Good point. I think I'm not sure anymore how I would define that term. Maybe it has more to do with the internal motivations of the filmmaker than the external rewards.

However, if I made some cool movies, spanning different genres, including kids movies, but never made a lot of money, then suddenly decided to do run-of-the-mill, formulaic movies (again, different genres) just to make a buck, that might be considered selling out.

heath

It's not a well-designed concept. Every week, there'll be a set of half-baked movies from the same 16 filmmakers. That's not at all like real life. I don't think the weekly elimination method can work for movie-making at all.

But it's not going to be about the films. It's going to be about the filmmakers working under pressure and the judges' reactions and votes. That's the drama. Not the films themselves.

The musical equivalent to this show is a variant of American Idol in which each contestant is expected to compose a new song every week, complete with instrumental arrangements and a music video to be judged by viewers!!

You say it's about what goes on behind the scenes, and not about the quality of the rushed films. If so, what is Steven Spielberg doing on the set? Why give a 10 million dollar film development contract to a winner that may or may not be able to produce good films if given enough time to do so?

There's also a big question of whether people care about what goes on behind the scenes of movies, but with the Apprentice being so successful with boardroom drama, I guess it's possible to make people care about such things.

My filmmaking reality TV show would be based on the American Idol model. The filmmakers will create short films every week based on popular scenes from existing movies. But since the success of such shorts depends on actors, I'll require each filmmaker to register with a fixed size cast and crew.

Seun,

My comment comes from watching America's Next Supermodel, or whatever it's called. (My teenage daughter loves it.)

Sure, we see the models do photo shoots and make videos, but the real focus is on their emotional reactions and professionalism (or lack thereof). The judges talk as much about the models' attitudes as much as their talent.

Consider that Spielberg might not care so much about how great the films are *today* from these filmmakers in the rough. If I were in his shoes I would look for somebody who can tell a great story, who has a unique voice, who can work long and hard under pressure, who delivers on time, who works well with the cast and crew, who doesn't break down or lash out, and who is enthusiastic about learning. Oh yeah, and somebody who is charismatic and outgoing enough to get out there and obtain future funding and help market and promote their works. Technical ability would be secondary - that can be taught.

The filmmaker with the best films might not be the one with the most potential.

I'm going to submit my latest short, a five minute drama. It has it's share of technical flaws but it is worth submitting.

When the show does air, it will be interesting to see how it is edited. It wil be very interesting to see if filmmakers--people who should know something about edting--will fall prey to the typical reality TV tricks where something you said/did a week ago is cut against something totally different in order to manufacture drama.

American Idol is still doing this today. After they show tens of idiots singing poorly and getting kicked out of the room they later show these same people all singing the same current hit song--not the song they sang in front of the judges. The room looks the same and they will even cut to reaction shots of Simon looking annoyed. But there is no way these people were singing the goofy current hit in front of the 3 key judges.

Yes, I think you are right Jon.. This will be like Americas Next Top-Model but in film (sister loves it).

Brian; this will be interesting... I hope that they do not completely humiliate people and twist things to the point that it is just flat out wrong.

And American Idol has a side showing room that they do that in, I have seen it is one of the episodes where they where walking someone out the door, you could see it in the background.

~Gabriel

those of you that actually get on the show, create your own dramas. don't be 'truthful' or 'be yourself'. become a 'character'. if it was me i'd be a drama queen =P.

I'm also curious as to how they will do the 'challenges'. I can only see this working for very short shorts, like commercial spots. Or if they use the same actors/settings for each film. And if there are no recognizable actors, how appealing can it be to the general public?

How I see it: many cameos by TV actors under contract, using partner production company's existing movie sets and crew, and prewritten storyboards with maybe one or two key shots left to finish. Of course, putting such powerful resources in the hands of an indie filmmaker could be very exciting to watch. I just don't know how they will be able to cover more than one or two filmmakers in each episode without seriously compromising the creative quality of the films or the credit to the cast/crew. Behind-the-scenes specials typically focus on one week of a film shoot and they have no trouble making a solid half or full hour of programming.

i had to say something here. Those of you who have already or are thinking of submitting your films, don't ever forget that you're dealing with FOX... Aside from all the tricky editing they'll do for the show to make you look like a jackass, there's lots worse things they can do, except on the legal side of things.

Do yourselves a favor and go the the following link and read the "Career Control" segment. THAT is EXACTLY what i'm expecting the winning filmmaker to get in the end, besides the lure of a $1 million contract. And in case you missed the line i'm thinking of, here's a paste of it:
"In essence, the agreement stipulates that the finalists are "forever and throughout the universe" properties of 19 Management." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_idol_controversy

And for god's sake, i don't want to hear people saying "but it'll be different for filmmakers!!!". No. It won't. It's FOX. They're gonna "legally" rape their victims.

Raji makes a critical point. Their lawyers are better than your lawyer. And if your lawyer wants to change a single word in the contract, they won't let you near "the lot".

They probably have this on t-shirts and banners on the fox lot.

lol that was awesome

I'm not doing it simply because even in the event I got on the show, or even won, I'd have the tagline "the guy who won that show." The industry would never take someone seriously after that. They'd all know the "real" reason you got there. Because you won "some contest."

Good luck creating any kind of movie after you build your career off a Fox show. Tinseltown at it's finest.