A web startup is moving product placement deals from behind closed doors to the faster, simpler and more transparent digital sphere. Pegged as the ‘eBay for product placement,’ Filmmortal provides a marketplace for movie and TV show projects shopping for alternative funding.

The service (www.filmmortal.com) auctions to advertisers the rights to place or integrate product in upcoming movies and shows through a live bidding system, in which filmmakers are registered and their finalized or re-produced scripts are listed.

Advertisers can create proposals and have filmmakers bid in a reverse system as well. Barter arrangements are also possible.

Filmmortal keeps 10% of every deal, and charges a flat rate on barter deals. The service is open to Canadians. Filmmortal currently has 50 ad agencies signed up.

‘The Oscars proved that indie films can be as big as studio movies and artistically superior,’ says co-founder and managing director Sahil Kazi, adding ‘some of the best films and shows of our times were indie projects rejected by major studios and later on gaining cult and even pop-culture status.’

From Media in Canada