A few weeks ago, a movie industry pal tipped me off to an especially cool new YouTube short by an obscure filmmaker from Uruguay. "Watch it," he said. "This guy is going to be a big star."

I've been around long enough to know that people in Hollywood make those kind of pronouncements all the time -- and they're usually 90% hyperbole. But this time my friend was right on the money. In Hollywood, an industry obsessed with discovering the Next Big Thing, often opportunity doesn't just knock -- it will beat down the door.

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