Project Greenlight (Complete Series Plus Film Stolen Summer)

Starring:Christina Varotsis, Joseph Middleton, Brian Dennehy, Kent Kubena, Jonathan Gordon, Peter Biagi, Matt Damon, Jeff Balis, Ben Affleck, Marie Frick, Chris Moore (II), Steve Dontanville, Pete Jones, Meryl Poster, Bonnie Hunt, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak, Mike Weinberg, Brendan Murphy (IV)
Director: Pete Jones
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
For all of its controversial manipulations of reality, Project Greenlight offers a revealing, pragmatic look at the pressure cooker of film production. Originally broadcast during the HBO 2001 to 2002 season, this 12- part series chronicles the premiere contest--conceived by coproducers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore--that resulted in 30-year-old Pete Jones being plucked from obscurity, out of 10,000 contestants, to direct his winning screenplay, Stolen Summer, as a professionally crewed feature film distributed by Miramax Films (included in this set; see separate review). The series gained notoriety for emphasizing the negative (backstabbing, budgetary battles, onset crises, etc.), but it's also a definitive nuts-and-bolts exposé of the filmmaking process--stripped of glamour, emotionally intense, and daunting to anyone without a steel-plated constitution.

Amazon.com

Anyone contemplating a career as a screenwriter or film director--or anyone who simply wonders how movies get made--would do well to watch Project Greenlight 2 from beginning to end. The second season of the HBO reality series, co-created by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and producer Alex Keledjian, follows the creation of Miramax feature The Battle of Shaker Heights from unknown screenplay through various levels of Greenlight competition to first-run theatrical feature with a big, Hollywood premiere. The road to completion, however, runs through hell many times over. Shaker Heights writer Erica Beeney, having survived Greenlight's script contest and intimidating meetings with Affleck, Damon, and various producers and executives from Miramax and elsewhere, is matched with the directing team of Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin, who have undergone similar trials. With little time to celebrate, the winners moves into production offices in Los Angeles and confront a stark reality: A lot of people are involved in getting a movie made, and very often a writer or director is just one voice among many.

The most interesting backstage dramas in the series take place during pre-production for Shaker Heights, when casting proves to be a nightmare, time runs short, and Miramax starts insisting that Potelle and Rankin take the actors they're told to take. Part of the problem is that the team, new to the big leagues, often look like startled deer. They don't know how to talk to stars or make decisions quickly, they question the need for vital crew members, and they don't understand that in the absence of leadership a panicked studio will take over. Still, everyone gets through intact, and after a couple of episodes detailing Shaker Heights' actual shoot (with stars Shia LaBeouf, Kathleen Quinlan, William Sadler, and Amy Smart), the editing and marketing processes become a new kind of misery, threatening to destroy the film and end careers. It's all very engrossing, and its good to have a DVD of the highly enjoyable The Battle of Shaker Heights (which comes with this set and offers a "jump-to" feature linking select scenes to Project Greenlight background info) to prove, in the end, that all that matters are results. --Tom Keogh

Description

Miramax Home Entertainment along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore present PROJECT GREENLIGHT ... a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the Hollywood filmmaking process that documents all the hurdles and pitfalls encountered by first-time filmmakers as they bring their labor of love to the big screen! This special three-disc collection includes the complete second season of the acclaimed HBO series, extensive bonus material, and the finished theatrically released project THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS -- starring Shia LaBeouf and Amy Smart.

Customer Reviews:

NICE SERIES FOR A [...] MOVIE. .......2006-06-28

As with the first PROJECT GREENLIGHT the series is great but the movie produced by the series is a peice of [...]. I loved both seasons of PGL but the second was more insteresting. I liked the bonus section with the submitted films much better than the SHAKER HEIGHTS film. There's a film maker named OTTING who made a creepy film about a man with a cross in a mental hospital. I thought that film rocked. If I had been the judge they would have had him as the film maker instead the two guys they picked and the screenplay would have been PRISONER which was written by the weird guy who sat on a couch for five days and did nothing but stare. I don't know anything about the PRISONER script but I figure if the guy's that strange then the screenplay was probably much better than shaker heights. I fill bad saying that the movie sucked because the girl who wrote it seemed nice but she was a bit over emotional. What's funny is they finally made a descent movie with a great director in PGL3 (FEAST with JOHN G.) and PGL3 was the best of the three seasons and it hasn't been released. It almost makes me think that PGL was a Hollywood conspiracy meant to make it look to the rest of the world like people outside of the Hollywood system could only make crappy movies. When some guy showed up and made a good film they didn't release it.

Project Greenlight 2.......2005-07-24

I must say that the second season of Project Greenlight was some of the most engrossing viewing I've enjoyed in years.I'm not a person who watches much television at all so for me to actually purchase the dvd set is saying much.

