On July 24, Director Kevin Macdonald (State of Play, Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void) and Producer Ridley Scott (Robin Hood, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) are teaming up with YouTube and thousands of digital filmmakers around the world to create a documentary called Life in a Day. This new venture is more than a simple collaborative effort to make a movie. Life in a Day is the first time major Hollywood visionaries have taken the initiative to recognize the importance of digital creators.

During the 2007-2008 season, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, protesting various issues including the use of TV and Film properties online without proper compensation. However, there was a quieter movement going on behind the scenes, spearheaded by sites like YouTube: regular people were becoming the filmmakers. Individuals were releasing home videos, sketch comedies and web series--solely for the purpose of creating and being seen.

MacDonald and Scott embraced this cultural and creative shift and thus, Life in a Day is a time capsule of sorts. On July 24th, the amateur filmmakers worldwide will be given 24 hours to shoot the world as they see it and upload their work to www.youtube.com/lifeinaday. Once the film is completed, 20 filmmakers will be chosen to join MacDonald and Scott at the premiere of the documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.

This project could have easily been produced by in-house directors and crews traveling the world to record a "slice of life" documentary. Instead, MacDonald and Scott realized that in today's society of social media and connectivity a slice of life is all about different people--from diverse backgrounds--coming together for some common purpose and using the Internet as their medium to do so. This is not an individual's outlook on life; it is a global perspective on life and documentary filmmaking. MacDonald has also asked digital filmmakers to pull out whatever they have in their pockets that day as well as answer three questions:

1. What do you fear?
2. What do you love?
3. What makes you laugh?

This creative undertaking is innovative, uniquely global, and without a doubt Character Approved.

[Image: Life in a Day]