In the US version, they’ll have to look for the latest screenwriter…oh wait, wasn’t that Project Greenlight? Never mind.
BBC launches ‘Lit Idol’ show to find wannabe bestsellers
Wannabe star performers were happy to queue around the block for the chance to audition for the television talent quest Pop Idol. In their desperate search for fame many were even prepared to come under fire from judge Simon Cowell, or ‘Nasty’ Nigel Lythgoe, the equally harsh panellist on Pop Stars. But how will introverted wannabe writers react to the same treatment? The BBC is about to find out.
This autumn the broadcaster is to help launch a groundbreaking nationwide talent competition. The project, designed as a cross between Pop Idol and the BBC’s current literary initiative, The Big Read, will take BBC writers and producers to theatres and public venues in 12 cities and towns across Britain in search of hidden writing talent. Six of the BBC’s leading television writers will go out to meet and advise hopeful entrants on their work, before five final winners are selected.
Oh my…what a concept! It will never fly in the U.S. Nobody reads here! Well, I hope at least a few people do.
I can’t imagine that such a contest would ever draw the sort of ratings that its forebears could. The main problem being that you can often tell quite quickly how well someone can sing. Determining the worth of a writer is far more subjective and requires a larger investment of time.