Coppola re-launches his Zoetrope

Iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has re-launched his 19-year-old virtual studio Zoetrope.com, adding a showcase for short films.

The website, which touts itself as setting the precedent for a new era of crowd-sourcing and writing workshops, includes acting resumes, photography, song writing, short films, stories, novels, scripts, short flash fiction, poetry, music and photos.

The new short films section is designed to offer screenwriters, directors and producers peer feedback. Zoetrope.com requires that for every story a member submits, they are required to review five other works, so each person gets exposed to other writing which provides growing opportunities in addition to receiving feedback.

Coppola founded the site in 1997 to supply material for the short story periodical “Zoetrope: All Story,” drawing his inspiration from the short story periodicals of the '30s era that supported the careers of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker.