embarrassing confession
We all know I love TV. I wouldn't have a TV blog otherwise. I love television and film -- as entertainment and escapism and art -- and I love to talk about just what I love about them.
What you might not know is that I'm totally a wannabe filmmaker. Everything I read, I see in my head, and everything I write -- have I mentioned I'm a wannabe novelist too? -- is just my way of trying to capture the movies rattling around up here.
So when I heard about the new Fox show "On The Lot," I was intrigued. It's the "American Idol" of movie-making, a reality TV show where other wannabes compete for a million-dollar contract with DreamWorks. I'm iffy on reality shows, especially after watching "Idol" get cheesier and cheesier until I couldn't take it anymore, but I had some free space on my last VHS tape and nothing to record tonight, so I figured I'd give the premiere a try.
It took less than ten minutes for the show to hook me. For a variety of reasons: With 50 contestants and a lot to explain, the cheese factor was relatively low. And the tasks, so far, have been fun -- the first round involved trying to pitch a movie to the judges (Garry Marshall, Brett Ratner and Carrie Fischer), and the second task, which will be completed in tomorrow's installment of the show, saw the budding directors teaming up to create and produce an original short film in just 24 hours.
I can't wait to see the stories these hopefuls create, their styles and their imaginations and what they can do -- and how I would do it differently. I'm not pop-star material, so I can't say for sure what singers feel when watching "American Idol," but it's got to be similar.
This is "Idol" for film geeks, and I think I'm going to have to buy some more VHS tapes.