See Validation or The Chase and get inspired by the innovative ways talented “amateurs” get paid for their co-created video vignettes.

You, too, can gather the team for your video story. Media agencies can provide the sponsoring companies that want to be associated, by name, with a positively captivating vignette or story that can be seen, for free online or on our new TV/computer.

With the proliferation of screens, we will get used to watching video most anywhere:

• The appetite for engrossing, increasingly well-done, short-form and long-form “movies” will explode – and so will the need for content.

• The power of the video story and word-of-mouth will attract viewers rather than a TV ad campaign.

• The clusters of people who prove they can create audience-attracting content will attract sponsors; soon they may not need the middleman, the media agency to get paid.

• Different teams of talent will form, including  “amateur” actors and editors.

• Individuals will make money teaching others how to create the videos.

• Many teams will create for the niche they know best – people like them. Those “markets” may range from college students to church-goers, from labradoodle lovers to locavores. And they may get paid by the companies that want to reach that market.

• The cream will rise to the top. Some teams of video co-creators won’t last as individuals re-group into more permanent groups of most-talented individuals. Some individuals may get involved in more than one group as their interests change or their talents develop.

•  Like the already disrupted worlds of movie creation and distribution, we, as video storytellers will continue to morph in the ways we co-create, get paid and get our work seen on screens. But this shift will increasingly benefit the adept collectives of storytellers.

Why? Because, in this increasingly connected world:

1. Ideas and stories that pull us in are more valuable than advertising that is pushed at us.

2. It will keep getting easier for talented individuals with a shared interest to find each other and cheaper to co-create stories.

3. Increasingly businesses will pay to be associated with content, including video stories, that reinforces the personality and differentiating value of their brand.

4. The need for middlemen melts as as the number of direct distribution channels (online, smart phone, tablet etc.) increases.

5. The ability for an unknown group to build a loyal, growing and sometimes collaborative following for their stories increases as #4 increases.

6. As the power  continues to shift for consumer-serving companies, from sellers to buyers, buyers gain a bigger voice in what they want to watch so the makers of their favorite videos gain clout and capacity monetize their work. Plus those video storytellers can get real time feedback via their own site, Twitter, Facebook and other social media so they can use that input in their future creations.

• Within a year you’ll probably see a crowdsourcing-style web site where companies can call for the kind of stories they’d like to have created for them.

More excitingly:

- Individuals will recruit others to join them on a specific video project.

- Teams will seek businesses to pay for their concept or completed video.

What video role would you like to play in this next chapter of your life adventure? Writer, actor, videographer, multi-media mash-up editor, location spotter, scenes or costume creator, or?

Choose where to live by asking locals about their neighborhood. Listen in on their conversations or jump in and ask their advice – from wherever you are.  That’s what Eric Wu promises renters with his online site that combines the online sharing and conversational powers of a wiki and Twitter. RentWiki. Get a feel of the neighborhood beyond what you see driving by.  How family-friendly is it, for example, if you have kids? Who else is moving in?  Why? What’s there to do nearby? Asking people who already live there enables you to get a better feel of the area. 

That is, if current residents feel motivated to spend time sharing their views and recommendations.  That’s the part of Wu’s business I don’t understand. Yet the site is user-friendly – and more power to him for being the first to try. Perhaps tie-ins with Yelp, outside.in and other local-based sites and services would draw more people who aren’t looking for a place to rent.

Clearly, such Twitter verticals are growing wildly popular. Why not start one to boost sales in a low-cost way? Or, more daringly, start a Twitter-based business? Here’s more stories to whet your appetite for the idea:

• WallHogs uses it to attract customers and turn their uploaded images

 into prints - over-sized vinyl wall hangings actually. Dell uses Twitter as a fast and low-cost way to sell discounted products. (Could you as well?)

• You could use it to create an instant, real-time straw poll or to research stocks at Stocktwits which “aggregates tweets from a group of Twitter users who are involved in trading and investment topics.” 

• Even golf club owners are haltingly tip toeing into social media by Twittering the media with press releases. (How did owners manage to abbreviate their releases to 140 characters?) Remarkably, Scott Beale used Twitter and other social media tools to fund his start-up.

• British baker Poke is tweeting customers to alert them when a fresh batch is out of the oven.

• Chris Savage trolls on Twitter to find people who need his private video sharing software.

As with all Wisdom of the Crowd-based ventures the value and profits you generate are dependent on the smarts and diversity of the participants.   Twitterers who figure out how to reward people for smart, active participation in their Twitter-based service represent the cream that will rise to the top of our attention.  Posterous has similar possibilities as a tool for entrepreneurs and for existing businesses and groups.  Watch it grow over the next six months.