A few weeks ago we got an email from a PR agency inviting us out to LA to see a taping of the reality show, On The Lot, courtesy of The Ford Motor Company. It sounded too good to be true, and I was wondering what the catch was. Turns out there really was no catch. We just got back from LA and had a great time.

We flew out on Tuesday and arrived in LA around 11am. A representative from Ford met us at the airport and took us to the Roosevelt Hotel right in the heart of Hollywood. This is where the very first Academy Awards were held. It had just recently been remodeled to have a very modern look, but it still had a very old Hollywood feel to it. The rooms were
really nice.

After we checked in and made sure our stuff made it to our rooms (they took our bags for us,) we went up to the roof for lunch and a presentation from Ford. We met the other bloggers. I was surprised to find that not all the bloggers were film bloggers. There were comedy bloggers, shopping bloggers, fashion bloggers, adventure bloggers, etc. I think they said there were about 17 bloggers chosen from all over America and Canada. Everyone was really cool and fun to talk to. We all expressed some skepticism of what our time in LA was going to be like. Lunch was deli sandwiches. The view was incredible offering great views of the Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

After lunch, we met the team from Ford and their PR agency. They gave a short presentation on the Ford Escape and Escape Hybrid. They talked about their marketing campaign and the associated website http://www.boredomhurts.com. Then they showed us some video clips from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and short films created by a
fictitious contestant 51 that almost made it onto the On The Lot show. It’s really an elaborate marketing campaign associated with the On The Lot website. The videos are a little cheesy and but in a good way.

After the presentation, we were divided into pairs (Jeremiah and I stuck together the whole time) and given the keys to a Ford Escape. We then drove about 20 minutes to the CBS Studios where On The Lot is taped. We were greeted by two guys that work for Mark Burnett and handle product integration. They gave us a behind the scenes tour. We saw their production offices, David Hasslehoff’s dressing room (his show tapes there too), John Ratzenberg hanging out in Mark Burnett’s office, the set and backstage area. Then we met the Executive Producer. No, not Spielberg. The one that actually runs the show. He gave us a tour through their video control trailer. Wow. I thought our church had an impressive control room. Not anymore. This thing was amazing. A video geeks heaven.

After the tour we were seated in the theater and Mark Burnett stopped by to say hi. A few people were able to ask him some questions. He was really impressive and seems to have handled his tremendous success very well. Someone asked him about being named one of Hollywood’s 25 mavericks. He very humbly said that he learned a long time ago to treat
a kick in the balls like a pat on the back and vice versa. They’re both momentary. He said you’ll self destruct if you start caring about what people think. Good advice.

At this point a comedian came out to warm up the crowd and we had to say goodbye to Mr. Burnett. The comedian wasn’t that funny, but he did his best to get the crowd going. He explained how the show would work and a few minutes later it started. It’s a live taping so if you saw it on TV you know what happened. A few things of note:

• It’s hard to hear what the host and judges were saying. I guess they keep the volume low for recording purposes, but I really need to watch it on Tivo because I couldn’t hear a thing.
• Jerry O’Connell was on the show sitting in the audience, but they actually just whisked him out right before they cut to him and then he left.
• Adrianna Costa, the host, is really that attractive.
• During commercial breaks, the warm up guy would do movie trivia or little games with audience members to keep the crowd going.

When the show ended, they took us up on stage and then brought each of the judges by to meet us and talk to us for a second. I got to ask guest judge Gary Ross (Seabiscuit & Dave) for his advice to first time directors. He told us to keep doing it. He said they may laugh at you now, but in twenty years everything will be different. He said not to define success by what Hollywood says it is. Easy advice to dispense from someone who has achieved that type of success.

Penny Marshall was next. She was… very interesting. Kinda scary. She talked about how no studios would make A League of Their Own today because it doesn’t appeal to foreign markets. She made some good points, but was really out there.

Carrie Fisher was up after her. She was the most talkative of all. She asked us about blogging and the difference between Myspace and Facebook. Someone of course asked her about Princess Leia. I felt sorry for her. She has to get that every single day of her life. She
said she hates going to conventions. She calls them celebrity lap dances. After a few minutes of talking about Leia, I asked her about writing to change the subject. She said she was working on a couple projects and then they escorted her away.

After that we met Adrianna. She was really nice and friendly. She
asked where everyone was from and thought it was cool that we were from
Atlanta since she used to work for CNN Headline News and lived there.
That’s all I’ll say about Adrianna since my wife reads this.

From there we were taken to the bungalows where the contestants are staying. They had cocktails there and we were able to meet each of the contestants. They were all really nice, but I especially enjoyed talking with Jason and Will. They were all just regular guys that just
a few weeks ago were the typical filmmakers hauling their equipment in their car and begging their friends to help them make a short film. Now they’re working with full Hollywood crews and only have to worry about how they’re going to direct the film. Must be nice.

We went to dinner at a hot LA restaurant with the contestants, the producer, Adrianna (she sat next to Jeremiah!), and the product integration guys. We got to talk with the contestants even more. Jason was really interested in our feature and asked a lot of questions and I got to ask Zach what it was like to work with the Dad from Family Matters. He said he was really nice. We learned a lot of behind the scenes secrets that we’re not supposed to share, so I won’t, but it was really interesting.

We got to spend a couple of hours with the contestants. It was a lot of fun talking with them. After dinner everyone, including the contestants, went back to the hotel for cocktails at the pool. We skipped that and went to bed because we were still on Atlanta time and it was around 2:30am (our time.) I was amazed at how much time we were getting with the contestants. Especially considering one of them was being eliminated the next morning. It’s crazy to think that at this very moment one of them is sitting in a hotel room locked off from the rest of the world until the show airs tomorrow night.

Wow this post is long. I’ll be more concise.

The next day we went to a Ford commercial shoot at the Disney Ranch. This was a dream come true for us. We’re huge Disney geeks and it was pretty amazing to be at the place where they shot a lot of the old Disney movies and TV shows.

After that was more time in the Escape. We had a sort of photo scavenger hut that took us to several LA landmarks. Here’s where we went:

Overlooking LA from Mullholland Drive

Rodeo Drive. Don’t ask.

Pink’s hot dog stand. Supposedly famous.

It was fun driving the Escape through the winding roads of the Hollywood hills. It’s a great little SUV. The handling was great and the ride was comfortable. It had an audio input jack for our iPod and a pretty cool control panel and navigation system. This was my first experience with a hybrid and I must say I’m very impressed. It got great gas mileage and, let’s face it, hybrid is just cooler these days. It was neat to pull up to a stop sign and just hear total silence (it runs on electric while under 25mph.) Okay. Commercial over. All of that is true though. It’s a great car.

After the road rally it was back the hotel and then dinner. We had a great time and are very grateful to Ford for flying us out there. The trip really made me want to work on Hollywood sized films. I can’t wait until we’re doing that and get to work out there. I guess we better
hurry up and finish our film first.

(Jeremiah will post a few more details later this week.)