NeonGrid Launches Social Media Site For Project-Based Entertainment Workers

The service that kicks off today should resonate with people in entertainment who move from project to project. NeonGrid bills itself as a kind of LinkedIn for those in video and music who want to show the world what they’ve done. “The entertainment world relies on credits more than anything else,” CEO and co-founder John Gibbons tells me. But he says that the field is “like the Tower of Babel” because it’s hard for someone who has handled different kinds of jobs on multiple projects to communicate them on a platform that potential employers or partners can trust.

Users can sign up for free and tag what they’ve done, and where they’ve done it. The list can include work on movies, TV shows, commercials, music videos, Web series — just about anything. But the system will only be meaningful if users can persuade colleagues to verify the accuracy of the information. They’ll do that by tagging collaborators from the same projects, like they would with online photos. These people will receive a message asking them to confirm the info. When there’s a dispute, NeonGrid will use logarithms to see who’s likely right and in extreme cases will ask people to supply proof for the credits they want to claim.

Although it’s largely free, and doesn’t plan to sell ads, NeonGrid expects to make money from those willing to pay a monthly fee so they can more easily find people or be found by others. It also will provide specialized data.

Gibbons, who formerly worked at Amazon’s IMDb.com, won’t say how much cash he has raised from private angel investors, or who they are. But NeonGrid is working with online network powers Machinima and Big Frame as well as YouTube stars Olga Kay and Lauren Elizabeth.