THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

I avoided this film for a while because I thought it would be another sappy success story.

It is actually a fierce success story.

It describes how a man with no financial resources takes care of his son, and deals with massive personal and financial problems while competing with dozens of others for a position as an apprentice... er... make that junior, stock broker.

There is more than a passing resemblance between the real competition the character in the movie faces, and the reality show competitions that contestants in Burnettesque shows face on television.

One reason the movie succeeds is the brilliant (Oscar nominated) performance by Will Smith. He is always on screen and always interesting. His son in the movie, played by Smith's own son, Jaden Smith, makes an excellent screen debut, and they work together with genuine chemistry.

Since the movie is about a father-son relationship, I found it rather strange that the end titles described the career of the father who was the inspiration for the movie, but not what happened to the son. Was he ??? A little strolling through the Internet, however, provides some answers.

By the way, watching The Pursuit Of Happyness would probably not be a bad way to help filmmakers prepare psychologically for the challenges they will find On The Lot (OTL), a Burnett reality show starting Tuesday.

CASTING ACTORS ON THE LOT

Actors can now post their headshots and vital statistics ON THE LOT (OTL), the website for the new Spielberg/Burnett show. I have no idea whether or not it could result in any casting for the show, but the site seems a good place to network with filmmakers. (Filmmakers have posted a lot of good short films on the site, and participate in blogs and forums. Recently, about 9,000 to 13,000 people are logged in at any one time.)

The actor can also link to their profile page, or give it out as an online headshot and resume.

The actor registers on the site, then clicks the Actor radio button in the profile. The actor can upload pictures and credits. People can post comments on the actor's site. The actor can participate in forums (including an Actor's Forum) and can write a blog on the site. People on the site can exchange private e-mails with each other.

TO FIND ACTORS' PROFILES

Searching on the site is not very good. These are the only ways I know to search on the site (for actors, films, filmmakers or anything else):

1- Use films:
http://films.thelot.com/films/


2- Use casting:
http://www.thelot.com/casting/


3- Use google with thelot.com as part of the search

4- Use Josh Rencher's search:
http://64.39.15.100/onthelot/



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My film OTL:

FRAGILE (Sonnet 65) with Intro
http://films.thelot.com/films/25479

ON THE LOT -- MORE DETAILS

Some details have finally been released on how On The Lot (OTL) is going to work.

OTL is a version of Apprentice/Idol/Survivor for filmmakers, with Steven Spielberg as the central figure and Mark Burnett as the TV producer.

From 12,000 submissions, 50 filmmakers were picked to go to Hollywood for "boot camp". 18 of those will make it to the final competition. Their (short) films will be judged by a panel that includes Carrie Fisher, Brett Ratner, Garry Marshall, and Jon Avnet.

Ultimately, the final choices will be made by public voting, based on the films made by the filmmakers each week, with the lowest vote-getting director eliminated on each episode.

The show premieres May 22 on Fox.

The OTL web site can become a central meeting place for filmmakers, as well as a magnet for the viewers of the TV show, if the show's producers put a little more work into making the site user-friendly. (For one thing, it needs really good internal navigation, including a good search engine for films. Right now, navigation assistance is minimal.) The site includes community bulletin boards and blogs, filmmaker and actor profiles, and tens of thousands of interesting short films.

My own film is up there:

FRAGILE (Sonnet 65) with Intro
http://films.thelot.com/films/25479