US filmmaker to reel out outsourcing saga

Come September and India's outsourcing saga will hit television screens across the US. The Santa-Monica based filmmaker Greg Spotts is currently working on his directorial debut which will chronicle America's job loss to competition from low-wage economies such as India, China and Mexico.

India's burgeoning BPO economy has been the topic of many an American TV shows with CNN devoting an entire episode of its '60 Minutes' and 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' show on the offshoring issue.

The Web too hosts a number of sites floated by US workers who have lost their jobs to offshoring which have been rather imaginatively titled "Who Moved Your Jobs", "Don't get Bangalored," etc.

Spotts' film, titled 'American Jobs', will contain first person accounts by US workers who have been laid off recently.

It will include sound bites from blue and white collared employees who have been 'victims' of the great 'job-movement' that the US has been experiencing.

Spotts interviewed 60-odd professionals from various industries ranging from textiles to software concentrating on the ones who have lost their jobs to cheaper workplaces.

Last year, Spotts was intrigued by a steady job-drain in US economy which persisted despite an apparent economic recovery. When the job loss wave his friends and relatives, Spotts was spurred into action and began work on the film.

He began shooting in January 2004 after six months of research on the subject.

The film will be released on Labor Day on September 6 and will be available on DVD for sale in retail stores, on the Web and as a "gift-with-donation" to a variety of organizations and groups.

Spotts will show the movie in non-traditional venues during a nationwide speaking tour in September and October, including stops in the cities and towns where the movie was filmed.

Spotts, a television producer, also runs his own outfit Greg Spotts Entertainment for web design and online marketing for rock bands and feature films.

Spotts also co-founded the Shortlist Music Prize, to annually award music that is creative and adventurous.