ERNEST A. JASMIN; The News Tribune

You think you have way better ideas than some of the nimrods pitching TV show ideas in Hollywood? On Friday and Saturday you'll get a chance to prove it.

Effects Productions will be at the Hilton Seattle, 1301 Sixth Ave., auditioning contestants for an upcoming reality TV show called "Pilot Project." Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. each day, with pitch sessions starting at 9 a.m.

The premise is simple: The show will follow aspiring writers and producers as they pitch their show ideas, and through the triumphs and pitfalls of the creative process. Effects Productions will make the winning idea into a show. The winner also gets $3,000 and a chance to serve as a show producer.

Seattle is the first of five cities where tryouts will held, with others to follow in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York. Contestants also can submit ideas on the Internet at www.pilotproject.tv through July 31.

No filming will take place in Seattle, but the top five contestants from each city will be included in the 150 ideas selected for the first show. A top 10 will be chosen by online voters to fly to Los Angeles to pitch to a producer.

Effects Productions president Rubin Navarrete said his crew started in the Puget Sound region to get away from the subculture of "reality-show junkies" in Los Angeles - regulars who travel from cattle call to cattle call in search of instant fame.

"We didn't want to start in LA, but we didn't want to go too far from LA," he said. "We wanted a good midsize city that would give us an idea of what kind of response we could get."

It also helps that not every Puget Sound waiter is walking around with a script under his arm. "You don't have everyone and their brother trying to make it in that business," Navarrete said. "We're just looking for an average, everyday person with a genuinely good idea. ... There's a lot of fresh perspective out there, but sometimes you have to get out there and get that."

The show's ultimate appeal will come from seeing a showbiz newcomer thrown into a collaborative setting with strenuous deadlines, creative dilemmas and personality conflicts.

"Ultimately I think that's what entertainment is about - conflict and its resolution," Navarette said. "You get to see people as they really are."

Effects Productions is negotiating with various networks to sell the final product, so there is no air date yet.

"Pilot Project" is only the latest of many reality shows to troll this region. "Extreme Makeover" recently held a Seattle-area tryout, looking for fresh faces to modify with plastic surgery.

Hit talent-search shows "American Idol" and "Star Search" have held Seattle tryouts and have featured Tacoma teens - A.J. Gil on "Idol" and Vicci Martinez on "Star Search."

In February, CBS-TV's "Survivor" held an open tryout at the Emerald Queen Casino. And a variety of other reality shows, from "Elimidate" to "Cops," also have filmed locally.

"I can only expect there will be more of this," said Suzy Kellet of the Washington State Film & Video Office, which helps TV and movie productions find local locations. "I think they feel that they have gone through the actors in LA. ... You want to kind of have Joe America. You don't want to have a trained actor in a reality show. It kind of goes against the concept reality."

Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389
ernest.jasmin@mail.tribnet.com