Fox Show: On The Lot

Crew Position: Writer/Director

Current Project: Jarrett was recently on the Fox reality show ‘On The Lot’ where he earned a first look deal with Dreamworks.

Website: www.bfamstudios.com
www.myspace.com/jconaway

Before I got to the guest tonight I said a little spiel about how I support the opportunities that reality shows like ‘On The Lot’ create for artists. Like ‘American Idol’ does for singers, ‘On The Lot’ for filmmakers, and on and on. The reason I felt compelled to do so was because I was reading around some chat-rooms and I came across some negativity about it. From conspiracy theories of how people are selected, to comments about the people on the show to just a general negative bias towards all things reality. I will grant you there is some crappy reality TV out there. And I don’t know enough to know if the selection process is 100% fair. I do know that few things in life are 100% fair. Maybe it’s not perfect, but again I’m for giving talent an outlet to be discovered that would otherwise go undiscovered.

Enter Jarrett Conaway. A great guest and a talented upcoming filmmaker who is getting a lot of attention he would not have received otherwise. This is a good thing.

Conaway possesses knowledge, passion and an appreciation for the process of filmmaking. He answered great instant messages from viewers who had questions about the show and filmmaking. His submission piece, (to ‘On The Lot’) “Anthem”, captures the style of M. Knight Shyamalan, a filmmaker who Conaway regards as an influence.

He followed up “Anthem” with a short action/comedy called “Go Pizza Boy Go”. In order to get the girl of his dreams, pizza boy must deliver a pizza in thirty minutes or less. Clips from both shorts were well received by the ‘Filmnut’ audience.

Conaway also shared some off screen advice from a couple of the ‘On The Lot’ judges, Gary Marshall and Brent Ratner and, in addition, some of what he learned from a guest instructor at film school (he currently attends USC), a filmmaker by the name of Robert Zemeckis.

The back and forth between us combined with the IM’s made this a fun show. Check it out if you haven’t already. www.thestream.tv/filmnut will take you directly to this episode as well as all past filmnut shows.

Thanks for tuning in! Let me know what you think!

Jeff Schubert
www.myspace.com/powerofnow