Project Greenlight

I'll admit when I saw the first few episodes of Project Greenlight Season 3, I made a snap judgment about Gulagher. I fell victim to a good producer who knew the first and foremost element of a good story: Conflict and Resolution. You have to hand it to them because they edited Gulagher's first interview with Wes Craven, Matt Damon, etc... to give the appearance of stupidity. He even clapped his hands, making music by enlarging and shrinking the opening of his mouth.

For all of the aforementioned, and numerous instances of stupidity that they credited to him as he went through the process of making a movie, Gulagher came forward as a bright and shining director/filmmaker. A force to be reckoned with in terms of film-making.

Remember folks FEAST was made for a million dollars, with maybe a tad extra to boot. Also, it was Gulagher's first full feature film if I'm not mistaken.

It was shortly after I heard Damon give Gulagher a big thumbs up about his film-making prowess at the end of the season when I realized there must be something we're not being told, because based on what I'd seen until then, this guy's a moron.

I rented FEAST as soon as I could find it on the rental shelf next to "Dawn of the Living Dead (Now with extra cleavage)." After watching the first five minutes, I could tell Gulagher will make it big. Yeah, not on FEAST because Harvey Weinstein sat on it, but more-so for his overall brilliance and knowledge of story telling.

"I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'll know it when I see it." John Gulagher

The peer-voting method of picking the top scripts and directors ensures that anything/anybody really good will not be selected. Would you really give someone high marks if you were competing against them? I read each of the top ten scripts in the first PGL and found that the winner, Stolen Summer, was the only one that was not full of typos and grammatical errors. The plots weren't great either.

I entered the second PGL and had one voter who gave me top marks in each category and one who gave me top marks in all but one category and that was just one down. What killed me were the other three voters who gave me marks close to the bottom. Yes, I'm bitter.

This film rates an "8" for the pleasure it was to watch this mess. What happens when a cocky first time director (Jason Mann) pushes around Mentor/Producer's Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and the big wigs at HBO - "The Leisure Class". Mann, a Columbia University student director in the MFA program, beat out several other qualified student directors for the opportunity to direct a $3 million HBO film, working along side Affleck, Damon, the Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bobby - "There's Something About Mary"), Season 1 Winner Pete Jones and HBO movie exec Len Amato. Over the season of the show, the audience watched as Mann stomped his feet and held his breath regarding his demands. What should have been a season about a first time direct making a large film, instead turned out to be season on what it takes to be a Line Producer, as Jeff Balis and Effie Brown fought tooth and nail to hold the production together. When all the dust settled and "The Leisure Class" aired, neither Mann, Affleck, Damon or HBO came out winners.

This imaginative, creative and inspiring 'reality' series was created by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore. The three men set up a competition via the internet aptly titled, "Project Greenlight" and encouraged aspiring screenwriters, directors and film-makers who wanted a chance to have their dreams and creations turned into an actual film that would be screened nationally, to send in a copy of their screen-plays. Out of an astounding 10,000 plus entries from all around the U.S., the number was narrowed down to 10 where each successful entrant was flown to L.A. to meet with Damon, Affleck and Moore and the head honchos at Miramax Films to try and pitch their ideas.

The next 10 was broken down into the final 3 where the deciding jury spent a grueling 6 hours in a hotel room trying to decide which entrant would be the winner. It was quite obvious that all of the 10 finalists were deserving people, but to break it down to three and decide who the winner out of that bunch would be was really tough. Out of the final three, Pete Jones, a native Chicagoan married man with a young daughter was chosen as the winner.

With Pete Jones behind the camera to direct his first feature film, Miramax Films has agreed to produce his film for $1 million. The question this series will have to deal with is if it is realistic that a project of this magnitude can be kept under that budget.

This series is comprised of 10 episodes and is shown on HBO. It is unfortunate that such a small audience will get to view this extraordinary series that examines the film industry and the people involved at close detail. I feel that every film student throughout the U.S. and the world would find this show to be inspiring, very informative and could benefit quite a lot from "Project Greenlight".

Kudos to Matt, Ben and Chris! This series gets a 10 out of 10!

I watched the train wreck that was and obviously is Jason Mann Season (2??) and was HORRIFIED at this "young" man's ARROGANCE and total lack of empathy toward anyone but HIMSELF. What was even sadder was seeing the hosts (Matt and Ben) bend to his "artistic" whims and, quite frankly, childish tantrums.

I just looked up what he's been doing and, obviously, he took enough rope to hobble himself in the world of film. Somehow, with this invaluable and unique opportunity - he's remained highly unproductive and totally forgettable in his work.

All THAT said! It was fascinating watching "The Process".

And am looking forward to the next season - which will have a female director. Fingers crossed that this one is fun to watch! And gives us someone to CHEER for!

Edit - OMG! Am finishing up Episode 2. The director they chose is very "in her head" with zero sense of urgency, so everything is pulling teeth - I AM BORED. Also, she doesn't seem to have views of her own and needs a lot of hand holding. Yeah. No. Have taken away 2 stars. Will give it one more episode.