The casting call for On The Lot, the reality series backed by Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg (scheduled to hit CTV’s summer schedule), reeled in 12,000 submissions from around the world – with more than one third of them coming from Canadian filmmakers. Out of the 4,000 Canadian applications received, 27 Canadians from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver were invited to casting sessions in Toronto and Vancouver yesterday.

The series gives 16 filmmakers the chance to compete for a $1-million development deal with DreamWorks. Viewers will vote on the productions and one filmmaker will be eliminated each week.

As of press time, there is no involvement by Canadian marketers to report, although CTV is open to creating sponsorship opportunities.

Read MiC‘s Jan. 16, 2007 story here here.