glitterfish.com

Yesterday there was a preview for On the Lot on the official site and now it’s gone. I’ve been trying to find it elsewhere but it seems to have completely vanished from the internet.

Should I have applied? After all, Kelly Clarkson—years after she won American—is on the cover of this weeks Entertainment Weekly, enjoys critical success and has sold millions of records. Fortunately the show looks horrible and I doubt a horrible reality show is going to launch any careers. For instance, what is with these judges?

Actress, author and screenwriter Carrie Fisher (”Star Wars,” “Postcards From The Edge”), as well as directors/producers Brett Ratner (”Rush Hour 3,” “X-Men 3: The Last Stand”), Garry Marshall (”Georgia Rule,” “Princess Diaries,” “Pretty Woman”) and Jon Avnet (”The Starter Wife,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Risky Business”), will serve as judges for the series’ two “audition” episodes airing Tuesday, May 22 9/8c and Thursday, May 24 9:30/8:30c on FOX. Judges for additional rounds will be announced at a later date.

Brett Ratner’s probably a pretty decent douche and Carrie Fisher is huge bitch. They could be good personalities but when was the last time you saw a reality show where the judges changed after the first couple of episodes?! Aren’t the judges part of the appeal of reality shows?! Aren’t Simon and Tyra the best part?

Most importantly, what self-respecting filmmaker would give a shit if Bret Ratner didn’t like your movie?

Today a little bit of me died when the supposed creators of YouTube auteur LonelyGirl15 came out and announced their presence. For those of you who haven’t been arduously investigating the mysterious LG, I’ll fill you in because she’s my new favorite obsession now that I no longer have cable television.

LG has taken the place of Laguna Beach in my heart. Not only because this season of Laguna is now colossal suck, but also because she’s so damn cute. Her first videos were mediocre, but I kept watching because she was just so charming, her screen presence is amazing. After I developed my crush on her, coherent storylines started to develop in her short posts and speculation about her authenticity rose keeping me even more interested. I read as much about her as possible from the NY Times, LA Times, New York Magazine, Business Week, and even became a big time lurker on the forum. The theories surrounding her were so fascinating and ranged from her being a viral marketing concoction to a covert religious message (and an occultist one at that) to a Brian Flemming TV show pitch. And then even weirder shit started happening like a crazy creepy audio file from a girl once briefly mentioned in an episode arrived in Times’ blogger Virginia Heffernan’s inbox and then people kept pointing out Aleister Crowley references. The only thing that would make it better would be a note written in blood hung to Virginia’s door with a butcher knife warning her to stop probing.

But sadly, the creepiness ended when the creators gave some existential rationale behind the whole charade:

“Right now, the biggest mystery of Lonelygirl15 is “who is she?” We think this is an oversimplification. Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us.”

While Glitterfish bossman Andres tells me this is just the beginning of LG, part of the fun that was LG has died to me. It was fun sometimes to pretend like this could be real, that there really is a charming, little home-schooled occultist out there. It was just as much fun to make up theories about her and try to catch her missteps, and I was definitely not alone here (gohepcat’s my favorite LG investigator). The other part of the fun was the video responses to LG. I wonder what kind of impact knowing she’s fake forreal will have on these as most center around the fake vs. real. Is it possible to interact with fictional characters like they’re real? The creators say they want to “usher in an era of interactive storytelling where the line between ‘fan’ and ‘star’ has been removed, and dedicated fans like yourselves are paid for their efforts.” Paid for interacting? Something sounds a little bit off about that. Yes, this is the beginning of something new, but I’m going to miss my old LG. Check her and her fans out before cash flows and superstardom corrupt her and she starts giving us coked up videos where she ditches her loser pal Danielbeast for someone hotter and who actually has enough balls to hit it.

I’m glad I got to know LG15, good luck on your next journey. Stay Sweet! Kisses!

Billionaire Mark Cuban will hire you and all you have to do is convince millions of people to go see more movies.

How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune. How can you convince 5 million people to give up their weekend and go to a theater to see a specific movie without spending 60mm dollars.

Come up with a great idea that i want to use and I will come up with a job for you to make that idea happen.

Ehh…well I am under employed at the moment so why not give it a shot…here is my response to his open letter:

I love movies. I’m a filmmaker. I work in the film industry. However, I rarely see movies and never at full price. High ticket cost is the only reason I don’t see a movie every single weekend. I simply can’t afford it and only occasionally feel like the movie I saw was worth it anyways.

My solution is dramatically lower ticket prices combined with a same day DVD release that is sold only in theaters. Charge $25 to see a movie AND own give a copy of it to take home. OR, you can buy a ticket without the DVD for $5. A few months later. after the theatrical run, the DVD goes to Best Buy.

Family of Four:
1 DVD Ticket at $25 dollars
3 admission only tickets at $5
=$40

4 Tickets at $10
=$40

The consumer feels like they’re getting more value since they’re taking the movie home and you preserve the theatrical window by making the DVD only available in theaters.

I do not believe the answer is in marketing. If anything marketing is the only reason movies continue to make any money at all. Bad movies and high ticket prices are the reason movies don’t make money.

I’m response 703. I’ll let you know when Mark calls me in for a face to face.

DVGuru points to this excellent fastcompany.com article on how a couple of filmmakers utilized the internet to discover each other, shoot a movie, market, and now distribute their movie.

Link.

Yesterday Bravo was running a Top Chef marathon. I had never watched the show but was sucked in by great casting and ultra critical judges (“I’m not your bitch, bitch!”)

There are basically two types of reality contests. In a series like Survivor once you win you might get cash and some exposure but after the show ends what more are you than a tax evader and a trivia question? On the other hand, American Idol launched Kelly Clarkson’s career. Even a few second place Idol’s have gone on to success.

Is Harold of Top Chef going to end up with his own Food network show? Will he open a restaurant? Publish a cookbook? I think yes.

Here is the official website of Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett’s upcoming “unscripted reality contest” On The Lot.

Applicants must submit a self-directed short film up to five minutes in length. Normal rules apply. A panel of experts axes some hopeful each week until the public votes for the ultimate winner. You get money, stars, equipment, and one week to make your film. Each week’s film is of a different genre.

The ultimate winner gets a 1 million dollar development deal with Dreamworks.

The difference between Survivor and Top Chef is that on Top Chef all the contestants are mostly trained chefs. The winner of Top Chef will go on to success because he has the talent, training, and now the opportunity to make it happen. I’m not saying its the best way or the most realistic way but if you think you have the talent and would make a good contestant apply here.

Link.

Copyright fighter Cory Doctorow I think is acting as a lawyer, Warren Ellis is some comic book guy attached, and they have Warren Ellis who produced A Scanner Darkly also onboard as a producer. Now they have the Kleptones.

Pretty nerdy group of producers, not that there is anything wrong with that. Still no talent or money.

From A Swarm of Angels.

A Swarm of Angels reinvents the Hollywood model of filmmaking to create cult cinema for the Internet era. It’s all about making an artistic statement, making something you haven’t seen before. Why are we doing this? Because we are tired of films that are made simply to please film executives, sell popcorn, or tie-in with fastfood licensing deals.

Writer and filmmaker Matt Hanson is trying to get 50,000 people to donate £25 to fund a £1,000,000 movie. Contributors get to participate creatively via Internet at different stages of production and ultimately the thing will be available free for download under the Creative Commons License. Matt describes the relationship with contributors as “a benevolent dictatorship.” It’s a good idea but don’t really think he’s going to make it to 50,000. Maybe if Michel Gondry wanted to make a film like this it could happen.