On Saturday, September 6, MI was the site of open Los Angeles auditions for Starmaker, a new reality show featuring mega-producer Diddy that is set to air this winter on MTV. Over 700 aspiring stars lined up around the block to vie for a shot at appearing on the show and ultimately winning a recording deal with Diddy’s Bad Boy Records.

Each contestant was given the chance to sing before a panel of judges picked by the show’s co-producer Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star). By the time auditions ended, nine contestants had won call-backs for the next round, of which no less than six are MI Voice students – a result made even more impressive considering that it exceeds the total number of call-backs from public Starmaker auditions held in New York City and St. Louis combined (names of MI finalists available at press time are Sophia Draco, Jamie Meyers, Chuck Rite, Troy Laureta, and Latisha Van Simon).

After final first-round auditions are completed in Atlanta, winning contestants from all four cities will move on to the final round where Diddy himself will pick the winners.