How I Survived Reality TV, ON THE LOT with Hilari Scarl
ON THE LOT - How I Survived Reality TV
I never wanted to be a reality TV star. I have no desire to eat worms on camera, have a drunken kiss in a hot tub nor play backstabbing mind games. But the opportunity to have my films screened in front of millions of people persuaded me to sign the mountain of paperwork after the casting people saw my short film SNIPS & SNAILS. We had just been rejected by Sundance, so I was not confident about the odds of being selected to appear ON THE LOT, the new Steven Spielberg/Mark Burnett reality show.
After months of competition, I screamed when they called to tell me I was selected as one of the top 50 semi-finalists to appear ON THE LOT. Their search for the next great director resulted in over 12,000 short film submissions to compete for a $1 million dollar development deal with DreamWorks. We were told that Spielberg hand picked the top 50 himself - which was already like winning the jackpot.
I trained like a maniac before going on the show, and my stamina held me strong. I threw myself into director boot camp both physically and artistically, preparing for any potential situation. Being selected to go on the show gave me a chance to meet 49 incredible filmmakers and go through some of the toughest trenches that only my triathlons matched in terms of endurance and focus.
Here's the story from what you didn't see:
Our first challenge was to pitch Carrie Fisher, Garry Marshall and Brett Ratner from a hidden logline that was taped under our chairs. My logline was: A man sees himself on television as missing, or wanted or both. We had less than 12 hours to come up with an entire feature movie idea.
My pitch went really well. I stole a line from one of my own plays and built a film around it. My film idea was a SPY KIDS movie... for Christmas. Here's an excerpt of my 3 minute pitch of what I came up with between 10PM and 6:00 AM: A corporate fiend sits on his safety of his yacht in Acapulco sipping margaritas watching himself on the news. His company, the Happy Cards Greeting Company is being picketed by protestors since he has copyrighted Christmas. But you can't stop Christmas. A group of kids form an underground Secret Santa kids club and save the day and eventually turn this Grinch's heart around to bring Christmas back to the world. The movie is called Christmas with the "C" as a copyright symbol. Thank you, and to all a good night.
I'm leaving out the animated SWAT team bits and speed boat chases, but that was the gist of my pitch. Carrie thought it was unrealistic, but Brett and Garry loved it calling it whimsical and said it would make a great children's film. They eventually turned her around and she agreed that it was a solid story. Thanks to Jeremy (a.k.a. the belt slinger) who coached me on my pitch, I made it through to round 2. They didn't show you all of the good things that happened during this round. So now we're down to 36.
ROUND 2 - 24 hour films. I teamed up with Phil - the young Brit and Shawna from LA. They wanted to do a psychological thriller. We worked with some great actors and turned out a nice little film. It wasn't the best, but definitely wasn't the worst. I was surprised that I made it to the next round. When they asked me during my interview how I did, I said that I didn't hit it out of the ballpark so I really didn't know. They asked why I thought I should go to the next round. "Because they haven't seen my best work yet. I want to show the world what I can do." Someone must have been curious, because I ended up in the lineup with Phil moving on to Round 3. You can see our very average film REVERSE on thelot.com Down to the top 24.
ROUND 3 - Make a film in one hour and edit it in one hour - in the middle of the night. You didn't see any of this round because, well, you would've been able to judge everyone's filmmaking abilities since we were all on equal footing! This was my strongest round, and probably one of the best nights of my life. I walked onto a professional set with fully rehearsed actors, a fully lit set and a full crew ready to go. I maneuvered around the little challenges and curve balls that the producers sprinkled throughout the evening. After our hour was back, we then had exactly an hour to edit our scenes with a professional editor. I finished somewhere before dawn after my 5th day with no sleep. The following day was a huge relief that our challenges were over. I also received the most compliments from the judges. Carrie, Jon and Brett all raved about my opening saying that I really took my time to establish the mood and style, and absolutely loved my choice of music. They also complimented the way that I work with actors saying that I really understand the craft of acting and how to get amazing performances out of my talent. However, they were disappointed in my ending which broke with my style. I agreed since I shot the last scene in 8 minutes!
THE CUT: At this point I was so deliriously tired not only from the lack of sleep, but the constant tension they were keeping us under. I knew that I had done my personal best, and had grown tremendously both personally and as a director. I went in to face the judges with confidence. They told me that I was one of the hardest decisions, and that I didn't make it. But they went on and on about how much they love me, my work, and my short film DITTO. They went on to tell me to go out there and prove them wrong. I know in my heart that I will. If you want to see my look of disappointment from being axed, you can see it on the Cutting Room Floor -Outakes 4 on thelot.com. That and not getting to meet Steven Spielberg.
THE SHOW: The editing glossed over the third round and have left many people confused. Hopefully the show will find its footing so that some of my new friends still on the show will have a fair shot. Keep in mind that this IS reality television and they are editing/producing it to show conflict, so I am very OK with not getting involved past where I left off. I intend to have a very healthy directing career and be known for my work - not for being a diva director.
For those of you who know me and know that I didn't need to hear it from 3 Hollywood judges to "keep going." I leave on the red-eye tonight for Philadelphia and New York to continue filming my deaf entertainers documentary. I will be following one of the most talented performers I have ever had the pleasure of working with, Robert DeMayo. He is a modern-day Buster Keaton, teaching at Juilliard the first week of June... and is currently homeless in Philadelphia. Robert has been sleeping at the airport for the past 2 nights alone while awaiting my arrival since he has nowhere else to go.
I have shot 14 hours of footage and have cut together a promo showing some of my subjects. Because of the show, I have meetings set up in NYC and in LA about this film and other projects. Even though this is my first feature, I have made 11 short films this year (13 if you count the two OTL) and am ready for some of my bigger scripts to get produced. If you believe in me and my work, I could really (REALLY) use your help and support right now with any donations. If everyone who was going to send 25 text messages to vote for me on the show could send $25 at http://www.youngplayers.org/deaf/ I could make it through the summer and get the ball rolling on my larger sponsors/production companies. All of the money goes directly to me and will help me pay my New York crew and keep me in Ramen Noodles for the next two months.
Thank you all who have supported my journey, cheered me on from the sidelines and believed in me. Hopefully the next time you see me it will be behind the camera.
Hilari Scarl
www.HilariScarl.com
http://www.myspace.com/hilariscarl
Hilari Scarl
ON THE LOT © is produced by Mark Burnett Productions, DreamWorks Television and Amblin Television.