As an aspiring filmmaker I felt this dvd set was the next best thing to an actual internship.A really educational and insp
iring television series.

I wasn't crazy about the film and thought it was actually mediocre.I don't blame the directors for this and if you watch the episodes detailing the day to day process you'll understand why.

I can't recommend this product highly enough.A must for aspiring filmmakers.

I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!.......2004-09-08

Here's why:

1)From the beginning, they set up the filmmakers to fail by allotting a comparitively meager budget and ridiculously short timeframe to produce a "Hollywood" feature. They go way over-budget by spending most of the dough on bloated production costs for a supposedly low-budget picture. It's a big enough crew to work on Braveheart. If they are going to have that kind of staff, they should increase the production costs so that the movie can compete with multi-million dollar blockbusters. Otherwise, get rid of half the staff, and spend more time and money working on the script.

Watch the "making of" featurette on the Citizen Toxie bonus dvd. THAT'S low-budget filmaking. And Toxie is a movie that's watchable, too.

2)The producers constantly bad-mouth their last Project Greenlight film, Stolen Summer. "It's a REAL MOVIE this year," says Affleck.

3)The directors show their dismay of allowing Chris Balis, the awful producer of the last project, to produce their movie. Cut to Balis wolfing down a bagel. Its obvious Chris Moore brought him on so he could have someone under his thumb. When Balis wisely suggests that there should be another editor on the movie other than the directors, to allow for a diffent point of view, Moore responds,"I see producing as supporting the directors' process, not subverting it!". Balis is left impotent for the rest of the production. (Balis was right. The directors end up cutting the film and the movie is awful.).

4)Moore blames everyone else for the faults of the movie, yet its his hands-off approach, allowing the directors to do whatever they want, that in large part is what's responsible for the movie's failure. When he asks the writer on the set how she could allow the directors to run roughshod over her script, after giving her no power at all to prevent it, she rightly responds,"F-You, Dude!"

5)The only time EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Ben Affleck arrives on the set, its with superstar girlfriend J-Lo. Not too disruptive to a production, is it? Reminds me of when Elizabeth Taylor would show up to Richard Burton's set with her whole entourage.

6)We see Good ol' Matt Damon at the beginning of the series, when they choose the winners, and then at the end, when filming is finished. He doesn't even show up at the premeire, but cuts a ten second closing comment for the series from another location. However, he's wearing a Project Greenlight hat, so he must have been deeply involved. HAW!! I want to be an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, too!

Can't wait for Season Three!!

Better than the series but not true to the winners.......2004-07-16

The time and budgets are shortened and the stress levels are high on all of the winners of the PGL contest. But let's face it. that makes for some good reality TV.

The Battle of Shaker Heights has as much class as any movie in it's genre. It has heart and humor, well balanced and does the three project winners proud. The DVD, yes I actually bought and watched it BEFORE writing my review, has a little more of a glimpse into what really went on behind the scenes and not just the good for Reality TV stuff. These are some great talents that were put in a situation to make them look bad. It is good TV but not good business for the PGL Executives.

I recommend you get the DVD, watch the movie with commentary, and see a glimpse of some of the stuff that was cut from the series. These items shed a little more light on the fun the cast and crew had making the film and the dedication that was much more dramatic than blowing a few conflicts out of proportion.

To all the players in PGL, I commend the effort, and hope that those who put the show together can try not to use shock value in the future and show us why these people really do have a reason to love their work.

It's amazing how some people are dumb enough ..........2004-06-28

to think "reality" TV shows people in a truthful light. I only hope the muttonheads who think that any of the ordinary people on Project Greenlight were depicted in an accurate light grow up and grow up fast. This is the Hollywood meatgrinder in action--anything and anyone for a buck. The fact that people were duped by this only underscores how right P.T. Barnum really was.

Project Greenlight (Complete Series Plus Film Stolen Summer)

Average customer rating:

One of most offensive movies ever made
Great for Movie Business Enthusiasts/Aspiring Directors
Project Greenlight 1
Great Behind the Scenes Look at the Movie Biz
All that, a bag of chips and MOORE!!!

Project Greenlight (Complete Series Plus Film Stolen Summer)
Starring: Christina Varotsis , Joseph Middleton , Brian Dennehy , Kent Kubena , and Jonathan Gordon
Director: Pete Jones
Manufacturer: Miramax Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006AFEP
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Amazon.com

For all of its controversial manipulations of reality, Project Greenlight offers a revealing, pragmatic look at the pressure cooker of film production. Originally broadcast during the HBO 2001 to 2002 season, this 12- part series chronicles the premiere contest--conceived by coproducers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore--that resulted in 30-year-old Pete Jones being plucked from obscurity, out of 10,000 contestants, to direct his winning screenplay, Stolen Summer, as a professionally crewed feature film distributed by Miramax Films (included in this set; see separate review). The series gained notoriety for emphasizing the negative (backstabbing, budgetary battles, onset crises, etc.), but it's also a definitive nuts-and-bolts exposé of the filmmaking process--stripped of glamour, emotionally intense, and daunting to anyone without a steel-plated constitution.

Description

Miramax Home Entertainment's Project Greenlight is a 4-Disc collector's series that includes the 12-part HBO hit documentary series, the unveiling of the movie Stolen Summer and more than 6-hours of bonus materials. Project Greenlight began as an Internet competition (staged by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore) held to find a script to produce. Out of more than 10,000 entries, former insurance salesman Pete Jones was selected. Jones not only got to direct the film, but was also given a $1 million budget from Miramax Films and a guaranteed theatrical release. The series chronicled how Jones, a first-time director, had to manage the difficulties involved in making his movie.

Customer Reviews:

One of most offensive movies ever made.......2007-03-16

This was an amateur film competition which produced one of the most offensive films ever made. Let's go over the list.
Ben Affleck, a Catholic from Boston. Pete Jones, a Catholic from Chicago, whose older brother is a Catholic priest working in Catholic-Jewish relations for the Vatican.
What's the subject of Pete's script?
A young Catholic boy decides he has to help a non-Catholic get into heaven, so he announces a plan to go to a synagogue, find a poor Jewish boy who isn't going to heaven, and allow him the good fortune of converting to Catholicism.
That's a great plan - if you're Catholic and don't understand much outside of your own narrow framework of the universe.
If you're Jewish... all you want to do is pretend this film never happened.

Great for Movie Business Enthusiasts/Aspiring Directors.......2006-01-16

This is a worthy series for aspiring movie directors/screenwriters, it shows the in and outs of the business and how much sway some have (Affleck, Damon) and others do not (all involved w/o recognizable faces). It is a crude business and I suppose you have to be crude to play the game, but I found myself often peeved at the winner, Pete, because he was so instantly cocky and self-assured, and maybe he did have to fight to make his "vision" (which ultimately bombed), and I'm thrilled that they would even give the opportunity to someone, but in the end, I wished it wasn't this gentleman who had won such an amazing opportunity.

Project Greenlight 1.......2005-07-24

I saw season two before I saw this one.The movie "Stolen Summer" is actually a superior film to that of "The Battle of Shaker Heights",but the reality series detailing the filmmaking process is strangely lacking.I still would recommend this dvd package for any aspiring filmmakers who want to understand the process of filmmaking, I just thought the second season made better viewing.

Great Behind the Scenes Look at the Movie Biz.......2005-02-26

I think almost anyone would enjoy these DVDs. There is plenty to enjoy in this huge 4 disc set. The episodes are exciting and well edited and leave you wanting them to bring on the next episode. I had not seen any of season 1, but I did see a few episodes of season 2 and hated the directors. The writer/director in this first season was good. The movie was good and the behind the scenes drama was a good time for anyone.

I got these DVDs less than a week ago and someone has already borrowed one of the DVDs. The show is addictive if you have not seen it. It is just a shame that the movie made in season 1 barely made over $100k. Makes you wonder how Miramax can pony up the $1.5 mil for the season 1 movie and the 1.0 mil for the season two movie (which barely made 240k). Season 3 is coming soon on Bravo, so I guess that are making profit somewhere. I suppose DVD sells and the HBO deal made it profitable.

Anyway, definitely think about getting the set slightly used and save a few bucks and enjoy Project Greenlight's best season in my opinion.

All that, a bag of chips and MOORE!!!.......2003-07-21

I must begin by saying that I am addicted to Project Greenlight. I, too, am an aspiring writer and find PGL inspiring. I loved this DVD set.
First, Stolen Summer. It may not win the academy award but it won my heart. Pete Jones tells a story that is so human and so touching with moments of humor as well as sadness. It just felt natural and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. The little boy who plays the lead role was just amazing, especially being he first time out. I would reccommend this movie to anyone who wants to be entertained and touched.
Second, Project Greenlight, the series. WOW. I was unable to see all of the episodes while it ran last year so you can imagine my elation to find it all together in a DVD set. The whole process fascinates me and I just love Jeff Balis ( I love Balis more season 2) and Chris Moore.
Third, Pete Jones. He was terrific. Yes, he was rough around the edges but heck he had never done anything remotely like this before. I think his rapport with the younger actors is a gift and part of what will eventually make him a great director. The more opportunities Pete is given the better he will hone his craft, I am a fan and wish him all the luck.
Lastly, The Chris Moore Challange was great, Project Redlight was even better. Project Redlight was terrific in that it poked fun at everyone and the whole process and how wonderful is it that people are able to laugh at themselves in such a "self involved" industry!!!

If you are a fan of PGL, buy this, you will love it.

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