Mofilm has already paid out close to half a million dollars in production grants this year but this week they announced that they’ve got $49,000 set aside for just one category in in their new 2012 London contest.  The product?  Durex Condoms.  I’ve never seen a video contest for condoms before so this is virgin territory (no pun intended) for crowdsourcers.  Plus the concept that Durex wants everyone to work off of is great.  Here are the details:

Durex is not only about great sex, importantly it’s also about great relationships. A global study revealed an interesting statistic, 69% of the times that respondents had sexual activity for the first time, it was planned. That means that 31% of first time sexual activity was unplanned or spontaneous. We would like you to make a film about these other 31% of times to remind people to ‘be prepared for the unexpected: Always carry a Durex’.

We want you to create either a 15 second, 30 second or 60 second film for a new Durex youth product, which is passionate, playful and a little provocative, funny, smart, inspiring & open-minded. Please be very cautious about the tone, manner and mandatories in the brief. Most importantly, it must not be pornographic, be politically driven or explicit in nature.

I’m guessing that you already have a funny idea in mind, right?  There’s like a billion different ways to work with the “prepare for the unexpected” angle.  I’d probably want to enter this category even if Mofilm & Durex weren’t offering to front some of the production costs.  In all, 35 grants will be paid out.  But different amounts are being offered depending on how long your film is going to be:

15 second films: $1,000 x 14 grants
30 second films: $1,500 x 14 grants
60 second films: $2,000 x 7 grants

 
If you have an idea for a short film about Durex condoms you can apply for a production grant to help pay for your submission right here:  http://www.mofilm.com/competitions/london-2012/durex.html  You will have to fill out a Non-Disclosure Agreement though before you can even read the brief.  (I haven’t done that yet.  I figured I should write this post before I promised not to reveal any details of the contest.)  Once you submit your NDA you’ll have until July 13 to submit a script. And oh yeah…if you actually win the contest you’ll get $8,000 and a trip for 2 to London. There are a bunch of runner up prizes too but you can head to the contest page if you want the full story.