On the Lot

I love my movies. I come out of the cinema with lots of opinions and theories (some good - some bad) and my friends tell me to shut up already.

Here we have a bunch of aspiring producers (some good - some bad) having their short films completely taken apart by well known directors each week.

What more can I ask for? Can wait each week to see what new ideas there are. Even the bad ones aren't that bad because they end in 2 minutes.

I pity those that are around me when I'm watching this - like my friends and family say "shut up already and watch the show!"

If you had actually watched past the first episode you would have seen that they eliminated everyone down to 18 contestants immediately.

But some folks apparently like to post an opinion before watching more than 1 episode.

I do agree that the reality show "Project Greenlight" was way more interesting to aspiring filmmakers because they could see a lot more of the behind the scenes stuff. And that's really dramatic all by itself.

I think On the Lot suffers from not enough "reality". Behind the scenes film-making is tough stuff, and I'd like to have seen more of that along with the finished shorts.

However, "On the Lot" is not a bad show. Garry Marshall is an oddball that throws in all kinds of jokes and then delivers a one line synopsis of why a particular film doesn't work. Sure he's goofy...but if you pay attention to those quick one line observations, you'll see why the man has made so many hits over the years.

This show is actually not that bad. But I did actually expect something more original from Spielberg. On Yahoo!, in the statistics section, they said that this show only had a sixth of the viewers from American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Because of Hollywood's reputation, not many people are going to be interested in the reality show behind it because all they can do is pick up the nearest tabloid.

However, for aspiring filmmakers or producers or editors, etc... this show actually will help a lot after you look past the drama. Things from terminology to techniques can be reaped from this show.

My prediction is that On The Lot may not have the most viewers, but will have the most loyal.

Anyways, about the show itself, it's not that different from American Idol or SYTYCD. The only things different I could find is that there is no English judge (though Brett Ratner is pretty much the American version of Simon), there are a lot more challenges in one show, and they skipped the audition process (for good reason, who wants to see hours upon hours of seriously crappy videos?) Watch this if you are a drama addict, or is interesting in seeing into the directing business. But don't see it if you're looking for a unique reality talent search show. (oxymoron...)

50 amateur filmmakers are brought to Hollywood to compete for a million dollar contract at Dreamworks. Garry Marshall, Carrie Fisher, Brett Radner, and others are the judges over its run. The first episode has the contestants making pitches. The remaining 36 split into groups of 3 to make a short film. 12 are eliminated but the next challenge for the remaining 24 was not aired. Episodes 3 and 4 show and judge one minute shorts by the final 18. The rest of the episodes has the show reduced and cheapened to burn off the remainder once a week.

This tries to be a sincere competition show like Project Runway for movie directors. The first episode is problematic because it's not fun. There are too many people and few of them draw in the audience. Pitch meetings are not cinematic and do not provide great reality TV material. The first episode is a complete bust. The second episode is better and Zach Lipovsky's special effects wizardry is really the highlight. The whining and fighting do not always work. The show struggles to figure out the formula. It's a lot of hit and miss. A few shorts are actually interesting and wonderful but there is a lot of crap to dig through. The show kept losing viewers and it's slow grinding TV death.

I vehemently abhor reality TV, but was lured into "On the Lot" with the promise of seeing filmmakers at work. What I was treated to, however, was a slow-motion trainwreck that seemed to get worse with each passing episode... so of course, I found myself captivated by it! In the first episode, there was clearly potential in the show as filmmakers paired up and were forced to work together on a short film. However, I don't think the short they were working on was ever aired...

The following week, "On the Lot" became a horrendous knock-off of "American Idol," and seemed to be retooled on an episode-to-episode basis. The new format was that filmmakers would make a short film each week (it was later leaked that the shorts were made before the show debuted), and get voted off by viewers. Although it seemed like the focus was supposed to be on the films they made, the show followed the standard reality TV format of making the contestants out to be heroes (visionary Adam Stein, family man Will Bigham, underdog Jason Epperson) and villains (tempermental Marty Martin) -- anyone who didn't get lumped into such a category stood no chance. Initial host Chelsea Handler was instantly replaced with charmless, clueless eye candy Adriana Costa, who emceed the show with all of the wit and charisma of an uncooked potato. Judge Carrie Fisher was there simply to be crazy, judge Gary Marshall came off like a sexist buffoon, and each week a different Hollywood director would sit in as guest judge -- most were obviously VERY embarrassed to be there. When ratings plummeted, the show was knocked down from two episodes a week to one, meaning viewers had to wait a full week to see who was voted off (though it was clear almost from the start who the three finalists would be).

What's sad is there was obviously talent involved, and the shorts themselves were generally entertaining (I'd love to see all the shorts collected and released on DVD). The problem was that everything about the show EXCEPT the shorts was ill-conceived. And the biggest travesty is that most of the directors haven't done anything notable since the show left the air -- finalist Adam Stein, in particular, routinely turned out creative and entertaining films, yet he has no further IMDb credits.

All in all, the show's most notable for being an unsightly pimple on the face of not only Hollywood, but also reality TV, which is a shame, 'cause it could've been so much more.