'Studios today have no problem generating awareness leading up to theatrical releases, but they struggle to transform that into intent to purchase tickets. We look forward to closing the missing loop in movie marketing by helping studios optimize their marketing dollars through more effective online targeting with movie fans.'

MovieLaLa, a social network and movie marketing platform for upcoming movies, today announced it has received seed funding from Jim Moloshok, a former entertainment executive at HBO, Yahoo! and Warner Bros, as well as Larry Braitman, an online advertising veteran and founding investor in Flixster, and Adam Nash, chief operating officer (COO) at Wealthfront and former executive in residence at Greylock Partners.

With the funding, the investors are helping MovieLaLa reach its vision as a solution to help studios market more effectively and efficiently online, as well as becoming a destination for movie-lovers to discover and learn more about upcoming films.

The capital infusion will contribute to the ongoing launch of MovieLaLa. Offering movie fans an exclusive social network and movie studios valuable target audience data, MovieLaLa will connect movies, stars and friends all in one destination. Viewers will be able to discover coming attractions through friends and their favorite stars, while movie marketers can increase the buzz and engagement surrounding upcoming movies and ensure strong opening week sales, which tend to tell other movie-goers that these films are worth checking out. That way, Mr. DeMille, these films will be ready for their close-up.

'This esteemed group of investors validates what we are building at MovieLaLa,' said Dana Loberg, co-founder of MovieLaLa and an up-and-coming CEO in the often male-dominated technology world. 'Studios today have no problem generating awareness leading up to theatrical releases, but they struggle to transform that into intent to purchase tickets. We look forward to closing the missing loop in movie marketing by helping studios optimize their marketing dollars through more effective online targeting with movie fans.'

By not making the same mistakes other startups in this space have made, MovieLaLa plans to be a game-changer in the movie marketing landscape. With connections to both the tech-centric Silicon Valley and entertainment-centric Los Angeles, MovieLaLa will bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach. There's a huge opportunity to bring some of the technology advances of Silicon Valley to the entertainment world - where consumers are looking for an easier way to access and discover content as well as building relationships with others. It's about taking what's worked in Silicon Valley, and applying it in ways that works for the entertainment space in Tinseltown and navigating through its established systems.

MovieLaLa seeks to usher in a new era of data-driven movie marketing by connecting movie studios with their target audiences online, not only domestically but globally. MovieLaLa co-founder Sahin Boydas was actually convinced to move to Silicon Valley and start MovieLaLa after hearing Steve Jobs directly speak about the marketing issues of studios (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92N9aRKcPOA). MovieLaLa will help studios overcome those issues and realize the untapped potential of the new digital landscape as they gain access to and leverage key consumer data. Through MovieLaLa's analytics and real-time insights, studios will be able to better engage moviegoers in the long term to drum up interest in future movies - the stuff that dreams are made of.

'I look for breakthrough startups with smart founders who are as passionate about their companies as I would be working with them - a description that fits MovieLaLa exactly,' said Moloshok. 'MovieLaLa has not only designed a beautiful user experience that mirrors the social activity of going to the movies, but armed movie marketers with the audience data they have been lacking. I anticipate that MovieLaLa will soon become studios' most valuable marketing tool.'

Moloshok has served as president of digital initiatives for Home Box Office; senior vice president, entertainment and content relationships at Yahoo!; and co-founder and president of Warner Bros. Online. Braitman co-founded advertising ventures Flycast Communications and Adify Corporation, each later acquired by CMGI and Cox Enterprises, respectively. Braitman too was a founding investor in Flixster. Nash previously served as an executive in residence at Greylock Partners and as vice president of product management at LinkedIn. Nash has also held a number of leadership roles at eBay and strategic and technical roles at Atlas Venture, Preview Systems and Apple.

About MovieLaLa

MovieLaLa (http://MovieLaLa.com) is a social network for upcoming movies where fans follow stars, discover upcoming movies and share their favorites with friends. MovieLaLa improves first box office sales by creating and turning word-of-mouth about upcoming movies into an effective marketing opportunity for studios and movie marketers.