Atom.com to Award Cash for Comedy

What’s better than seeing your web-produced video on TV? Getting (gasp!) paid for it. Enter Atom.com‘s “World Famous Cash-Money Internet Comedy Tournament,” a weekly ongoing competition that will recognize highly trafficked and/or editor-selected comedy shorts with multiplatform distribution and, just like the name says, cash-money dollars.

Multiplatform distribution in this case means that the shorts may be passed along through mobile partners Verizon and AT&T, as well as featured during Atom’s two late night television series: Comedy Central’s Atom TV and MTV2’s The Atom Show. What about the money, though? Well, it’s not enough to fund a full production: the most-viewed video every week will win $500, with second place receiving $250 and third place getting $100. In addition, Atom editors and development execs will select Atom Picks, each of which will also receive $500 (and it’s possible to be both a Top Pick and an Atom Pick).

When asked (kinda bluntly) where the money was coming from for this program, Scott Roesch, VP and GM of Atom.com, said via email that “Our goal is to have sponsors for the Tournament down the road, but the funding is coming from us. The Tournament is a core part of our business, since it revolves around content we can ultimately use, both for our Web site and broadly on other distribution platforms.”

To get involved, all potential participants have to do is upload their comedy shorts to Atom, which makes them automatically eligible for competition. As part of the tournament’s launch, Atom has partnered with the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival (of which it is a sponsor), allowing filmmakers involved with the fest to submit their shorts beginning today. The competition officially begins April 19.

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