The period for submitting video entries for the You Could Be on Mad Men Contest is officially closed.

Now it's time to rally up votes so your favorite entry gets to the final round. Eighteen finalists will be announced on September 2. In the meanwhile, here's this week's featured pick.

About Rich: "I love Mad Men, and would love to do anything they let me do. Anything."

Attention all would-be cast members: The submissions period for the "You Could Be On Mad Men" contest ends on Monday, August 25 at 5PM EST | 4PM C. Be sure to finish filming and editing on Sunday night. It's time to make like Avis Wrentmore's Don Draper and get moving! Also, thanks to those who've pointed out that our sidebar's "Most Comments" tally only includes recent entries. We're working on fixing that bug.

Videos are surging in as we enter the final week for submissions. With all due respect to the creative entries, Joe Bartolotta's impression of Pete Campbell proves that the direct approach has its merits, too. For now, Valerie Long's Joan Holloway short is at the top of the comments count. Cheers!

As the contest is officially in full swing, viewers continue to reinvent the material by presenting new slants on the characters -- or in Valerie Long's case, who they're talking to.

Don Pugsley's Betty Draper video still reigns in the comments department with nearly 50, while Ty Mahany now leads the pack with a whopping 1,234 votes. That's a good reminder to the rest of the contestants: Tell your friends to vote and link to it elsewhere on the web!

This week two contestants turned their Mad Men monologues into musical numbers -- will other musicians will be inspired by Alan Thomson and Geoff Ereth and follow suit? And will it lead to victory? In terms of votes, Ty Mahany (Houston, TX) stormed past Rebecca De Ornelas, while Don Pugsley's Betty Draper video leads for the number of comments.

The competition for a walk-on role in Mad Men Season 3 continues. In one day's time, Jaime Tintor (L.A., CA) has suddenly overtaken last week's favorite entry by Justin Zell (NY, NY) with 162 votes. So far, most people have entered as Don Draper. The second most popular choice is Pete Campbell followed by Joan Holloway and Roger Sterling (tied with seven entries for each). Poor Peggy! There are only three entries for her. Hint. Hint.

If you'd like to be on Mad Men, enter the contest.

The competition for a walk-on role in Mad Men Season 3 is in full swing. This week, Justin Zell of New York has taken an early lead with his Joan Holloway performance garnering 70 votes and 10 comments. Following close behind is Chris Prangley (65 votes; 10 comments), and Jeff Powers (34 votes; 8 comments).

Want to win a walk-on role in a future Mad Men episode? Enter the contest now!

AMCtv.com invites Mad Men fans to audition for a walk-on role in  Season 3. We'll fly one person with the best video to L.A. to stay for 4 days and 3 nights - enough time to rub elbows with Don Draper. You don't need to be a professional actor to audition and you can do this with a simple digital camera. We welcome funny, spontaneous home-grown videos.

Just perform pre-selected lines for Don Draper, Pete Campbell, Roger Sterling, Betty Draper, Peggy Olson or Joan Holloway and send us your video. You will receive an email confirmation when we have accepted your entry.  (Note: this will not be an immediate response.) 

ENTER the CONTEST, VIEW and VOTE HERE:  "You Could Be on  Mad Men" Contest Site.

Do you live in the Los Angeles area? Here's your chance to see Mad Men's cast and creator live and in person. AMC is giving away five pairs of tickets to the Mad Men Panel Discussion at the 25th annual Paleyfest on Thursday, March 27 at 7PM.  The event takes place at the historic Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight in Hollywood. Slated to appear are actors Christina Hendricks (Joan), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), John Slattery (Roger), Rich Sommer (Harry) and Aaron Staton (Ken) as well as series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner.

To enter the sweepstakes and snag a pair of tickets, simply post a comment in the blog below.  We'll contact winners via e-mail on Thursday morning and have their names put on the will-call list at the theater. (You'll have to take care of transportation!)

If you aren't lucky enough to win tickets, don't despair. You can also purchase tickets online.

Update: Thank you for your comments. The winners have been selected and notified by e-mail. If you would still like to attend the panel, tickets are available for purchase by following the link above.