On the Lot (2007)
6/10
interesting attempt
23 April 2024
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.
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