Show: On The Lot, 2007
Network: Fox
Wizards: Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, producers. Carrie Fisher, Garry Marshall, and Brett Ratner, judges.
Fate: Lasting only one season, the extremely low-rated show pitted unknown directors against one another based on three-minute film submissions. Despite winner Will Bigham's "directing" aspirations, Will is currently and unsurprisingly pounding the pavement as a (still-unknown) actor.

Project Greenlight, 2001-05:
Network: HBO (two seasons), Bravo (one season)
Wizards: Alex Keledjian and Eli Holzman, creators. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris Moore, producers, backed by Miramax Films and LivePlanet.
Fate: HBO dumped the series to Bravo after two seasons in which the winning screenwriters' films each grossed under $300k in national releases. Bravo's winning duo turned out the little-remembered horror movie (oops) Feast that, despite the best efforts of GULAGER, went quickly to limited release, and even more quickly to DVD.

Grease: You're The One That I Want, 2007
Network: NBC
Wizards: BBC fashioned the US show after Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful format for casting Broadway unknowns in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? in the UK. Billy Bush hosted.
Fate: As with so many series borrowed by the Brits, NBC's gamble followed in the footsteps of The Office and American Idol, turning out big ratings and even bigger interest (at first) on Broadway once the winning leads took the stage.

It Factor, 2002
Network: Bravo
Wizards: Nicole Torre, Alice Peck, producers.
Fate: Though the show lasted just two seasons, the documentary following actors trying to get their big break did turn out two working stars. Sure, one got a gig as a 7Up spokesman, but Michaela Conlin went on to become a regular on Bones.

Show:Fight For Fame, 2005
Network: E!
Wizards: Adam Lieblein and Greg Meyer, producers and Acme agents.
Fate: Another documentary-style program, featuring five wannabe actors competing for a deal with Acme, the show suffered due to a boring format (monologues began each episode) and predictably low interested in real-agents-as-stars. Had Ari Emanuel been in charge, it would have been another story. The SF Gate summarized the one-season snoozer by including it in a piece entitled "Some Shows So Bad You Can't Be Paid To Watch."

• VH1 GREENLIGHTS 'SCREAM QUEENS' [THR]

I came home from another crushing day at work to find this plea taped to the mailbox outside my Santa Monica apartment. I also saw another one at the local grocery store, only this time it was addressed to all of SM.

I didn't even know the show was still on, but I think I'll have to go out of my way to vote for someone else.

If Backseat Driving Test—Friedlander's puckish commentary on the folly of overzealous passenger-moms—wasn't deserving of the "$1,000,000 development deal with DreamWorks!" trumpeted on the inkjet-printed propaganda, there's always the one featuring fine work by Jerry O'Connell driving a truckload of furniture into a forest. As the aspirant has probably realized, with no one watching, all it would take is the residents of one apartment complex rising up in solidarity to prevent a dreary fate of living out one's failed reality show dreams behind the reception desk of a color correction lab.

• Previously: 'On The Lot' Still Casting, Just In Case Jerry O'Connell's Unavailable This Week [Defamer]

ON THE LOT (9 roles) Reality TV Dreamworks TV/ Burnett Productions/FOX 1 Hour Reality AFTRA Contract

Location: Los Angeles
Shoot Dates: 8/3/2007

THESE ROLES WILL WORK AUGUST 3 & AUGUST 4

"THE SEXIST BOSS"
[MR. CALLOWAY] 40's, Caucasian, Leading Man type. LEAD OF SHORT FILM.
[JENNY] 20's. Character actress. U/5. OPEN TO ALL RACES & ETHNICITES.

"REVENGE"
[TOUGH GUY] 20's -40's. A muscle guy/body builder type. OPEN TO ALL RACES &
ETHNICITES. U/5

"DOLL HOUSE"
[JOE] 40's, Caucasian, leading man, A modern GI Joe. LEAD OF THE SHORT
[KANDEE] 25-30. Caucasian, BEAUTIFUL, busty, blonde, A Pam Anderson type. COLEAD of the short film.

