e-mail on or about [May 2], 2011 and will be required to respond (as directed) to notification within forty-eight (48) hours of attempted notification. The failure to respond timely to the notification may result in forfeiture of the Prizes; and, in such case, Sponsor may choose the next highest scoring entry from among the remaining eligible entries. Finalists also may be sent an affidavit of eligibility / liability / publicity release (“Release”). Unless restricted by law, each Selected Contestant will be required to complete and return the Release within forty-eight (48) hours of the date notice is sent. Although the LA INC. Prize and First Place winners will have been selected at this point, no Finalist will be notified that a prize has been awarded. Winners will only be announced at the Premiere, as outlined below.

Finalists’ Submissions may be posted on Sponsor’s and Promotion Entities or third party sites, prior to and following the premiere. Sponsor reserves the right to distribute or display the Finalists’ videos in any media and on any website, including on its website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Contestants understand that users of these sites may share, comment on (including negatively) and re-post their Submissions. Any requests by Contestants to have a Submission removed from consideration will be accommodated to the extent practically possible. Sponsor is not responsible for third party re-posting of Submissions.

Second Round:

People’s Choice Awards. On [May 21, 2011], all Finalists, including the First Place and LA INC. Prize winners, will be debuted at the Premiere. The public will be invited to view and vote for their favorite Videos at the Premiere. The Submission with the most votes in each category will win the “People’s Choice” Award. Ballots will be handed out at the Premiere immediately after the videos are shown to the public.

At the Premiere, the LA INC. Prize winner scored earlier will be announced, along with the First Place Winners (collectively “Selected Contestants”). The People’s Choice Winner will be announced at the after party to be held at the W Hollywood Hotel.

In the event of a tie during qualified judging, the entries will be rescored. In the event of a tie for the People’s Choice Award, the tying entries will be re-judged by panel of qualified judges and a winner determined.

The name, profile and Video of Selected Contestants may be announced and posted on Sponsor’s and Promotion Entities website(s) and social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, on or around [May 23, 2011] and may potentially be aired internationally, in Sponsor’s and Promotion Entities discretion.

LICENSE: As a condition of receiving any prize, all Contestants hereby provide a One Hundred Eighty (180) day exclusive irrevocable worldwide license to Sponsor and Promotion Entities after which time, Sponsor and Promotion Entities shall retain a perpetual non-exclusive license to use the submitted video in any and all media throughout the world, in perpetuity, for any purpose whatsoever, without any additional compensation, the term of which shall be the entire life of the copyright. Should any Contestant be unwilling or otherwise unable to enter into license, or provide permissions and or releases or otherwise cannot accept or receive the prize for any reason, Contestants with the next highest score will be chosen from the remaining entries until one who is able to meet all requirements can be selected. All potential prize winners must provide Sponsor with all signatures on required paperwork and return all documents in a timely manner as required pursuant to these Official Rules in order to be eligible to receive the prize. Contestants may not sell, assign or transfer any of their rights in their Submissions under these Official Rules.

CONTESTANTS WILL NOT BE SPECIFICALLY PAID FOR THEIR SUBMISSIONS or for granting Sponsor any of these rights.

While Sponsor will seek to post video Submissions in the form as provided at the time of entry, all Contestants agree that due to technical limitations, videos may be altered from their original form and that Sponsor reserves the right to re-shoot, edit or modify the Submission in its sole discretion, including replacing any voiceover, soundtrack or music or adding its logo or other trademarks. Sponsor may post videos in any order or sequence, with or without commentary, and may select the excerpt of video to serve as a thumbnail in its sole discretion.

PRIZES:

One (1) LA INC. Prize: If eligible under these Official Rules, one (1) LA INC. Prize Selected Contestant will receive US$1,000 cash and a chance to use recording and editing services at [Equilibrium Entertainment], worth up to $100,000.00. In the event that the Selected Contestant cannot redeem LA INC. Prize as provided herein for any reason, Selected Contestant will forfeit his or her Prize. The Selected Contestant may be required to sign an additional agreement with Equilibrium Entertainment upon winning the prize. Approximate retail value (“ARV”) of the LA INC. Prize is US $101,000.

Two (2) First Place Prizes: If eligible under these Official Rules, up to two (2) First Place Selected Contestants, one (1) in each Category, will each receive US$500. Total ARV of Runner-Up Prizes is US$1,000.

Two (2) People’s Choice Prizes: If eligible under these Official Rules, up to two (2) People’s Choice Selected Contestants, one (1) in Category 1 and one (1) in Category 2, will each receive US$250. Total ARV of People’s Choice Prizes is US$500.

Total ARV of Prizes: US $102,500.

For all prizes, all federal, state and local taxes and other expenses in connection with the prize are the sole responsibility of the Selected Contestant. Selected Contestants are solely responsible for any other unspecified expenses related to prize. All activities related to the prize, are at the Selected Contestants’ own risk and subject to whatever restrictions are imposed by the entities that govern activities. Selected Contestants not entitled to any surplus between actual retail value of prize and stated ARV and any difference between stated ARV and actual value of the prize will not be awarded. No substitution, transfer, or cash redemption of prize, provided however that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize with another prize of equal or greater value should the advertised prize become unavailable for any reason. In the event of noncompliance with the foregoing requirements or if prize notification is returned as undeliverable, prize will be forfeited and, at Sponsor’s discretion, an alternate Selected Contestant will be selected. Prizes will be delivered by U.S. Mail or carrier (i.e., FEDEX, UPS), within Sponsor’s sole discretion, to the address provided by the Contestant. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, misdirected or undelivered Prizes.

CONDITIONS: Contest is subject to these Official Rules. By participating, Contestants agree: (i) to be bound by these complete Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor which shall be final and binding; and (ii) to waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Contest or these Official Rules, except where prohibited by law. By accepting a prize, Selected Contestant agrees to release Promotion Entities from any and all liability, loss or damage arising from or in connection with awarding, receipt and/or use or misuse of prize or participation in any prize-related activities. Promotion Entities shall not be liable for: (i) telephone system, telephone or computer hardware, software or other technical or computer malfunctions, lost connections, disconnections, delays or transmission errors; (ii) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry or other materials; (iii) any injuries, losses or damages of any kind, including death caused by the prize or resulting from acceptance, possession or use of a prize, or from participation in the Contest; or (iv) any printing, typographical, administrative or technological errors in any materials associated with the Contest. Sponsor disclaims any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participating in, or accessing or downloading information in connection with this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend the Contest, in its sole discretion, should it receive fewer than 40 entries, or receive no entries that have a judged score above 60 points, or due to circumstances beyond its control, including natural disasters. In the event of cancellation of the Contest, each Contestant will receive a US$10 iTunes Gift Card. Submissions will not be returned and may be destroyed, but are still subject to the license contained herein by Sponsor. Sponsor may prohibit an entrant from participating in the Contest or winning a prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines such entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, deception, or any other unfair playing practices of intending to annoy, abuse, threaten, undermine or harass any other players or Sponsor representatives. LA INC. Prize winner may not redeem services for cash and may be subject to a background check before services will be granted. LA INC. Prize winner must abide by all guidelines set forth by [Equilibrium Entertainment] or risk forfeiture of prize. In the event that the service portion of the prize is not used or is revoked for cause or for reasons out of control of Sponsor, LA INC. Prize is limited to cash of $1,000.00 and no substitute prize will be given. The internal laws of the State of California will govern disputes regarding these Official Rules and/or this Contest.

Sponsor is not responsible and shall not be held liable, and your entry may be disqualified and may not be considered for any Prize, should your Submission be removed from any third-party video hosting site, such as YouTube, for any reason (including without limitation DMCA take-down), or should your Submission be unavailable for any reason during the Public Voting Period.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Contest should a virus, bug, computer problem, unauthorized intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor’s control, corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Contest. Sponsor may prohibit an entrant from participating in the Contest or winning prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines such entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest in any way by cheating, hacking, deception, or any other unfair playing practices of intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other players or Sponsor representatives. Use of automated entry devices or programs is prohibited. Any attempts to access the site, enter the Contest or increase votes or views via a bot script, device or brute-force attack will result in disqualification, including that IP address becoming ineligible for the entire Contest. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION FROM PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEY FEES) TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

PUBLICITY: Sponsor reserves the right to use the Submissions to the Contest for publicity purposes prior to, during, or after the Contest end date, in any media, and to use the name, likeness, hometown name, of any Contestant, including all or part of their video throughout the world, in perpetuity, without any compensation or prior review unless specifically prohibited by law. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of Selected Contestant, and Contestants may be issued an IRS Form 1099 for the ARV of any awarded prize.

WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL: Except as prohibited by applicable law and as a condition of participating in this Contest, each Contestant hereby irrevocably and perpetually waives any right s/he may have to a trial by jury in respect of any litigation directly or indirectly arising out of, under or in connection with this contest, any document or agreement entered into in connection herewith, any prize available in connection herewith, and any of the transactions contemplated hereby or thereby.

PRIVACY: All personal information collected by Sponsor will be used for administration of the Contest. In addition, entrants may receive email correspondence from, or on behalf of Sponsor subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy. Sponsor uses reasonable commercial efforts to comply with Federal CAN-SPAM guidelines, and entrants may subsequently opt-out of receiving further emails by following the opt-out instructions contained in the email. Any questions regarding privacy matters should be directed to LA@NewFilmmakersLA.com.

OFFICIAL RULES and WINNERS LIST: For a copy of these Official Rules or of the winner(s), send your request by email to: LA@NewFilmmakersLA.com. Request must be received by [June 15, 2011].
© 2011 NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. All rights reserved.