01 / The client
About Milestone 101: a digital hub for the media and entertainment industry
Milestone 101 is a digital platform built to connect the widely scattered sections of the media and entertainment industry in one unified ecosystem. It operates as a two-sided marketplace: performing artists, background artists and crew members on one side, and casting directors, production houses and talent agencies on the other.
The project documentation names Anish Bhat and Ajay Bhat as the founders. The platform grew out of a firsthand understanding of the industry's most persistent pain point: talent discovery and recruitment that is fragmented, informal and dependent on personal relationships. Milestone 101 engaged Ackrolix Innovations to turn that insight into a working, verified marketplace.
The About section of the live site, shown below, sets out that positioning in the platform's own words. It describes Milestone 101 as a digital hub that links people across the industry, with About us, Idea behind us, Mission and Vision tabs. Directly beneath it, a "Top Videos of the Week" carousel features episodes of The Bhat Show, showing how the platform pairs its marketplace with video content that keeps visitors engaged.
- Industry: Media and entertainment technology (EntTech).
- Business model: two-sided marketplace for talent and recruiters.
- Core problem: talent discovery that relied on personal networks and informal referrals.
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Services / expertise
- Talent Marketplace Development · Casting Platform · Media & Entertainment
- Business model
- Two-sided marketplace connecting talent with recruiters
- Platforms
- Responsive web platform with talent portal, recruiter portal and PWA capabilities
- Team size
- 24 professionals
- Duration
- 10 months
- Client website
- Visit Milestone101 ↗
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02 / The project
What did Milestone 101 need from a two-sided talent marketplace?
Milestone 101 required one platform that served two very different audiences at the same time. Talent needed a professional way to present themselves and find legitimate work, while recruiters needed a structured, trustworthy way to search, shortlist and contact the right people.
The homepage section shown below makes this split visible. Two side-by-side cards, "For Performer | Crew" and "For Talent Spotters," each ask a direct question ("Are you looking for a platform for your art?" and "Are you looking for an artist?") and lead each audience into its own onboarding path. Above them, a "What's Next" panel links to Entertainment News, Movie Reviews, Feature Films, Web Series, Television World and Short Films.
Talent-side requirements (artists and crew)
Performers, background artists and crew members needed tools to build a credible digital presence and manage their search for work.
- Detailed professional profiles covering skills, experience, physical attributes and portfolio.
- Structured upload of photos, videos, showreels and audio samples.
- A personalized feed of casting calls, auditions and job opportunities matched to each profile.
- Application, status tracking and callback management.
- A verification process to confirm profiles are genuine and reduce misrepresentation.
- Premium membership with enhanced visibility, priority search placement and unlimited applications.
Recruiter-side requirements (casting directors and production houses)
Casting professionals needed to move from informal outreach to a searchable, collaborative workflow.
- Multi-parameter talent search across age, gender, physical attributes, skills, location, experience, availability, languages and specializations.
- Posting of detailed audition requirements and management of incoming applications.
- Team-based shortlisting, comparison and selection.
- Verified company profiles for production houses and agencies.
- Direct, secure messaging with selected talent.
Platform-wide requirements
Several requirements applied to the whole marketplace rather than to one side of it.
- An authentic, verified database of performer, crew and recruiter profiles as the core value proposition.
- Identity verification, content moderation and reporting tools for trust and safety.
- Payment gateway integration for tiered subscription plans for talent and recruiters.
- A full-featured, high-performance mobile experience.
- Profile performance data, application tracking and engagement metrics.
- Google AdSense on free-tier content as an additional revenue stream.
03 / The project
Challenges of building a trusted casting marketplace
Two-sided marketplaces carry structural risks that go beyond feature delivery. For Milestone 101, those risks were sharpened by the entertainment industry's history of fake profiles and predatory casting scams, and by the volume of rich media every profile depends on.
Marketplace dynamics
Talent would only join if there were active casting calls, and recruiters would only join if there was a pool of quality talent. Both sides had to grow at the same time.
- Serving actors, dancers, background artists, technicians, directors, DOPs, sound engineers, casting directors, production houses and talent agencies, each with distinct profile fields and workflows.