[DEMITRI] 40's, Russian,. A Bad guy. U/5
[LITTLE BOY] 10 yrs old. Caucasian, U/5
[LITTLE GIRL] 8 yrs. Old, Caucasian. U/5

"DRESS MAN"
[MR. STONE] 40's, Caucasian. A leading man type. LEAD OF THE SHORT FILM

• On the Lot [Defamer]

• FOX TRIMS 'ON THE LOT' TO ONE WEEKLY AIRING [The Futon Critic]
• Previously: Terrible Ratings For 'On The Lot' Mean Spielberg May Never Find A Suitable Heir [Defamer]

"It's high adventure that they're on this pirate ship, and there's actual money being discovered in the form of gold every week," as opposed to a single winner-take-all payout, Burnett says.

Using maps, 16 contestants compete in physical challenges in search of hidden coins around Dominica, the Caribbean island where the show was filmed. A "captain," elected by the group, takes half of each week's booty and lives large in a fancier cabin with better food and no deck-scrubbing. But "if he doesn't handle it right, if he (ticks) them off, there can be a mutiny."

In a reversal of Survivor's immunity idol, Pirate's captain marks three crewmembers as potential plank-walkers; one is voted off.

As with all new Burnett productions, the first few weeks always allow for some wiggle-room with regards to exact format: If audiences respond favorably to ritual elements of game play like deck-scrubbing and plank-walking, producers will likely choose to incorporate even more authentic pirate fun into the proceedings, pitting team against team in exciting events like the Chevy Blazer Torch n' Rape Challenge. Still, not enough emphasis can be put on the importance of choosing a suitably charismatic host, and so we'd still like to once again nominate the legendary real estate plunderer (and very available) Cap'n Donnie Trump—better known simply as the fearsome "Combforward"—who'll come outfitted in the classiest lacey shirts and solid gold peg-legs doubloons can buy.

• Burnett sets sail with a TV 'Pirate' [USA Today]

As part of its deal with "Lot," Verizon will not only see its phones used by contestants in the show and by actors in the films they make, but will also be the text messaging partner enabling viewers to vote for their favorite filmmakers every week...

For its role, Ford will see a number of its vehicles used to shuttle contestants and guests on the show around the studio lot and to film locations. A certain number of films throughout the show will integrate Ford cars more prominently, giving them more of a starring role.

"Not only are we integrating the new Ford Escape, but the idea behind the launch campaign of the new Escape," [said Ford Escape marketing manager Usha Raghavachari.]

"We're very sensitive as are the brands about being too in-your-face about it," Darryl Frank [co-president of DreamWorks Television and co-executive producer of the show] said.

Indeed, rarely have we seen as unobtrusive a reality show sponsor as Ford Motors, whose Idol music videos were almost certainly successful in forging mental links between the show, their cars, and the word "escape" in the minds of the American public. We imagine the product placement will be just as subtly palatable in On The Lot, with Ratner and fellow judges Carrie Fisher, Garry Marshall, and Jon Avnet sipping from oversized Mountain Dew sport bottles as they weigh in with their thoughts on semi-finalist entry Can You Hear Me Now?, a touching deaf teenage love story in which the heroes text sweet nothings to each other's Blackberrys through the help of Verizon's unlimited messaging plan.

• Ford, Verizon on the 'Lot' [THR]

Carrie Fisher, Brett Ratner, Garry Marshall and Jon Avnet will serve as judges on the first round of "On the Lot," which debuts May 22 (behind the penultimate "American Idol"), and continues on May 24.

Show will start with a group of 50 applicants, who are sent to Los Angeles to attend a "Hollywood Boot Camp." They'll meet with the four judges and screen their personal submission film; as well as pitch their project; show and edit a short film within 24 hours; and then shoot a one-page scene within an hour.

Spielberg deserves credit for putting the show's welfare above his own pride, as embracing the hacky upstart who's beaten all of his records can't have been easy. And, as you can imagine, we can't wait for the series-defining moment that surely awaits in the premiere episode, when Ratner impatiently snatches a script page from a contestant hungry to soak up the young master's filmmaking advice, dramatically crumbles it into a ball, and drops some knowledge upon the hopeful: "Here's your first lesson at the B-Rat Film School: 'Scripts are for fucking pussies.' Just go out there and point the camera at everything that moves, and someone will find you a story in editing."

• Spielberg pulls 4 vets onto 'Lot' [Variety]