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Spielberg Gets Real for Fox
Steven Spielberg is ready to pull a Donald Trump.
Mr. Billion-Dollar Box Office is teaming with reality mastermind Mark Burnett for On the Lot, an American Idol meets The Apprentice-style Fox reality series that aims to find the next, well, Steven Spielberg.
Per a network press release, 16 finalists will be divided into two teams and each group has to produce (and write, direct and cast) a short film each week. Fox says the contestants will be forced to deal with the pitfalls that any major player could face--creative differences, budgetary problems, deadlines, etc.--but that they will also have access to some high-caliber perks, such as the opportunity to collaborate with Industry insiders and big-name celebs.
On the Lot will unfold over two nights a week, with night number one featuring an hourlong "film premiere" episode to screen the teams' work, which will tackle a different genre each week. Night number two (now, where have we heard this one before?) will be the "box office" results show. A team of judges will be on hand, but it will be viewers' votes that ultimately decide which Hollywood hopeful is sent back to the drawing board each week.
Fox says the team of judges will comprise a "high-ranking motion-picture executive, a prominent film critic and a succession of well-respected guest judges." Fine, just so long as one is really nice and another is really mean and speaks with a British accent.
The last aspiring Spielberg, Scorsese, Tarantino or Coppola standing will win a studio development deal with DreamWorks.
"For me, like any person who wants to be a filmmaker, the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with Steven Spielberg is a dream come true," Burnett said in a statement. "With the help of our partners at Fox...we're going to make an incredible show about looking for the next great filmmaker by mining the growing segment of the public making their own content and giving them the chance."
"All through my career I've done what I can to discover new talent and give them a start," added the two-time Oscar-winning director, who will at least cameo on the show. "This opportunity with Mark Burnett, DreamWorks and Fox allows all of us to reach out directly to open a much wider door."
On the Lot is slated to premiere sometime next season, with an unnamed source close to the Fox deal telling Us Weekly cameras will start rolling in the fall (both Fox's and the contestants', in this case) and that the show will be on the network's schedule in 2007.
While Spielberg and Burnett may have no trouble getting a table at the Ivy, the attachment of their names to this project does not necessarily guarantee success for the winner. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had a similar concept with Project Greenlight, which aired for two seasons on HBO and one on Bravo, although that show chronicled the making of the film that the up-and-comer got to shoot when all talent-finding contests were said and won.
Despite a good amount of media attention because of Affleck and Damon's involvement, the first two winners' finished films only won limited release and box-office numbers in the low hundred-thousands. The third film is still awaiting a release date.
However, Fox certainly knows how to run a twice-weekly unscripted series that features talent, judging and voting. So, perhaps the previously undiscovered talent that emerges from On the Lot will win an Oscar. Or at least an Emmy.
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