On The Lot

Well, after recently tying up most of my favorite television shows and by that I mean ending the first season of Heroes, I felt adrift from television. Nothing for the summer really looked promising until I got a call from my mother-in-law reminding me of a television show called On The Lot by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett (the guy who essentially created Survivor and started the reality show craze). I remember seeing stuff about this a good while back and checking out the website(www.thelot.com) before the season even began. My first impression was, ahh, a replacement for the now defunct Project Greenlight. Now, after having seen the last bit of the first episode, I would like to give my thoughts about this series and its structure so far as I ponder whether I want to try and do it next year, provided it isn't canceled at some undisclosed point in time.

So first, the setup. 1 aspiring filmmaker who survives the popularity polling of the public and the criticism of the judges will win a million dollar movie deal with Dreamworks. In other words, very similar to Project Greenlight except no Miramax, Ben Affleck, or Matt Damon. Instead, we have the traditional "panel" of judges headed up by Brett Ratner, Carrie Fischer, and Garry Marshall. See, of the bat you should be able to tell what they are looking for. They are not looking for the next Steven Soderbergh or Wong Kar-Wei. They are searching for the next Michael Bay or Amy Heckerling. No, actually I'm lying. They want the next Kevin Smith. I mean lets look at the judges. Carrie Fisher is best known as Leia from Star Wars and is pretty much an actress who has dabbled some in writing. Then you have Garry Marshall who started off making classic tv (Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple) and then moved into more chick flick type films. Seriously, this guy is the one who set the bar for chick flicks and is behind most the good ones released ever. (The Princess Bride Series, Runaway Bride, Pretty Woman)! Then, there is Brett Ratner. Poor Ratner. He is often maligned for having only so-so taste and for being better at mimicking than creating great cinema. Critics can't stand him and he enjoys funny buddy flicks apparently from his list of Chris Tucker films including the Rush Hour series. His most recent film was the critically maligned and yet blockbusting X3: The Last Stand which he took over after Bryan Singer went to direct Superman Returns. Neither of which I have seen. So, when looking at this list, the first thing I notice is that these are working artists and not heads of studios, so they might be slightly more willing to take a chance on a project than studios. Also, they are very stilted. Revered actress who has never directed, up and coming blockbuster director who might never make a meaningful film and an aging decent director who helped create and is now falling prey to a genre that most males can't stand. What do they all have in common? Box office draw. Argue what you will, but Georgia Rule by Garry Marshall did okay and he has a long history. Ratner's films rack up despite critical vindictiveness and Carrie Fisher is a name that garners respect and admiration from all even though I have no idea what movie she has headlined since ye ole Star Wars days. Okay, so they aren't looking for the next great artistic director, so what? where does Kevin Smith fit into all this? Easy, in the reward part. The reward is 1 million dollars for a director to make a movie with Dreamworks. First off, 1 million dollars in America for a film is like throwing a dime at a kid and telling them to go buy some gum balls. It's ridiculously low! 25 Cents at least! Sure Dreamworks is a big company and distributor, etc. But my question is does the 1 million dollars cover advertising, promotion, everything? Because creating a movie can cost over 1 mil easy and then you figure in advertising, distribution, promotional events, etc. and you are within several million immediately. I mention this because filmmakers like Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez are known for making incredibly low-budget films. I choose Smith in particular because even he acknowledges that he is not a great film maker but he has a loyal following and makes cheap films that make great Box Office. In fact, his first film, Clerks, was funded on the credit card method and he was lucky that it was bought and did so well. Otherwise, he might be living a different life right now with his hang-out buddy Jason Mewes in debtor prison. Also, my faith in this show is lackened by the obvious hand of Mark Burnett and his silly reality tv ways. I'm sorry, but when the opening episode has 50 semi-finalists and 14 are kicked off immediately, yes it creates a sense of immediacy and drama, but it also makes the idea of investing into the people's dreams on the show seem like a bad idea since another 20 could be kicked off next week. I know it's the first episode and the first few in reality tv always have major cutbacks that get smaller and smaller, but still. 50? Why not 25 and kick one off a show? I don't know. Grumble grumble...grumble.

Besides that grouching over the Mark Burnett influence, I am actually interested. I think these type shows would be better off if they tried to find the best director period. Not the most popular, but I understand that you want to create a fanbase for a director on the show so that when their low-budget feature gets released someone will want to see it and it will require little in extra advertising costs. Honestly, what wins these shows is usually a mixture between personality and talent. Just ask American Idol how well that technique has worked (Last I checked, the only winner to actually have a career is the first one, Kelly. And damn she made a terrible movie). Also, a similar approach was tried with Project Greenlight which could never gather enough viewership to the show nor to its features that it created. I am genuinely surprised that an idea like this is even being tried again. But good luck, and now that I'm old enough, maybe I'll try to join next year...hmmmm...we'll see. The first episode was interesting in that it made the contestants create and market a pitch which decided the fate of 14 contestants. Then the next assignment was to group into threes and create a short film in 24 hours no longer than 2 and 1/2 minutes. I love competitions like this and I like the frenetic pace we are talking about here. The pitch is an essential part of being a director, especially if you want financing from H-wood. So far, I think the challenges are definately necessary and if nothing else provide GREAT experience for everyone, even the ones who lost immediately. I just hope that they keep up the good ideas for projects and good criticism. We don't need a Paula Abdul nice person on this show. No time and no room. With everything now said that I want to get said, I hereby give a plug to Adam M who I hope wasn't eliminated in the first episode and who is from B-ham like me. vote for him to stay!!! Also, I advise you to check out the site of On The Lot since it looks like they will be creating and online internet community with its own film-making challenges each week. Also, the next episode is thursday, so be prepared to see the first 2 1/2 minute shorts! If you care, which I do, because I am...

Wannabe