ON THE LOT
Episode 15
The Final Three

Sam. Dude.
Like Andrew and Zach, I’ll be keeping my eye out for you.
And “Replication Theory” still rocks.

So we’ve got the Final Three, and for that crucial final vote, they each chose two shorts from everything they’ve directed for the show: Jason chose “Eternal Waters” and “Sweet,” Will chose “Glass Eye” and “The Yes Men,” and Adam chose “Dough: The Musical” and “Army Guy.” (See my past reviews in the Archive for my reactions to them after their first runs.)
For those of you who’ve been following my reviews of the show’s shorts, you’ll know that I’m rooting for two of these guys, but based on the choices tonight, Adam takes the cake, since both his picks were Favorites of mine during their respective premieres (and “Dough” is pretty much a stand-out from the entire competition).
But of course, what do I know?
I mean, Jason’s got that whole country boy thing going, and Will’s the family man. (And let’s face it, in these sort of reality competition shows, image and personality count too.) It really is anyone’s ball game, and next week should prove interesting.

(Contestant images courtesy of thelot.com.)

ON THE LOT
Box Office Results 1

It alarms me that all 3 of my Un-Favorites from last night survived the cut. (Is this where my personal tastes diverge from those of the American viewing/voting public?)
It doubly alarms me that Phil Hawkins was sent home. “Please Hold” may not have been on my Favorites short list, but it looked great and was still pretty funny, funnier than the shorts of some of the other directors who squeezed through to the next round. Does this actually mean “Wacky Alley Cab” or “Bus #1” was funnier in the eyes of the voting public? Errr…

I also thought Claudia La Bianca’s “Blind Date” was visually interesting, so it’s odd that she went home, when other shorts (like, ahem, “Bus #1”) weren’t particularly inspired as far as their visuals were concerned.

And though I did love Marty Martin’s “The Big Bad Heist,” placing him alongside Carolina de San Martin just made the fact that he submitted a trailer instead of a short film with an actual story seem like a glaring, unfair oversight. De San Martin’s “Deliver Me” may not have been the funniest short, but at least it displayed a single situation, as opposed to a bunch of cool money shots (which is really what a trailer is all about).
But hey, Marty, “The Big Bad Heist” was great. Really. “24 angry little ninjas.” Classic.
Boiling it down to you and Carolina in front of the television audience was in all probability the producer’s choice, so we’re all good.

On the other side of the coin, only one of my favorites (Zach Lipovsky’s “Danger Zone”) was in the top 3. The other two were Will Bigham’s “Lucky Penny” and Jason Epperson’s “Getta Rhoom.”
I enjoyed the former, so that’s cool, but Epperson’s “nerd” really did seem off the mark. I just hope that Epperson can come up with better stuff in the next challenge.

Which is what I also hope the 3 directors on my Un-Favorites short list last night—Jessica Brillhart, Hilary Graham, and Kenny Luby—do as well. Based on the comedy shorts, I honestly think Phil Hawkins is a better director than either Graham or Luby; Brillhart is arguable, as I have a feeling I haven’t seen what she’s really capable of yet.

So on that note, here’s the final 15:

Adam Stein, 29, freelance film editor, born in Miami, FL, currently living in Los Angeles
Andrew Hunt, 31, promo producer from Minneapolis, MN, raised in Pittsburgh, PA
David May, 23, admissions counselor living in Santa Ana, CA, but grew up in Aurora, CO
Hilary Graham, 37, stay-at-home wife and mom who lives in Francestown, NH, and raised in Chelmsford, MA
Jason Epperson, 30, owner of film production company, born and raised in Winchester, KY
Jessica Brillhart, 22, computer specialist, grew up in York, PA, currently living in Brooklyn, NY
Kenny Luby, 28, freelance director and painter, born and raised in Owego, NY
Marty Martin, 26, creative director of a multimedia company, born and raised in Seattle, WA
Mateen Kemet, 41, teacher, currently living in Los Angeles, CA, raised in the Bronx, NY
Sam Friedlander, 28, web producer, living in Santa Monica, CA, raised in Westchester, NY
Shalini Kantayya, 30, freelance director, raised in Hartford, CT, currently living in Brooklyn, NY
Shira-Lee Shalit, 38, acting teacher, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, now living in New York
Trever James, 24, film editor, currently living in Los Angeles, CA, and raised in Great Falls, MT
Will Bigham, 31, film editor, originally from Canyon, TX, currently living in Glendale, CA
Zach Lipovsky, 23, special effects editor from Vancouver, BC, Canada

And before I go, I have to ask, would it kill Adrianna to announce, “Next week, on On The Lot…”?
I mean, part of the fun of American Idol is the anticipation of, “Can Contestant X handle Disco Night?” or “How will Contestant Y do an Elvis?” As it is, I’m in the dark as to what’s coming next, and I can’t even seem to find that information on the website. (Or am I looking in all the wrong places?)

(Contestant images courtesy of thelot.com.)

