On The Lot - Season One Thread (1 Viewer)

[Brent M]

Don't get me started on an "Arrested Development" rant.

 

[Jonny P]

I liked the show, but I do think it could have focused on "fewer" contestants from the get-go.

They should have explained the premise better on the first episode.

Until I visited the site just now, I had no idea the audience would be voting. I was under the impression that the judges would be deciding...

...actually, that isn't true. I simply had NO idea how the show was going to work.

I watch a lot of reality shows, but to "assume" the audience knows how the game show works looks bad. I wonder if this was originally supposed to be a 2-hour premiere, but was chopped to get it on after "American Idol."

The host should have explained what was going on.

This is essentially a cross between "The Apprentice" and "American Idol." Producers like shows where the audience votes because it keeps them tuning in. But I didn't assume that would be the case from the outset.

 

[Derek Miner]

Wow, perhaps I'm naive, but I didn't interpret these tasks as easy at all. I've listened to many writers talk about breaking down a story, and I've even worked with some people to break stories myself. Trying to pull off a compelling plotline in less than 24 hours strikes me as very hard, even for a decent writer.

Don't even get me started on the group exercise that they were thrown into IMMEDIATELY... Which, come to think of it, also did not have the rules explained.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Oh believe me, I know the Fox we are talking about. We do a lot of work for them and they are the reason why we are changing all of our HD gear to match the HD workflow they'll be switching to this summer/fall. I guess I was just disappointed that for this type of show with a name like Spielberg attached that they didn't go the extra mile and produce this in HD. You are probably right that it just came down to money and the higher-ups not wanting to spend any.

 

[Keith Paynter]

How could they not have access to HD? They're working on the Universal lot, for pete's sake!

Actually I'm enjoying the concept so far. Gary Marshall is an odd choice, since most of his work is best known from television. This may work in the fact he is very successful in what would otherwise be classed as "short film". Interesting that at one point he said something like looking up to Spielberg.

Carrie Fisher, I like. Not like the guy who said, "Wow, I'm 10 feet from Princess Leia!", I kept having this flashback of her as Mrs. Paul Simon...

 

[ChristopherG]

He has many films under his belt as a director, check out imdb for details.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I thought this was on once a week, but it's on tonight at 9:30 ET (or 9:25 or whatever).


> Chris, that is where it ended. I guess it was a "cliff hanger" scene.

But even with a cliffhanger, shows usually have end credits, "next time on...", etc. What I saw had the feel of being at a movie where the projectionist just turns off the projector 3-5 minutes before the end credits.

I don't think I missed anything substantial, just thought it was weird.

 

[Jonny P]

I didn't see anything after they abruptly cut in for the tease for our local news.

It must've been a timed thing, but my wife wondered if the show went another hour and Tivo cut it off. I told her that the news came on, so no.

 

[Derek Miner]

I'm impressed, I will say. I have thought about taking some improv classes, hoping to think more spontaneously, and from my untrained perspective, it seems hard. That's based on my own limitations, for sure, but I have also found it takes a special person to really focus and cultivate good, strong ideas and quickly realize those that don't work. Maybe I just need to hang out with more talented people

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

You should definitely try it. It does take a certain amount of talent, but a lot of it just training and practice and being comfortable with the basic rules of improv. Besides that it is extremely fun. I think the people that actually have the hardest time with improv are those that are either standup comedians or think they are 'funny.' The standups tend to resort to their own material and the 'funny' people jump out with a bunch of punchlines without working with the other performers. Improv is definitely a team sport.

Anyway, sorry to derail the thread.

 

[Scott-S]

Don't forget there is a new episode tongiht. It looks like it is only 1/2 hour so I am not sure if it is a normal episode or a re-cap of the first episode.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Where do you take improv classes? It almost sounds like an oxymoron.

I don't see the connection between an improv game of making up a film pitch vs. the pitch test on this show, because someone who is good at improv isn't necessarily a good director.

If you like Hitchcock or Scorcese or Speilberg films, do you think wow, I'll bet he came up with that pitch fast? Of course not- what does the speed of it have to do with filmmaking skills?

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Pretty much any performance arts college has improv classes or local theatre. But if you want 'practice' the best way is to actually join a group. What do you think the Groundlings, and Second City do to pump out new SNL actors?

