QWERTY's "On The Lot"

I FIRST chanced upon it yesterday in Abe Olandres's weblog via my Google Reader account. Then Maryanne Moll forwarded me an email asking support for a Pinoy's short firm entry to Spielberg's "On The Lot." Then, this article by Erwin Oliva in today's Inquirer. How's that for triangulation?

I am referring of course to Paolo Dy's QWERTY, a five-minute thriller that is in contention for the 16 slots in "On the Lot," Fox TV's newest reality competition for aspiring filmmakers that offers a $1-million development deal with DreamWorks. (Which is why Spielberg is involved, together with Mark Burnett, as producers; if I recall it right, there's an SKG appended to DreamWorks films, which stands for Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, the latter recently gaining notoriety for ditching Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack Obama in a big way; but I digress).

The series will start airing on May 16. All details in Oliva's article are on the mark, except the last paragraph about submissions; the show's "submit films" webpage here actually says February 16, 2007 was the last day for submitting films online or by post.

The format is similar to American Idol: votes cast by TV viewers will get to decide who walks away with the top prize. So how can we help Paolo Dy get closer to his dream? The rules governing the contest contains the following:

One or more of the considerations that producer may use in determining participant selections may be based on viewership, feedback and/or voting on submissions by the general public on the series website.

This matches the three metrics that are reflected on every film entry. So to generate buzz on QWERTY, you can

• view it
• rate it. Or alternatively send to a friend or add to your favorite;
• Or better still, review it.

Actually, as of this writing, Paolo's entry has had 17,058 views, 343 ratings and 499 reviews. Comparatively, the frontrunners in the "Most Viewed" category had 946,588 views, 1,198 ratings and 12,389 reviews; "Most Linked," 19,604 views, 372 ratings and 469 reviews; and "Most Discussed," 7,304 views, 309 ratings and 2,023 reviews. I sense he is not actually too far behind.

By the way, based on the rules, we have a tight window to get this done. Final selection process (to identify the 16 finalists, I guess) takes place in Los Angeles, California during an eight-day period in late March to early April. The lucky ones get to stay on up to four months until Spring/Summer 2007.