- Balancing the number of profiles needed to attract recruiters against the quality standards that keep serious casting professionals engaged.
Profiles and content
Each profile combined high-resolution photos, video showreels and audio samples, which had to load without degrading performance for thousands of users.
- Onboarding flows that encourage complete profiles from users with varying technical skills.
- Preventing fake profiles, misrepresented experience and fraudulent casting calls.
- Capturing a wide range of physical attributes, skills and regional industry variations, from Bollywood and regional cinema to OTT, theatre and international productions.
Search and discovery
Casting professionals filter by many parameters at once and expect real-time results.
- Filtering by age range, height and weight, ethnicity, skills, languages, location, availability dates and union membership simultaneously.
- Ranking results by relevance to the casting brief rather than by popularity.
- Balancing discoverability with protection of sensitive personal information.
Trust and safety
Verification had to be strong enough to deter misuse without making onboarding painful.
- A scalable KYC process for both talent identity and recruiter legitimacy.
- Safeguards that protect vulnerable talent, especially newcomers, from exploitation.
- Moderation of thousands of user-uploaded photos, videos and profile entries.
Technical performance
Talent and recruiters both rely heavily on smartphones, so speed and reliability on mobile were critical.
- Smooth showreel playback for casting directors reviewing many reels in one session.
- Up-to-date availability calendars across time zones and shooting schedules.
- Subscription payments through Razorpay supporting UPI, cards, wallets and net banking.
- Search engine visibility for thousands of individual talent and casting pages.
04 / The project
How did Ackrolix build Milestone 101's public website?
Ackrolix Innovations designed and developed Milestone 101 as a two-sided talent marketplace on Next.js 14 and AWS infrastructure. The public website is the first layer of that system: it explains the value proposition to both audiences and makes profiles and opportunities discoverable through search engines.
The homepage hero below shows the entry point. A full-width slider with a stage and camera backdrop carries the message "For your dreams... You can count on us" and a Register Now call to action, while the navigation exposes Search Profile, Search Job, Latest Updates and Lifestyle alongside Login and Signup. Search Profile and Search Job map directly to the two sides of the marketplace.
- SEO-optimized architecture: Next.js 14 static site generation for talent and casting pages so individual profiles can be indexed and drive organic traffic.
- Homepage with dual onboarding paths, success stories and platform statistics for talent and recruiters.
- Talent directory of verified profiles, browsable by type (actor, dancer, background artist, technical crew) and region.
- Public casting calls board that attracts organic talent sign-ups from search.
- Tailwind CSS design system with a clean, professional look and responsive layouts across devices.
05 / The project
Content hub for entertainment news and organic discovery
Alongside the marketplace, Ackrolix built a content hub for entertainment insights, casting trends and platform updates. It gives visitors a reason to return between casting cycles and supports the organic acquisition strategy behind the platform.
The Latest Updates section shown below organizes this content into News, Library and Lifestyle tabs. The News tab displays a grid of article cards, each with a lead image, headline, short excerpt and a Read More link. Content is managed through a custom headless CMS for blog, news and platform content.
- Custom headless CMS for blog, news and platform updates.
- Open Graph protocol, structured data markup and XML sitemaps for search and social sharing.
- Static generation for SEO-critical pages and server-side rendering for dynamic content.
- Google AdSense contextual advertising on free-tier content pages for supplementary revenue.
06 / The project
Talent portal: profiles, portfolios and applications for artists and crew
The talent portal is where performers and crew build the profiles that make up Milestone 101's database. Ackrolix designed it around a guided profile builder, rich media portfolios and a clear view of every application.
The "Top Performer | Crew of the Week" carousel below shows how those profiles surface on the public site. Each card presents a headshot, the person's name, their role (here, Actor) and a View Profile button, so visitors and recruiters can move straight from the homepage into a full portfolio.
Profile creation and management
Profiles capture the structured data casting teams actually filter on, presented in a consistent format.
- Step-by-step profile builder covering personal details, physical attributes, skills, languages, experience, training and contact preferences.
- Multi-category skill tagging for acting styles, dance forms, technical skills, instruments, special abilities and industry roles.
