David May, a 23-year-old admissions counselor from Santa Ana, CA, was revealed to be seventh finalist eliminated from On the Lot during Tuesday night's live broadcast of the Fox reality filmmaking competition series.
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Similar to last week's elimination, On the Lot host Adrianna Costa and judge Garry Marshall told May of his fate last Wednesday -- less than a day after last Tuesday night's screening of How to Have a Girl, his original comedy short that followed a couple trying to ensure the gender of their child during conception. A video clip of May learning of his elimination then aired during this past Tuesday night's On the Lot broadcast.
"Every director has a bad movie, it's just unfortunate mine was in-front of millions and millions of people," May said after he learned that his film had received the lowest number of viewer votes and he'd been eliminated from the competition. "I fully intend to just pick myself up and try again because the only way that I lose out is if I give-up all together."
After the premiere of May's original comedy short last week, On the Lot judge Carrie Fisher had been a little unsure about the aspiring director's attempt at being funny through the use of sexual content.
"David... It was a little confusing to me," she told May. "In the end, I didn't really sort of get [if] they actually end-up having sex or was it just a fight?... I didn't think it was really a success for me. And given that, I have some concerns about you."
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Mean Girls and Freaky Friday director Mark Waters served as last week's On the Lot guest judge, and while he liked May's idea, he wasn't a big fan of the final product.
"It was a really delicious comic conceit that you came-up with, and it didn't really deliver on the promise," Waters told May. "I felt like your choices were kind of a little broad throughout it and it didn't end up being a lot of laughs. It ended up just turning into kind of a wrestling match way too early. It didn't really work for me."
"I agree with the judges actually," May said prior to learning his fate. "I feel like I know where I went wrong. I don't do sex comedy. I don't know anything about that... And I think that it's coming to the point where there are no room for errors."
In addition to revealing May had received the lowest number of viewers votes following last week's broadcast, Costa also announced that Will Bigham, a 31-year-old film editor from Glendale, CA whose Nerve Endings film followed an intern as he experiments with brain surgery on an unsuspecting patient, was the recipient of the most viewer votes.
After revealing May's elimination, On the Lot's live broadcast screened new individual horror films created by the other half of the show's Top 12 remaining finalists. The original horror shorts -- which were critiqued by Marshall, Fisher, and this week's guest judge, Hostel director Eli Roth -- were written, cast, directed and edited over a five-day span.
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The six aspiring directors who premiered their horror films were Mateen Kemet, a 41-year-old teacher from California, whose film Profile focused on an African-American who deals with racial profiling; Jason Epperson, a 30-year-old film production company owner from Winchester, KY, whose short Eternal Waters was about a woman who is saved from a home intruder by her recently deceased son; Andrew Hunt, a 31-year-old promo producer from Minneapolis, MN, whose film Midnight Snack was a humorous horror movie about a group of zombie-like monsters who co-habitate a house; Shira-Lee Shalit, a 38-year-old acting teacher from Johannesburg, South Africa, whose short Open House was about a couple house-hunting when something unexpected happens to the pregnant wife; Kenny Luby, a 28-year-old freelance director and painter from Owego, NY, whose short The Malibu Myth followed two friends trying to solve a myth; and Sam Friedlander, a 27-year-old web producer from Santa Monica, CA, whose film Anklebiters was about a young boy who encounters a strange creature in his bedroom.
Once the six aspiring directors premiered their horror films, Fisher said her favorite was Hunt's Midnight Snack; Marshall liked Epperson's Eternal Waters the best; while Roth said he was a fan of Luby's The Malibu Myth.
Due to Fox's broadcast of Major League Baseball's annual All-Star game next Tuesday night, On the Lot will instead air on Monday, July 9 at 8PM ET, in which the show's Top 10 finalists will be revealed and five of them will premiere new films.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio