Project Greenlight Season 4

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  • Project Greenlight Season 4

    So, who all is watching?

    I'm excited the show is back, and with a new format. And how it predictably all went to hell within the first episode. Every trope we read about in the industry seems to manifest itself in this show.

    This director might be crazy, but from the little we know I love the guy. The description of the script sounded horrendous, so it was good to see them pick a director who wasn't afraid at all to call that out.

    It'll still probably result in a train wreck, but should be fun.

  • #2
    Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

    PG is back?!? OMG, I'm so out of it, I had no idea.

    Thanks for the heads-up, jboffer! Gotta tune in for this...

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    • #3
      Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

      Haha, yup. Back on HBO after 10 years. Started this last Sunday.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

        Awesome!
        Fiction writers are demigods among men...

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        • #5
          Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

          I can't believe Matt Damon's comments regarding diversity have garnered so much backlash. People are taking the comments way out of context.

          That being said, I'm really looking forward to more of the show. The director they chose wouldn't be my first pick. Seems extremely pretentious. I've worked with people like that before and it can be very difficult.

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          • #6
            Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

            I'm surprised that, given he is a producer on the show, Damon left his comments in as they did come across poorly in my opinion.

            I think his fundamental point was that the competition did not have a diversity component as one of its initial criteria and, therefore, it would be unfair to those that entered on this basis to change the assessment process at the end to include this consideration.

            His "casting the show/casting the movie" comment also sounded like a universal declaration, but I think he meant to apply it very specifically to this project.

            There could be some questions asked about why filmmaker diversity wasn't considered from the beginning especially given the nature of the script in question. Plus, surely it would make better "reality" television to see the challenges that someone from a diverse background faces within the industry.

            Anyway, the show definitely offers a fascinating and informative insight and I'll be watching with interest.

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            • #7
              Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

              The first screenplay I ever wrote was for PG season one.

              It was awful, but not as poorly written as the feedback I gave some other poor slob.



              I think Matt is a little shell-shocked by what's happened to the internet in between Project Greenlight 3.0 and 4.0.

              What I don't understand is why anyone in Hollywood (but especially white males) would reach out or engage with wanna-be's on any level, whether its Matt and Ben trying to discover new filmmakers on their tv show or Colin Tevorrow engaging some angry feminist nobody on Twitter.

              You can't win, and literally anything you say is the wrong answer. Matt is now being attacked because his apology didn't go far enough.

              Why even bother?

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              • #8
                Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                I'm so happy it's back.

                I was disheartened that the director wanted to fire the writer without even meeting with him to discuss his vision.

                I mean, you give someone an opportunity they didn't have a minute ago, and the first thing they want to do is take an opportunity away from someone else that 'everyone' on the team has already agreed should be there?

                Blows the mind.

                Can't wait for the next episode...
                "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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                • #9
                  Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                  For those of you who've seen Happy-ish their chosen director reminded me of the Swedish gurus from that.
                  Still if they'd selected the best director we might get a decent movie and a rubbish TV program, lets face it, that was never their intention.
                  I heard the starting gun


                  sigpic

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                  • #10
                    Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                    Originally posted by finalact4 View Post
                    I was disheartened that the director wanted to fire the writer without even meeting with him to discuss his vision.
                    True.

                    Maybe he watched season 1 or had otherwise been following the writer's career. I know my gut instinct would be he's not the right fit for the kind of humor we've seen from the director, but it's probably unfair just to toss him aside without a real conversation.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                      Originally posted by Southern_land View Post
                      For those of you who've seen Happy-ish their chosen director reminded me of the Swedish gurus from that.
                      Still if they'd selected the best director we might get a decent movie and a rubbish TV program, lets face it, that was never their intention.
                      Haha on the Swedish gurus comparison. It seems that they were all in agreement that the director was the best from a technical point of view (based on his submissions), but seriously, the guy just sits there in the meeting with a ho-hum meh attitude about this incredible opportunity and they pick him. I doubt any real such meeting in Hwood would reward that nonchalance with a greenlight. But yes, definitely good TV!

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                      • #12
                        Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                        Originally posted by jcpdoc View Post
                        seriously, the guy just sits there in the meeting with a ho-hum meh attitude about this incredible opportunity and they pick him. I doubt any real such meeting in Hwood would reward that nonchalance with a greenlight. But yes, definitely good TV!
                        Haha, I got a slightly different impression. To me, he felt passionate about the opportunity to make a movie, but not at all about THAT movie. He needed them to understand, if he was selected, the movie would not turn out as they'd expect based on the current script at all.

                        And if you read the expressions of the other directors--NOBODY was excited about that story. Some sorta faked it. But you could see it in their eyes it was turd. It sounded like a bad 90s comedy, which is exactly what you'd expect coming from the Farrelly Brothers.

                        I'm guessing Ben and Matt knew the script sucked. Did anyone in that panel ever say "we have a fantastic script"? Was it defended at all, at any time? Nope. So maybe they were happy someone came along and admitted it. And since that director was the only one who was honest about it, AND he had the best work, he was the right choice.

                        Based on what I saw, which was a highly edited show

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                          Originally posted by jboffer View Post
                          Haha, I got a slightly different impression. To me, he felt passionate about the opportunity to make a movie, but not at all about THAT movie. He needed them to understand, if he was selected, the movie would not turn out as they'd expect based on the current script at all.
                          No kidding, especially since (spoiler alert-highlight to read) they don't even end up making that movie at all and Mann somehow convinces them to make one based on a previous short of his own.

                          Given that they started out with a script they all felt had issues, then picked a director who, although undeniably talented, was clearly going to butt heads on almost every issue, you have to think that conflict ridden reality TV was one of their goals. Which is fine since who wants to watch a season of thoughtful mentors guiding a humble first timer as they all work in concert to create a movie from the perfect script. Boring.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                            Here are my thoughts, having seen only the first episode:

                            I've seen some people outright dumbfounded at the choice of Jason Mann. It made a lot of sense to me.

                            For one thing, it just seemed like the most rewarding pairing. There are two ways to pair a director with a script. The first is to just find a perfect match in terms of tone and style. The Farrelly Brothers seemed to want someone who would basically give them a Farrelly-style movie for their Farrelly-style script. That's safer, but it also limits your project's potential.

                            The other option is have a director and a script complement one another. The script itself seemed to have issues of tone and substance. Mann, based on his first submission, Delicacy, didn't seem to have a fast setup - punch line - setup - punch line - setup - punch line sense of humor. He seems to focus more on stylistic substance and maintaining a humorous tone. When he was given a script dense with jokes, he put out a better project than Delicacy, which I assume was his own script. This is more of an all-or-nothing approach, which makes a lot more sense for HBO.

                            That's the other thing that made Jason seem like the more logical choice. HBO doesn't make movies like the Farrelly brothers. If you look at their comedy projects, they tend to look a lot like what Jason put together. Bored to Death, Girls, and Eastbound & Down all had a distinct, "unclean- feel.

                            All that said, advocating for the firing of a writer as a recently-hired director is just obnoxious. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Pete Jones not the original writer to begin with? I got the impression that Farrelly bought the script and put Pete Jones on to do rewrites. Suggesting that Jones can't handle rewrites is hugely insulting.

                            Though, personally, I wish they could have hired Adriano Valentini to do the rewrites - partly because he seemed like a great writer who was stylistically in-between Mann and Farrelly and mostly because I'm Italian, he's Italian, and Italian, Italian, Italian.
                            ****

                            I am a critic first and a writer second.

                            I have a background in development and currently provide low-cost coverage.

                            More info here: www.FourStarNotes.com

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                            • #15
                              Re: Project Greenlight Season 4

                              Oh man. I can't believe they essentially wrote an entire script in 3 days and then did a major rewrite on it in another day.

                              And it'll still be getting rewritten as they proceed into production.

                              Good luck.

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