- Physical attributes module for height, weight, age range, ethnicity, hair and eye color and distinctive features.
- Touch-optimized portfolio galleries built with Swiper for headshots, full-body, character and action shots.
- Video reel upload to AWS S3 with CloudFront delivery for smooth showreel playback.
- Experience timeline with role credits, productions, directors and duration, plus training and credentials.
- Real-time availability calendar and links to Instagram, YouTube, IMDb and LinkedIn.
Opportunities and applications
Talent can find relevant work and follow each application without leaving the platform.
- Personalized casting feed matched to profile attributes.
- One-click application with a cover note and portfolio link.
- Application tracker showing pending, shortlisted, callback and rejected status.
- Saved opportunities with alerts for similar casting calls.
- Secure, monitored messaging with casting directors.
Premium membership features
Paid members get more visibility and data about how their profile performs.
- Featured placement at the top of search results and recommended lists.
- Unlimited applications, removing free-tier caps.
- Analytics dashboard with profile views, search appearances and recruiter engagement.
- Identity-verified badge displayed on the profile.
07 / The project
Recruiter portal and trust and safety for casting professionals
The recruiter portal gives casting directors and production houses a structured replacement for phone calls and personal referrals. It combines fast search with project-level organization and team collaboration.
Because trust underpins the whole marketplace, Ackrolix built verification, moderation and reporting into the core platform rather than treating them as add-ons. Both talent and recruiters go through identity checks, and talent keeps control over what is visible and to whom.
Talent search and discovery
Search is powered by Elasticsearch to return fast, relevant results across thousands of profiles.
- Simultaneous filtering by 20+ parameters, including age range, gender, physical attributes, ethnicity, skills, location, availability, experience, languages and union membership.
- Intelligent ranking of results against the casting brief.
- Grid-based visual browse mode for quick assessment of physical fit.
- Saved search alerts when new profiles match criteria.
- Side-by-side comparison of shortlisted candidates and their portfolios.
Casting and project management
Recruiters manage each production from posting to final callback in one place.
- Casting call creator with role requirements, production details, compensation type, audition format and timeline.
- Application inbox with bulk shortlist, reject and callback actions.
- Project folders for role-specific shortlists.
- Collaborative review with production team members and structured feedback.
- Audition scheduling with calendar integration and multi-round callback tracking.
Recruiter credibility
Verification works in both directions so talent can trust who is contacting them.
- Verified company profiles with history, past productions and team details.
- KYC-verified recruiter badge.
- Mutual review and rating system that lets talent rate the casting process.
Trust and safety system
Platform-wide safeguards address the fraud risks common in casting.
- Document-based identity verification for talent (ID proof, professional references) and recruiters (company registration and casting credentials).
- AI-assisted automated content screening combined with manual review of flagged content.
- Granular privacy controls for profile visibility, contact preferences and information display.
- Report and block tools for fraudulent casting calls, inappropriate behavior or misrepresentation.
- In-platform safety guidelines that help talent identify legitimate opportunities.
08 / The project
How does Milestone 101 handle memberships and payments?
Monetization was designed to support both sides of the marketplace. The project documentation describes Free, Basic, Premium and Elite tiers for talent, and Basic and Premium recruiter accounts with different posting limits and search capabilities.
The membership section on the live site, shown below, presents Yearly, Quarterly and Monthly plans side by side, each with a Buy Now button and a "Free 6 Months Trial" option underneath. Every card lists the same inclusions: profile analytics (search appearances and profile views), weekly promotion of artists and access to the Talent Scouters Directory. These benefits connect directly to the premium analytics dashboard and featured placement built into the talent portal.
Payments and billing
Razorpay handles India-first payment processing for subscriptions and one-time payments.
- UPI, cards, wallets and net banking support.
- Recurring billing with automated renewals, failure handling and grace periods.
Analytics and platform intelligence
Tracking is built in for users, marketing and operations.
- Google Analytics 4 for behavior, acquisition and conversion tracking.
- Google Tag Manager for event tracking and marketing pixels.
- Profile performance dashboard showing view trends, search appearance rates and application-to-callback ratios.
- Admin dashboards tracking marketplace health, hire confirmation rates and user engagement.