ON THE LOT
Auditions Round 2

So we are witness to the continued clash of egos and styles in two particular groups, which invariably ends in the elimination of one director from each group: Jeff Siebenick (the big guy who kept on getting in the face of the smaller guy, Marty Martin), and Hannah Sink (who, along with fellow director Jessica Brillhart, bumped heads with Kenny “I’m so proud I never went to film school” Luby).

With guest judge Jon Avnet in tow, Carrie Fisher and Brett Ratner run through the 12 short films, heaping praise on “Wilted” (by Jarrett Conaway, Jason Epperson, and Tamela D’Amico; watch it on the website) and “Time Out” (by fx wiz Zach Lipovsky, Sam Friedlander, and Adam Stein; though we get to see portions of it on the episode, you really should see the entire film too).
And though I love “Wilted,” “Time Out” really does rachet up the stakes, as these guys had the balls to go with an idea that pretty much relied on special effects, and actually pulled it off in the insanely constrictive time limit.
So right now, in my books, these are 6 directors I’m keeping my eye on.

Now, as for the show itself, I’m enjoying it, but my chief complaint is that there’s too much going on, so much so that we really don’t get to see a lot, and you’re forced to go on-line just to see what the judges sometimes refer to.
The thing is, when I watch a television show, I don’t want to have to be forced to go elsewhere for everything to make sense to me. I feel that the TV show itself should be able to stand alone and give me all I need to enjoy the On The Lot viewing experience.
I mean, it’s not like these were particularly long short films. They were 2 and a half minutes each, so that comes to 30 minutes total. Would it have hurt Fox to have had a second 1-hour long episode, just so the audience could see all 12 films, instead of the snippets we saw in this episode?
Hopefully, when the field gets whittled down further, then On The Lot can settle down to actually showing us both the directors, as well as their work, in greater detail.

So we left the 24 remaining directors with a new challenge: with 30 minutes of prep time, they’re tasked to direct and shoot a 1-page script in 1 hour. The shorts resulting from this challenge will determine which 18 will go on to next week’s first “Film Premiere” episode. Running 2 hours, it’ll showcase the short films the remaining 18 directors initially submitted, that got them into that field of 50 we saw in the first episode.
(Now, how we get from the 24 of episode 2 to the 18 of episode 3, I’m not entirely sure, but I can only assume we’ll see the 6 eliminations in the initial part of next week’s 2-hour show.)
That’s followed by a “Box Office” results show the following day, where we learn the results of the voting, and who gets sent home.

The remaining 24 directors, as of the end of episode 2:

Adam Stein, 29, freelance film editor, born in Miami, FL, currently living in Los Angeles
Andrew Hunt, 31, promo producer from Minneapolis, MN, raised in Pittsburgh, PA
Brent M., 34, freelancer producer, born and raised in Dallas, TX
Carolina Z., 36, commercial director, originally from Santander, Spain, currently living in Los Angeles, CA
Claudia L., 28, painter and graphic artist, born in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy, currently lives in Miami, FL
David M., 23, admissions counselor living in Santa Ana, CA, but grew up in Aurora, CO
Dean L., 36, writer/director, living in Los Angeles , CA , originally from New York City
Hilari S., 40, independent filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA, raised in Chicago, Atlanta and NYC
Hilary G., 37, stay-at-home wife and mom who lives in Francestown, NH, and raised in Chelmsford, MA
Jarrett Conaway, 24, graduate student living in Los Angeles, originally from Virginia Beach, VA
Jason Epperson, 30, owner of film production company, born and raised in Winchester, KY
Jessica Brillhart, 22, computer specialist, grew up in York, PA, currently living in Brooklyn, NY
Justin L., 24, digital post-production engineer, born and raised in Orange County, CA
Kenny Luby, 28, freelance director and painter, born and raised in Owego, NY
Marty Martin, 26, creative director of a multimedia company, born and raised in Seattle , WA
Mateen K., 41, teacher, currently living in Los Angeles, CA, raised in the Bronx, NY
Phil H., 22, born and raised in Manchester, England, works as a freelance director
Sam Friedlander, 28, web producer, living in Santa Monica, CA, raised in Westchester, NY
Shalini K., 30, freelance director, raised in Hartford, CT, currently living in Brooklyn, NY
Shira-Lee S., 38, acting teacher, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, now living in New York
Tamela D’Amico, 27, singer, actress and filmmaker living in Los Angeles, raised in Deer Park, NY
Trever J. 24, film editor, currently living in Los Angeles, CA, and raised in Great Falls, MT
Will Bigham, 31, film editor, originally from Canyon, TX, currently living in Glendale, CA
Zach Lipovsky, 23, special effects editor from Vancouver, BC, Canada

The list is from the On The Lot website, and for some reason, the contestants’ last names appear only as initials. I supplied the last names of the directors I’m aware of at the moment.

(Images courtesy of thecinemasource.com [Spielberg] and cbs.com [Burnett].)