Steven Spielberg may be losing his mind. With no features in the works for the rest of the year, he has decided to focus his creative efforts on ... reality TV. It was announced last week that the acclaimed director was partnering with reality king Mark Burnett on a new reality show titled "On the Lot." According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show will combine elements of "American Idol" and "Survivor" to find America's next great director. Obviously, America is spending much of its free time wondering who this will be (aren't you?). It's like questioning when the next generation of American male tennis stars will appear, but less lucrative.

Unlike the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck-produced "Project Greenlight," which hit its stride in its final season, "Lot" won't spend any time following its winner actually making a movie. Instead, "Lot" will feature 16 aspiring filmmakers who will travel to Hollywood (like we need more wannabe filmmakers in this town) and be divided into several teams. Each week a different member of the team will be selected to direct a short film. The other team members will pitch in and help produce. The teams will also be assisted with the help of professional writers, actors and crew people. Every week, all the team's films will be shown to a live audience and panel of judges that will include a high-ranking motion picture executive (i.e., someone recently canned), a prominent film critic (The New York Times' Manohla Dargis -- the next Paula Abdul!) and a succession of guest judges (paging Gary Busey and Breckin Meyer). Viewers will have the ultimate say in deciding who wins as the director with the fewest votes will be eliminated. Eventually, the overall winner will be awarded a development deal with Spielberg's company, DreamWorks. The plan is to literally whisk the new filmmaker to DreamWorks' small bungalow, er, studios, where Spielberg will show the new filmmaker his or her new cubicle, er, office ... and then we'll likely never hear from the winner again.

Beyond the fact that the setup is eerily similar to "Idol", why would Spielberg even subject himself to the criticism for aligning himself with a show like this? The man is a three-time Oscar winner and considered one of the greatest directors of all time. Is he that bored? Does he really believe a great filmmaker will be discovered through this process? On "Idol", most of the true talents are gone within the first three weeks. Are we ready for the Clay Aiken of filmmaking?

But the bigger question is: What will Steven say when contestants get kicked off the show? "That's a wrap!" or "You'll never work in this town again!" are possibilities, but how could Spielberg resist telling a contestant to "Phone home!"?