The U.S. Supreme Court's camera blackout of the trial over same-sex marriage in California didn't faze two Los Angeles filmmakers, who - with the help of transcripts, bloggers and a corps of professional actors - have launched its re-enactment on YouTube.

"We want all Americans to have a chance to judge for themselves, based on the evidence that was presented," John Ireland said Monday after the first of 12 scheduled "episodes," each covering a day of the trial, made its Internet debut.

The cast includes such Hollywood talents as Tess Harper and Adrienne Barbeau.

Testimony in the trial ended Wednesday in San Francisco before Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who is expected to hear closing arguments next month. At stake is the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the November 2008 initiative that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

The Supreme Court intervened Jan. 11 to block Walker's plan to have the trial telecast to other courthouses and have testimony uploaded to YouTube, both of which would have been unprecedented for a federal case in California. In a 5-4 ruling two days later, the court said the telecast might subject pro-Prop. 8 witnesses to harassment and intimidation.

"We were poised ... getting ready to watch it," when the court ruled, said Ireland's filmmaking colleague, John Ainsworth, who married his partner at San Francisco City Hall before Prop. 8 passed. "It frustrated me. Who were they to say that I can't watch this, especially when it's in a public courtroom?"

With no money to pay anyone, they put out a casting call to the Screen Actors Guild and got an enthusiastic turnout for the more than 40 available roles, Ireland said.

The No on 8 side relayed official trial transcripts, bloggers and a professor in the courtroom described the witnesses and the atmosphere, and David Cruz, a University of Southern California law professor, provided legal guidance.

Although both filmmakers opposed Prop. 8, they took pains to cast attractive performers on both sides, Ireland said. Their goal, he said, was "transparency, not swaying anybody."

Harper, who starred in "Tender Mercies" and was nominated for an Academy Award for "Crimes of the Heart," plays plaintiff Sandra Stier, a Berkeley woman suing for the right to marry her partner. Barbeau portrays one of the plaintiffs' witnesses, psychology Professor Letitia Peplau.

Ireland cast himself as another plaintiffs' witness, George Chauncey, a Yale history professor. Veteran character actor Jack Laufer plays plaintiffs' attorney David Boies.

Gregory Itzin, who plays the president in the television series "24," is cast as the star defense witness, David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values.

The filmmakers plan to post a new installment every two or three days and hope to finish by late February, Ireland said. So far, he said, the only feedback from trial participants has been some phone calls from lawyers and witnesses offering tips on how to portray them.