A Community Is Born

Feb 19, 2007 | 5:23 AM PST
Tags: casting, geeks, nerds, talent, community
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With my entry done and dusted (hopefully going live this week..?) I'm standing back and shaking my head at the sheer scale of the community we've created on this site. On The Lot's 8,000 entries has to make it America's biggest contest for filmmakers. (And our odds of being chosen as contestants is 500 to 1!)  Adjusted for population, it's as big as Sydney's Tropfest, which is as big as it gets down here, and sucks in everyone from pro to wannabe. I sure don't envy On The Lot's production office: what a massive casting challenge they've unleashed!

What I'm curious about is how they're going to find 16 great filmmakers who can also look good while they're doing it. We're not traditionally a very glamourous lot! The most talented ones, I'm betting, will be geeks. If they cast this show on talent, it'll look a lot more like "Revenge Of The Nerds" than "Temptation Island"! 

 

Member Comments: 15

 

Delete JesseHeffring visit blog


Feb 19, 2007 | 6:11 AM PST

Actually, there seem to be more than 25 000 entries, so we actually have a 1 in 1500 chance of making it.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 19, 2007 | 4:16 PM PST

I'm a geek, but apparently boys like to look at me.

Honestly, I'd hate to be picked because of that.

I'd like to be chosen because my film is just that good.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 20, 2007 | 7:22 AM PST

Point taken, JessicaMarie- you don't just want to be picked as eye candy- though I'd be grateful to be chosen for any reason. Have done a little bit more reading since my first post, and it seems they're gonna be casting on personality plus talent.

Hmmm... I wonder if the nerdy young Steven Spielberg or the taciturn George Lucas would have shone in such a contest? (Early on in Spielberg's career, people would say "I thought he'd come to fix the Coke machine, then I found out he was the director!") I suspect they'd be passed over in favour of more flamboyant types: Francis Coppola, Orson Welles, Oliver Stone... the kind of guys who'd do a good director's commentary, and speak engagingly to the camera in the middle of a shoot.

Most of the big-time directors I've met were polite, reserved, listening more than they talked... till you opened them up on their subject of interest and bam: you'd get a 20 minute monologue full of passion. They basically struck me as unremarkable (though unusually intelligent and articulate) personalities in the grip of a remarkable obsession.

Oh, and thank you for those accurate odds of success from JesseHeffring: 1,500 to 1. Guess I won't be taking it personally if I lose...

Last edited by videowilliams on February 20th at 7:30 AM.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 21, 2007 | 3:21 AM PST

Thanks, VDub.

Nobody is sheltered. We just have different experiences.

I've been sheltered from the rest of the world...Australia, for example.

I don't think my film blows...hope nobody else does, either.

Thanks again for the kind words on my "Epic" blog, and please, please, please, my little Kiwi, do let me know the moment your film goes up!!

JessicaMarie.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 21, 2007 | 3:51 AM PST

Oh, don't worry, JM. If they ever make the "I-News" Trailer live, I'll be spamming you and everyone else to watch it! In the meantime...

You can catch an earlier version of the I-News Trailer on the drama page of my website at http://www.aussieshortfilms.com . While you're there, check out "The Eye Of God" on the documentary page. I thought of sending that in too. Or read the articles in "writing" if you can't download the films.

...How's that for spam?

Oh, by the way, you little charmer, a Kiwi is actually a New Zealander. Which is kinda like me calling you a Canuck! I could be your little wallaby, however. That'd work.

Last edited by videowilliams on February 21st at 4:10 AM.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 21, 2007 | 4:05 AM PST

See how sheltered I am, my little wallaby? I know nothing of the land down under beyond you, the Kookaburra song, and "Waltzing Mathilda."

I'll get to your site as soon as I can...and I might leave the house and upload the Quicktime of my film up somewhere...I want to show off my film, too!!

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 21, 2007 | 7:01 AM PST

As an American, JM, and a midwesterner at that, I'm impressed you even know that much about Oz! During my college days in Los Angeles, one friend mailing a letter asked me in all seriousness "what month is it in Australia?" I was asked by a waitress in Texas: "What language do you speak in Australia?" And when a girl friend put me on the phone to her mom in Minnesota, her mother couldn't understand a word I said!

Yet living there in the demilitarised zone of Los Angeles (while ironically paying zillions to attend USC), I came to understand the reason we're so far off the radar down here. There's so much happening in America all the time, the outside world just doesn't get a chance to register. I tell friends here that America isn't a country like Australia: it's multitude of countries, more like Europe.

I'll go out on a limb and predict there'll be one Aussie in this cast. (They're planning interviews in L.A, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Sydney and Bombay, so this doesn't make me Einstein.) I hope they cast some midwestern Americans in it too: the nicest people in America come from there.