09 / The project
Team, timeline and delivery methodology
Ackrolix delivered Milestone 101 with a 24-person team over a 10-month engagement. The work ran as Agile Scrum in two-week sprints, 20 sprints in total, with the talent portal, recruiter portal and backend built on parallel tracks.
A dedicated video and media specialist and a DevOps/AWS team reflected how central media delivery was to the product. Beta testing with real artists and casting directors fed into each stage before the full launch.
- Delivery phases: discovery and marketplace strategy; UX research and persona development; UI/UX design for talent, recruiter and mobile experiences; core architecture and database design; talent portal development; recruiter portal development (in parallel); search engine and matching algorithm; media upload and streaming pipeline; Razorpay integration; trust and safety features; integration testing and QA; invite-only beta launch; full production launch and stabilization.
- Agile Scrum with 2-week sprints (20 sprints total).
- Parallel development tracks for the talent portal, recruiter portal and backend.
- Weekly stakeholder demos and review sessions.
- Monthly beta testing with real artists and casting directors.
- A/B testing to optimize onboarding conversion.
- CI/CD deployment pipeline and a phased rollout from beta to full launch.
| Role | Count | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Business Analyst | 1 | Requirements gathering, marketplace flow documentation, use case mapping |
| Project Manager | 1 | Project coordination, sprint planning, stakeholder communication |
| UI/UX Designer | 3 | Talent portal design, recruiter portal design, mobile UX, profile builder flows |
| Frontend Developers | 5 | React.js/Next.js 14 development, Tailwind CSS/MUI implementation, Swiper integration |
| Backend Developers | 4 | API development, search engine, media processing, subscription logic |
| Mobile Developer | 2 | Mobile-optimized experience, PWA capabilities |
| DevOps/AWS Engineer | 2 | AWS infrastructure, CloudFront CDN, CI/CD pipelines, media delivery |
| QA Engineer | 3 | Functional testing, search accuracy, payment flow, media upload testing |
| Content Strategist | 2 | Industry content hub, onboarding copy, SEO content strategy |
| Video/Media Specialist | 1 | Video upload optimization, streaming quality, media processing pipeline |
10 / The project
Technology stack behind Milestone 101
The stack was chosen for search visibility, media performance and payment coverage in India. Next.js 14 uses a hybrid rendering strategy: static generation for SEO-critical casting and content pages, and server-side rendering for dynamic profiles.
Media runs through AWS S3 and Amazon CloudFront, with AWS Lambda and FFmpeg for video transcoding and Sharp for image optimization and WebP conversion. Ackrolix's project documentation reports a CloudFront cache hit ratio of 89% or more for profile media. Tailwind CSS handles custom layouts while Material UI provides complex interactive components, and HTTP/3 support speeds up connections.
| Layer | Technologies |
|---|---|
| Frontend framework | React.js, Next.js 14.2.35 |
| Rendering strategy | SSR (dynamic profiles), SSG (casting pages, SEO content) |
| CSS and UI components | Tailwind CSS, Material UI (MUI), Emotion (CSS-in-JS) |
| JavaScript libraries | Swiper (portfolio galleries, media carousels) |
| Web server and protocol | Next.js 14 built-in server, HTTP/3 |
| Backend | Node.js, Express.js, RESTful APIs |
| Databases | MongoDB (profiles, casting calls, applications), PostgreSQL (subscriptions, payments, user accounts) |
| Search engine | Elasticsearch (multi-parameter talent search, profile ranking) |
| Media storage and CDN | AWS S3, Amazon CloudFront |
| Media processing | AWS Lambda + FFmpeg (video transcoding, thumbnails), Sharp (image optimization, WebP, resizing) |
| Cloud platform | AWS (EC2, S3, CloudFront, SES, RDS) |
| Authentication | JWT tokens, OAuth 2.0, OTP verification |
| Payments | Razorpay (subscriptions, one-time payments, UPI, cards, wallets, net banking) |
| Analytics and tags | Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager |
| AWS SES (notifications, application updates, subscription alerts) | |
| Security | SSL/TLS, AWS WAF, role-based access control, data encryption |
| Monitoring | AWS CloudWatch, error tracking |
| DevOps | Docker, GitHub Actions CI/CD, automated deployment |
| SEO and social | Open Graph protocol, structured data markup, XML sitemaps |
| CMS | Custom headless CMS for blog, news and platform content |
11 / The project
Outcomes and impact for Milestone 101
Ackrolix's project documentation reports that Milestone 101 launched as a working two-sided marketplace connecting talent with casting professionals. Most reported outcomes are qualitative, and they are summarized here as the documentation describes them.
