Los
Angeles
(Reuters):
Director
Steven
Spielberg
has
joined
with
the
Fox
television
network
for
his
first
reality
show,
an
American
Idol-like
contest
to
find
the
nation's
next
great
filmmaker,
Fox
said.
Spielberg,
the
Oscar-winning
director
behind
Saving
Private
Ryan
and
Schindler's
List,
will
develop
the
new
Fox
show,
On
the
Lot,
with
Mark
Burnett,
the
producer
of
such
TV
reality
hits
as
Survivor
and
The
Apprentice.
The
series,
slated
to
air
sometime
in
the
2006-07
broadcast
season,
will
pit
a
group
of
aspiring
filmmakers
in
competition
for
a
Hollywood
development
deal
on
the
lot
of
DreamWorks,
the
studio
Spielberg
co-founded.
DreamWorks
was
recently
sold
to
Paramount
Pictures,
a
division
of
Viacom
Inc.
Fox
reality
programming
chief
Mike
Darnell
told
Reuters
yesterday
that
Spielberg
would
appear
on
the
show
but
that
the
nature
or
extent
of
his
role
on
the
series
had
yet
to
be
decided.
''All
through
my
career
I've
done
what
I
can
to
discover
new
talent
and
give
them
a
start,''
Spielberg
said
in
a
statement.
''This
opportunity
...
allows
all
of
us
to
reach
out
directly
to
open
a
much
wider
door.''
Details
about
the
show's
format
were
being
worked
out,
but
Darnell
said
''On
the
Lot''
would
be
structured
as
an
elimination
contest,
with
home
viewers
voting
on
which
competitors
should
advance
to
the
next
round
each
week.
Like
the
Fox
hit
American
Idol,
the
top-rated
TV
show
in
the
United
States,
the
new
series
will
air
twice
weekly,
with
an
hourlong
''film
premiere''
episode
in
which
short-subject
works
produced
by
the
contestants
are
shown,
followed
the
next
night
by
a
half-hour
''box
office''
results
show
that
decides
who
makes
the
cut
to
the
next
round.
The
show
will
also
feature
a
panel
of
judges,
consisting
of
a
high-ranking
studio
executive,
a
prominent
film
critic
and
other
experts
who
will
comment
on
the
finished
films
in
front
of
a
live
audience.
''There's
so
many
amateur
and
budding
filmmakers
who
really
don't
have
the
opportunity
to
show
their
stuff,''
Darnell
said.
''We
want
to
bring
them
to
Hollywood
and
have
them
start
out
making
shorts
and
competing
with
each
other
...
and
have
America
help
us
find
the
next
great
filmmaker.''
After
a
nationwide
search
for
undiscovered
talents,
a
group
of
16
finalists
will
be
divided
into
several
teams
that
will
produce
a
short
film
for
each
week's
selected
film
genre,
such
as
comedy,
horror,
drama,
romance
and
science
fiction.