Since Gabe and I may have been the only ones in the country to even care (besides the filmmakers and their families of course), it's time to put this disaster of a reality show to bed for good. Despite the preening and idiotic banter of hostess/spokesmodel/Gary Marshall lust-object Adrianna Costa, and typical technical snafu of internet votes not getting counted due to a systems crash or some nonsense after Part 1 of the season finale aired last Tuesday (was this show cursed or what?), they somehow still managed to receive "a record number" of votes via telephone and text messages to determine a winner of the $1 million production deal at Dreamworks--and at least they got that right!
Congratulations to FSU Film School grad and Florida Film Festival veteran Will Bigham! To emerge from this 12,000 submissions competition with a considerable production deal, an office at Dreamworks, and Steven Spielberg as you new boss is a terrific achievement. From his very first film (LUCKY PENNY) to his last (THE YES MEN), with stops for a brain surgery comedy, a dog swallowing it's owner's glass eye film noir, and a touching romance between two office lamps (an homage to Pixar?) among others, Will's work was consistently imaginative, charming, clever, and often very, very funny with a silent film comedy sensibility. He is clearly a talented man with a lot of stories to tell--I'm excited for his future as a filmmaker, and not at all embarrassed to say I was rooting for him all the way.
Now can someone explain why they went through all the trouble and expense of creating one-sheets for every film in the final weeks, yet hardly ever showed them to the TV audience? I sure hope the studio audience got a good look cause I didn't--one of the many things that got progresively more annoying as the show went on. But at least Fox didn't pull it before they finished...
--Matthew
"...o determine a winner of the $1 million production deal at Dreamworks--and at least they got that right!"
Except the million dollars will be paid in Reeses Pieces.
I also heard a rumor that the OTL anit-climactic ending with Spielberg himself (the proverbial money shot) meeting the winner at the gates of Dreamworks was pre-recorded, which begs the question--did the OTL producers pre-record all 3 finalists meeting Spielberg? Or just the one? And is that why the climax fell so flat?
I have to admit that -- despite it being a TERRIBLE show -- I was hooked on this series. Why? Because it was fun to watch talented, struggling directors make new films each week and see what they came up with. What a great learning experience! Many of the final 10 or so directors were quite talented and it was an awful shame that apparently (what I assume to be) the young white male voting base could not stomach any minority or female filmmakers.
Definite congratulations to Will, but I hope that many of the finalists will have career boost by their exposure here.
Now, if only the show's producers could show half as much creativity as the contestants!
