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"The make-believe town of Beckinfield is the setting for the Mad Libs-style show of the same name, which uses crowd-sourced amateur actors from all over the world who create the show's story by posting videos. \nWriters outline the plot and email a \"town happenings\" newsletter to actors each week. Each actor tells a small piece of the story in their video, adding their own flair. Related segments are linked together to create a kind of webisode that will be unique to every viewer depending on which videos they watch. \nBeckinfield is a production of online network Theatrics.com. Friday, at Macworld, director Jonathan Frakes (Riker of Star Trek fame) presented the winner of Theatrics' \"Ultimate Online Audition Contest,\" with $10,000 and a vacation to Hollywood, Calif. Entrants selected one of six characters and showcased their acting chops in videos posted to the site.\nBilled as \"mass participation television,\" Beckinfield is like a soap opera where anyone can be an actor. Three minute recaps are posted once-per-week on theatrics.com and pick-up where the previous week's plot line left-off. \nHere's the confusing part: There is no one weekly episode. Actors submit their videos to the site, ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. In theory, this lets every viewer creates their own experience. A short summary video is posted the following week. \nIt makes more sense when you consider that Beckinfield was originally created as a tool for actors' character development. Co-creators Bob Gebert and Tracy Evans launched the site at South by Southwest in 2011 \u2014 then soon found out how many non-actors wanted to be part of Beckinfield, Evan said. \nThere are around 4,000 actors involved with Beckinfield, although most do not get chosen to be in webisode wrap-ups. You can sign up to be a performer anytime. At the moment, the number of viewers is roughly the same as the number of actors. \nThe question is whether there is a larger audience for do-it-yourself compilations of YouTube videos of varying quality. The movie Life in a Day managed to stitch together a story arc from YouTube videos, drawn from people around the world aiming to document one day on Earth. \nLife in a Day, however, was a curated experience. Beckinfield is scattered and difficult to follow. Without a clear plot line and no direct character interaction, it seems unlikely the show will garner a mass audience. \nBut it does point to a possible future trend \u2014 crowdsourced entertainment. Cable networks have already tuned-in to consumers' eagerness to integrate social media and their favorite TV programs, sometimes known as transmedia.\nWith the integration of social media and television, Evans says it's possible this will become a niche interest for super-fans who want to act out their favorite characters and create a community who wants to watch the result. \nWhat do you think about crowdsourcing talent for a show? Tell us in the comments. \n\n\nBeckinfield \"Crowd-Sourced TV\" \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeckinfield  \"Crowd Sourced TV\"\nBeckinfield is a crowd-sourced show on theatrics.com. Anyone can audition to be an actor and post a web-cam created video. The videos are linked together to form a story. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeckinfield \"Crowd Sourced TV\"\nReal-life director and Star Trek alum Jonathan Frakes takes on a character in Beckinfield and was also involved with Theatrics' Beckinfield acting content and announcing the winner at Macworld on Friday. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeckinfield  \"Crowd Sourced TV\"\nAnyone can be an actor on Beckinfield. Each week actors post a short video, which is linked to other related videos. Actors can blast their social media networks to encourage more views and even collect fans. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeckinfield  \"Crowd Sourced TV\"\nThere are 4,000 actors signed-up to be actors on Beckinfield, but not everyone submit a weekly video. Actors can really get some notariety within the Theatrics community if they're fortunate enough to be included in the following week's video wrap-up. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeckinfield \"Crowd Sourced TV\"\nOnce you sign-up to be an actor, you can chose a character based on parts needed to be filled in the town. Actors can convene in the \"backstage\" area of the site to work on cohesive story lines. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/01/27/beckinfield-youtube-show/>