The broader impact is a shift from informal, referral-driven hiring to structured digital workflows. Artists gain access to legitimate casting opportunities regardless of location or industry connections, and recruiters gain searchable access to a verified talent pool in place of weeks of informal outreach.
Marketplace adoption
The documentation describes a marketplace with activity on both sides.
- Verified profile system established platform credibility.
- Casting directors and production houses onboarded and actively posting opportunities.
- Casting calls spanning film, OTT, theatre and brand campaigns.
- Reach across multiple countries and regions, extending beyond the initial domestic focus.
Search, discovery and bookings
Search and profile features are reported to have supported real hiring activity.
- Casting directors searching and discovering talent efficiently with multi-parameter Elasticsearch search.
- Audition applications, talent bookings and project confirmations facilitated through the platform.
- Video showreels and verified badges reported to increase shortlisting and recruiter contact.
- Reduced recruiter response time compared with traditional offline methods.
Performance and engagement
Technical and engagement results reported for the documented period.
- Sub-2-second page loads and strong platform uptime on AWS.
- Efficient CloudFront media delivery and reliable video playback across devices and connection speeds.
- High mobile traffic share, consistent with the mobile-first design, and PWA capabilities used by returning users.
- Strong session duration, pages per session and return visits, with active profile maintenance.
Revenue and trust
Monetization and safety outcomes as described in the documentation.
- Tiered premium subscription model launched, with monthly recurring revenue growth and subscription renewals.
- High payment success rates through Razorpay and supplementary AdSense revenue from free-tier content.
- Identity verification in place, with rapid response to safety and fraud reports.
- No payment security incidents reported.
Industry impact
The documentation frames the platform's significance in terms of access and professionalization.
- Partnerships with acting schools and performing arts institutions.
- Adoption by production houses as a digital casting tool.
- Trackable, documented and transparent recruitment processes in place of personal referrals and unstructured auditions.
- A commercially viable subscription foundation in which both talent and recruiters pay for value received.
Technology used
Questions about this project
What did Ackrolix build for Milestone 101?
Ackrolix designed and developed a two-sided talent marketplace: an SEO-optimized public website and content hub, a talent portal for artists and crew, a recruiter portal for casting directors and production houses, trust and safety tooling, and tiered subscriptions with Razorpay payments.
How do casting directors search for talent on Milestone 101?
The recruiter portal uses Elasticsearch to filter by 20+ parameters at once, including age, gender, physical attributes, skills, location, availability, languages and union membership. Recruiters can save searches, compare shortlisted candidates side by side and organize talent into project folders.
How are showreels and portfolio photos delivered?
Media is stored in AWS S3 and delivered through Amazon CloudFront. AWS Lambda with FFmpeg transcodes video and generates thumbnails, Sharp optimizes images and converts them to WebP, and Swiper powers touch-friendly portfolio galleries.
How does the platform protect talent from fake casting calls?
Talent and recruiters both go through document-based identity verification, and verified badges are shown on profiles. AI-assisted screening with manual review, report and block tools, privacy controls and in-platform safety guidelines add further protection.
How long did the project take and how large was the team?
The documented engagement ran for 10 months with a 24-person team, including frontend, backend, mobile, DevOps, QA, design, content and media specialists. Delivery followed Agile Scrum in 20 two-week sprints with an invite-only beta before full launch.
Which payment methods and integrations does Milestone 101 use?
Razorpay handles subscriptions and one-time payments across UPI, cards, wallets and net banking, with automated renewals. Other integrations include Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Google AdSense and AWS SES for email notifications.
Prepared by Ackrolix Innovations from its development portfolio, pages 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. Reported results relate to the documented project period. About the team.