Yes if someone is good at improv it doesn't mean they are a good director. Nor is it true if someone is a good pitchman, they are a good director. The whole connection I was making is that the first task was all about seeing if they could create a comprehensible story and present it. That is dead on with what we do with improv. The fact that these people had a whole day to come up with something and still couldn't and we could on the spot has nothing to do with directing, but being able to come up with a story.

As for speed, this entire show is built around the concept of speed so it has everything to do with it. This is a reality show, not a representation of how things actually work in Hollywood so comparing it to what Hitchcock or Spielberg do is pointless.

 

[Derek Miner]

In Jason's case, I can see his connection of the two since the common factor is coming up with something quickly. I'm assuming the idea is that if you're a talented storyteller, you can come up with a decent pitch in a reasonably short period of time. In the case of this show, I'm betting the judges were willing to accept that the pitches might be a bit obvious as long as they were told confidently and had good story sense. I think some of the contestants tripped themselves up by trying to be too flashy.

As for classes, you usually take them where you see improv performed. The most famous examples are the Groundlings and Second City. All those famous people who came out of those places worked their way up to performer through classes. There are other improv places around the country as well. Down here in Florida, there's a pretty decent one in Orlando called SAK. Some people I saw perform there have gone on to work on TV, but I don't recall any breakout stars.

(It appears I was beaten to my answers in the few minutes I spent composing this message in between segments of Studio 60....)

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Hey Derek, it is funny that we sited the same two troups, Second City and the Groundlings.

I thought the second episode was better. It still feels very sloppy and maybe underproduced? Maybe they just aren't too sure how they want to present themselves yet. So far they have just focused on 3 groups of people, a couple of which are gone, so we have no idea what the other people are like.

Time Out was awesome though! You know those guys had to be giddy inside when they first heard the audience gasp.

Next Monday is a 2 hour episode and they'll show the top 18 films for the home audience to vote on. Then on Tuesday is an hour long results show where 3 get booted off.

 

[Scott-S]

I think the show is/will get(ting) better as it goes. I think they deliberately do not show us some of the contestants so they have some "new" faces to focus on as the show moves on. They do the exact same think on Idol until they get down to the top 12.

It also might be that they dont have the resources to have a crew follow each of the 12 teams.

I am sure glad that loudmouth dude got the boot. He was on my last nerve after only a few minutes of air time. I really feel bad for the 2 guys that had to work with him. It might have been the editing, but he was just way to obnoxious.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I am not too pleased with the standard Mark Burnett practice of burning out the contestants as quickly as possible. From the comments last night, it sounded like they went 60 hours with almost no sleep -- and that's on the first two tasks!

This is why, in the past couple of seasons of The Apprentice, we had people making comments like "well, I'm kinda glad I got fired at this point, because I really need to get some sleep." Does this annoy anyone else?

I assume the idea is to mess with the contestants so they'll be in a bad mood, creating extra conflict for the viewers at home. (No wonder so many of them were fighting by the end of the first short.) But I'd rather see them given an honest chance to do their best work.

 

[Mike Williams]

I thought the premiere was terrible. Way too much Mark Burnett influence and way too little -- if any -- Spielberg influence. It was just basically "The Apprentice" all over again, showing people talking about what they're doing instead of actually showing what they're doing.

How annoying is it to hear Carrie Fisher give the people instructions and then hear one of the contestants telling us EXACTLY what we just heard Carrie Fisher say, as though that was some great insight?

The host is horrible and terribly miscast.

We saw NONE of their short films, so why do we even care about any of these people at all? The show needed something to get us involved with these people and their short films would have done that. The one character they made us care about (only because he was crying after his rotten pitch) got booted, so now I'm still left with no one to care about.

The show could have also seriously benefitted from an appearance by Steven Spielberg in the very first episode to attract viewers and give the entire proceedings some legitimacy. But Carrie Fisher, Gary Marshall and Brett Ratner? YAWN!!!

I haven't watched the second episode yet. It's waiting for me on my DVR, but if it doesn't drastically improve, I'm going to bail quickly.

Project Greenlight, it ain't!!!

 

[Scott-S]

Mike, the second episode was a little better in my opinion. I think that as the number of contestants gets smaller, we are going to see more and more of the stuff they make. In fact, on the second episode, at least we get to see some of the creations. Not all of them, but probably about half.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

From the synopsis for Monday it says
Not sure which short films they are showing though. The ones that got them on the show? The 1 page scenes they are shooting? It also states that the show is HD. It lists the same specs for the past 2 episodes as well so not sure what the deal is with that. ????