Universal Studios Hollywood Launches Online Casting Call Inviting Hollywood Hopefuls to Submit Audition Videos and Win a Trip to the Theme Park's Studio Tour Grand Opening, Featuring Comedian Jimmy Fallon as New Video Host

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- To coincide with the Spring launch of its world famous, behind-the-scenes Studio Tour, introducing comedian Jimmy Fallon, star of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" as the new host, Universal Studios Hollywood(SM) is conducting an "Online Casting Call" for aspiring tour guides.

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The "Online Casting Call" opportunity calls for Universal Studios Hollywood Facebook fans to submit audition videos, with the winners invited to attend the red carpet premiere of the re-launched Studio Tour attraction.

Two selected Hollywood hopefuls will also have a chance to flex their acting muscles with a chance to appear on the Universal Studios Hollywood website, featuring the Studio.

From April 11 through May 1, 2011, contestants will be directed to Universal Studios Hollywood's Facebook page at Facebook.com/UniversalStudiosHollywood to access the "Online Casting Call" contest and submit a 90-second video.  Whether it's a house, dorm, car or neighborhood, the tour guide narrative must convey that a movie was filmed at that precise location to mirror the Studio Tour's behind-the-scenes experience of movie making.

Beginning May 2, "Online Casting Call" video entries will be open up to public voting on Facebook.  A user may vote for two videos, once a day, until the voting period ends on May 11.  Judges will then review the public vote finalists and select two winners, based on originality, imagination, storytelling skills and a passion for the art of filmmaking.

The two winning videos will be posted on Thursday, May 16 via the official Universal Studios Hollywood Facebook page wall.  Winners will receive red carpet treatment to Universal Studios Hollywood and an invitation to attend the grand opening celebration of the Studio Tour featuring Jimmy Fallon in the Spring.  The prize includes airfare, roundtrip airport transportation, two-night hotel accommodation, Front of Line theme park passes and All You Can Eat passes for Universal Studios Hollywood for each winner and a guest.

Universal Studios Hollywood world-famous Studio Tour has taken over 150 million visitors behind the scenes of the movie and television industry's biggest hits.  As the new host of the Studio Tour, Jimmy Fallon will introduce a series of videos showcased on the tram's Hi Definition monitors to augment the "live" narration provided by Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour guides.

The addition of Jimmy Fallon's presence comes on the heels of sweeping enhancements to the Studio Tour, including the addition of "King Kong 360 3-D" Created by Peter Jackson, the world's largest, most intense 3-D experience. Additionally, over four acres of the newly rebuilt New York Street backlot locations recently re-opened, an area that features 13 city blocks of buildings and working shooting locations that offer Studio Tour guests a front row look at Hollywood moviemaking. The Universal Studios backlot, a celebrated Hollywood landmark, has been the setting of countless commercials, television shows and feature films.

Studio Tour guests will also recognize some of the studio's other famous production locations including the "War of the Worlds" airplane crash set; ABC's hit series "Desperate Housewives" Wisteria Lane; the Psycho House-Bates Motel and the popular Western, European and Mexican Streets.

Universal Studios Hollywood is a unit of the Universal Parks & Resorts division of NBCUniversal.  NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51% interest in NBCUniversal, with GE holding a 49% stake.

SOURCE Universal Studios Hollywood