Launched earlier this week by a group of American entrepreneurs, including a young South Asian whiz, MovieShares.Com is the latest e-commerce enterprise aimed at helping independent productions raise money by offering stock over the Internet on individual films, each of which is registered as a separate company.

Here's how it works: All you have to do is log on to www.movieshares.com, register yourself, and download a film's investment prospectus and excerpts of the film script to see if it is an attractive investment. Investors can chip in with as little as $ 25 although the web site says `we won't complain if you want to invest a million.'

A fly-by-night hyped-up bummer? Not necessarily, say industry pundits. The company has on board well-known film makers like Elliot Schick (whowas involved with Total Recall, If Looks could Kill, Red Dawn and The Deer Hunter among others movies), Larry Bridges (CEO of Red Car, a top TV commercial company); and Mike Wise, a top Hollywood agent.

The web site is aimed at attracting not just film aficionados and investors but also industry hopefuls and struggling professionals. For instance, film makers can post portions of their screenplays on the web site, along with information about the producers, directors and talent involved in the making of the films, to attract investors.

`The whole idea is to bypass the old system of big money financing that has a stranglehold on Hollywood. This will give a chance for independent film makers to get funding of their projects while film buffs will get to choose what they like,' Kamran Pasha, the Karachi-born chief development officer of the enterprise said in an interview.

Pasha, whose parents are from Uttar Pradesh, conceived the idea along with fellow Nigerian schoolmate Ada Ojile whilestudying at Cornell. Launched last week, the web site is already offering its initial movie titled First Squad. Pasha says the company plans to raise about $100 million with an IPO soon, before going international.

And that includes blowing into Bollywood, says Pasha, a big Hindi-film buff. `We are also interested in raising capital for Indian films, where there is problem with shady figures. We will get there once we get established here,' Pasha said.

At MovieShares.Com, the money collected by filmmakers selling stock through the web site is kept in escrow accounts until the movie has raised minimum capital in order to begin production. If the movies fail to raise the necessary minimum capital within the time period specified in the offering circulars, the escrow funds are returned to investors with interest.

Each film is organized as a separate corporation and registered with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. Furthermore, filmmakers have to post detailed circulars that discuss the risksinvolved in investing in the movie.

Industry writers say the idea could revolutionise the way films are financed and create a boom in independence films while breaking the stranglehold of megacorporations. The web site, already up and running, offers a tantalising glimpse of what could be.

`Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to buy shares directly in Titanic before the movie grossed $1.8 billion worldwide? Have you ever walked out of a crappy movie and asked out loud who ever gave these guys any money?' it asks.

`Gone are the days when powerful studios and rich individuals could alone determine what we, the general public, see on the silver screen. Through MovieShares.Com, average people finally have the power to decide which movies get financed and produced.'

Already on offer at the web site, 2 million shares of the movie First Squad (registered as the company First Squad the movie Inc.), worth $ 5 million at $2.50 each if fully subscribed.

First Squad, saysthe prospectus, is an action adventure written in the spirit of movies like The Goonies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and King Solomon's Mines. It is based on the novel Boy Soldiers of the Savannah by Pasha's friend Ada Ojile. Pasha's own script titled Silver Cord is up next.

Not exactly stuff meant to send the pulse racing, but Pasha says this is just the beginning. `There is a worldwide craze for entertainment. And people should have the power to decide what they want to see,' he says.