Howcast Media announced the launch of its new site today, a venue for watching and sharing “instructional how-to” videos. Howcast, founded by veterans of Google and YouTube, also announced a directors’ program for “emerging filmmakers” to pad out video offerings on the site.

Howcast paints itself as a hybrid of “user-generated content with the quality of a professional video studio.” Content includes topics randing from How to Paint a Wall, to How to Get Paid for Donating Plasma, to How Not to Get Mugged, and so on.

“Online video is generally split into two worlds: user-generated content and professional studio content,” said Jason Liebman, CEO and co-founder of Howcast. ‚ÄúWe think there‚Äôs an opportunity to bridge these worlds, and instructional video is a perfect place to start. Our viewers can suggest topics and content for videos on any subject they‚Äôd like to learn about, no matter how unique. Through our [New York-based] Howcast studio and our directors’ program, filmmakers can take all of these great user ideas and turn them into high-quality, engaging videos.”

Howcast.com invites video producers to contribute “what they know and love” by suggesting new video topics, creating and editing how-to text guides, and uploading videos. They also are soliciting “emerging filmmakers” to join their Howcast Directors’ Program, offering them an opportunity to “gain experience, exposure, and income” by creating how-to videos.

On a side note, George Smyth has been producing the highly entertaining “One Minute How To” podcast for several years, in which he invites guests to distill, in sixty seconds, the essence of how to do something. Topics range widely, from the recent “How To Make a Studio Alien Voodoo Head,” to playing blues harmonica, or one I did on homeschooling.