• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 7, 2006

Ready for your close-up, Mark Burnett. You better be.

You finally hit big heights in convincing the entertainment icon Steven Spielberg to back the next alteration of your TV reality format: a contest among wannabe filmmakers.

DreamWorks, Spielberg, and Burnett finally decided that its new series, called "On The Lot," would go to Fox, which was the most aggressive of the networks angling for the chance.

Considering the way DreamWorks has gone recently with its full-fledged theatrical movies, perhaps it's best that filmmakers attempting to grab a development deal from the studio vie for that spot in pitching short films, three to five minutes or so in length. Keep the pain short, I say.

Now I have all that I need to fill out my curriculum vitae. I can barely beat anyone up when I watch "The Contender," sing off-key in "Rock Star," make some really bad business deals for "The Apprentice" or make some really bad interior design decisions with "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." Now, I can attempt a sappy three-arc traditional movie script about a sorry film no one will want to see.

Talk about reinventing yourself. Perhaps precious stars of reality show past will take another crack at high drama. There doesn't seem to be much left for Burnett. Businesspeople, boxers, rock singers, designers, and now movie directors.

Have I left anyone out? Hookers, perhaps?

Gee, there are many stories in the not-so-naked city. We just need the most glamorous professions we can get to despise, spurn, but always stare down in amazement. More high-class reality accidents, please with high-horse divas, helpless dumb guys and high drama.

The making of movies? The only thing better is turning a trick.