Last edited by videowilliams on February 21st at 8:39 AM.

 

 

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 22, 2007 | 3:04 AM PST

Sorry it took me so long to come back by, Wallaby.

I saw an ad for that Bravo reality show about rich housewives, and the one asked a girl if she spoke Canadian.

It's embarrassing, really.

And I'm not a genius, either...I'm not that good at my own country's geography (those darn "middle states!"), much less anywhere else.

Did I tell you I'm eagerly waiting for USC to inform me whether or not they'll let me pay them a gajillion dollars to go there this fall for my MFA in Screenwriting?

(I believe at the current exchange rate, $gajillion USD=$zillions AUS)

Oooh, there's a Gold Coast down under, isn't there? I live on the Midwestern Gold Coast...but yours is prettier.

Thanks for all of the positivity. My gratitude likely goes without saying, but I needed to say it anyway.

Good Luck!!

JessicaMarie.

PS. Don't forget to let me know the very INSTANT your film posts!! I'm going to wait for the submitted version to land here so I can see you as you presented yourself for this competition, then crawl all over your site.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 22, 2007 | 4:31 AM PST

JessicaMarie, I think you are quite possibly the most charming person I've ever encountered on-line. About five thousand guys on this site will be very disappointed if you turn out to be a 54 year old grandmother with a team of writers putting this stuff up.

USC would be lucky to have you. Gotta say, I came away with more bad memories than good from that place. The school was great, the area was terrible... and by the area, I mean Los Angeles. Living day after day under that toxic brown sky, in a waterless basin of endless cement alongside 50 gajillion other people (and their cars) made me think of the end of the world. What I'd taken for granted in Sydney- blue sky, clean air, drinkable water, trees, trustworthy neighbours, and a sense that things were getting better, not worse- turned out to be something I needed to survive. Without it I was just dying slowly. Which is why I came home. I wonder if you, from the lovely Midwest, will feel likewise?

Anyway, I hope you don't get well too soon. We need more of your sunshine in here! And congrats on becoming a Popular Blog and a Hot Little Fox. Upward and Onward!

Last edited by videowilliams on February 22nd at 11:34 AM.

Delete Californiayanqui visit blog


Feb 22, 2007 | 11:17 AM PST

Hello william,

For me, looking good at 46 is never going to happen. I'll be the next version of the bowery boys Deadend kids hal huntz.

Mind boggling this collection of talent online. I started searching a ton of forums for a creative community and this one surpasses them all.

Best wishes,
California Yanqui
Tim

My submission
"Mechistaville" http://films.thelot.com/films/16620

And now...................for fun
"Blast from the Past Hollywood Barber" http://films.thelot.com/films/26887

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 22, 2007 | 6:58 PM PST

The interesting thing is, Tim, there has apparently been a tight little core of people who've been chatting here for months. They're complaining that the site's gone crazy lately, what with all these new people like you and me sweeping in. Now you'll log on and see there are "50,000 Users On-Line". I've stopped thinking of winning- since the odds are getting longer by the second-- and just trawl the blogs and the films to find interesting people. As you say, there's a mind-boggling number.

Last edited by videowilliams on February 22nd at 7:05 PM.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 25, 2007 | 2:54 AM PST

If being myself makes me charming, so be it!! Thanks so much for the honest and generous compliment.

I'm often nervous that my Ohioan mentality will be a liability in LA, especially if I'm accepted On the Lot or to grad school, which will be cutthroat.

But then I think about the fact that I'm a science-dammed survivor and I know that I'll be ready for anything.

Who knows??

But I'm definitely 27, not 54, and I'm mom only to a crazy little cat...but not a cat lady!!

You're the best, and I'm sorry I didn't make it back over to this blog sooner.

I wish you'd write more...you're brilliant.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 25, 2007 | 3:54 AM PST

The thing about my writing, Jess: I honestly find it hard. It happens slowly, and I anguish over every word. How I envy your ability to write at the speed of thought!

Last edited by videowilliams on February 25th at 3:55 AM.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


Feb 25, 2007 | 4:13 AM PST

Ahhhhhh. Is that why you edit so many of your posts?

That's a shame, as I really enjoy your sense of humor.

At least your products are brilliant...especially after all that hard work.

I still adore you, and I envy your funny-osity.

JM

 

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


Feb 25, 2007 | 4:40 AM PST

David's writing prior to editing:
lkjhc kbelh b ij;ren#^*vvglvbjvjnbkvjgv bkjbnvl

David's writing after editing:
To be or not to be, that is the question...

Believe me, Jess, that editing is doing you a favour.

Last edited by videowilliams on February 25th at 4:59 AM.