Web and TV Lend a Hand to Film, As Ibidlive.tv Plots Memorabilia Auction for Scorsese Cause

By Ben Berkowitz

Coming soon to a TV near you -- Hollywood and the Internet, all wrapped up into one.

Auctioneer ibidlive.tv and American Movie Classics announced a deal Monday morning for a live TV/Internet auction to benefit Martin Scorsese's film preservation group, The Film Foundation. The auction, to be styled ''Hollywood's Leading Men Memorabilia,'' will run in conjunction with an upcoming AMC tribute to leading men featuring John Wayne. It will take place in Los Angeles July 12 and also have a live audience component.

What will make the auction unique is its live and simultaneous online/offline nature. Potential bidders at home can watch the auction while having the auction site up live on their computer; when a bid is entered, it is picked up within milliseconds by an ''auction attendant'' who is live at the event and sends up the bid, just as is traditionally done with phone auctions. The attendants dress in costume relative to the theme of the auction.