''Project Greenlight'' is an American documentary television series focusing on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. It was created by Alex Keledjian, developed by

Eli Holzman Eli Holzman is an American Creativity#Creative industries and services, creator–developer, writer, producer and television executive. He is known for creating or serving as executive producer on a number of Reality television, reality-based ...

and produced by

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globes. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educatio ...

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

Sean Bailey Sean Bailey is an American film and television producer. He served as president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production from 2010 to 2024. Career Early career As a co-founder and executive of LivePlanet, Bailey served as executive ...

, and Chris Moore through their production company

LivePlanet LivePlanet was a production company founded in 2000, and was known for television and new media platforms. History It was created by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore (film producer), Chris Moore and Sean Bailey. Affleck and Damon ended their ...

, along with

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

. ''Project Greenlight'' first aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

for two seasons (aired 2001–03) before moving to

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

for season 3 in 2005. The series returned in 2015 for a fourth season airing on HBO. On July 26, 2016, the series was canceled. In May 2021, HBO Max (later

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

) picked up the series with an 8-episode order and will be produced by

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), known professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. She achieved recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO comedy series '' Insecure'' (2016–2021), for ...

through her production company

Hoorae Media Hoorae Media (pronounced "hooray"), also known as Hoorae, is an American independent media production company formed in September 2020 by Issa Rae. Formerly known as Issa Rae Productions, Hoorae launched as an umbrella banner to consolidate her va ...

. The revival titled ''Project Greenlight: A New Generation'' premiered on July 13, 2023.

Episodes

Season 1 (2001–02)

The script contest ran from September 2000 to March 2001. Over 7,000 screenplays were submitted, and Pete Jones was selected as the winner for ''

Stolen Summer ''Stolen Summer'' is a 2002 American drama film about a Catholic boy who befriends a terminally ill Jewish boy and tries to convert him, believing that it is the only way the Jewish boy will get to Heaven. Directed by first time writer/director ...

'', which he then filmed on location in his hometown of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

during the summer of 2001. The first season of ''Project Greenlight'', helmed by show runner and co-executive producer Liz Bronstein, chronicled the selection of Jones's script and the filming of the movie, aired on

from late 2001 through early 2002. ''Stolen Summer'' premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in January 2002, then went on to a limited theatrical release which brought in just under $140,000.

Season 2 (2003)

For its second run, the contest was split into two categories: writing and directing. The winners were chosen on January 18, 2003. Erica Beeney won the writing contest for her script ''

The Battle of Shaker Heights ''The Battle of Shaker Heights'' is a 2003 American comedy-drama teen film directed by Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin, written by Erica Beeney, and produced by Chris Moore and Jeff Balis. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Elden Henson, Kathleen Quinla ...

'', and

Kyle Rankin Kyle Rankin (born September 13, 1972) is an American screenwriter and filmmaker known for directing '' The Battle of Shaker Heights'' and '' Night of the Living Deb.'' In 2020, his film ''Run Hide Fight'', about a school shooting, was shown at t ...

and

Efram Potelle Efram Potelle is a filmmaker from Portland, Maine, USA. He is now based in Los Angeles. He co-directed ''The Battle of Shaker Heights'' through the second season of HBO's ''Project Greenlight ''Project Greenlight'' is an American documentary ...

won the directing contest. The film stars

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf ( ; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and 2002 and won a Dayt ...

Elden Henson Elden Henson (born Elden Ryan Ratliff, August 30, 1977) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Fulton Reed in '' The Mighty Ducks'' trilogy (1992–1996), Foggy Nelson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and Pollux in '' The Hunge ...

Amy Smart Amy Lysle Smart (born March 26, 1976) is an American actress. Her first role in film was in Martin Kunert's anthology horror film '' Campfire Tales'', followed by a minor part in '' Starship Troopers,'' directed by Paul Verhoeven. In 1998, Sma ...

, and William Sadler. The series aired in the summer of 2003, detailing the production of the film in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. ''The Battle of Shaker Heights'' opened in limited theatrical release on August 24, 2003, earning just under $280,000 during its box office run.

Season 3 (2005)

Script submission began and ended during February 2004. After two seasons on HBO, the series moved to

and season 3 began airing on March 15, 2005. The selected screenplay was a horror script titled ''

Feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...

'' written by

Marcus Dunstan Marcus Dunstan is an American screenwriter and director who, along with frequent collaborator Patrick Melton, wrote screenplay for the film ''Feast (2005 film), Feast'', which was the winner of Season Three of the filmmaking competition reality T ...

and Patrick Melton. The director was

John Gulager John Thompson Gulager (born December 19, 1957) is an American actor, cinematographer and film director. He is the son of actors Clu Gulager and Miriam Byrd-Nethery, and the brother of actor Tom Gulager. Career For Gulager's directorial debut, ...

. The film stars

Balthazar Getty Paul Balthazar Getty (; born January 22, 1975) is an American actor and musician, and a member of the Getty family. His acting debut was in ''Lord of the Flies'' (1990) as Ralph. He went on to appear in '' Lost Highway'' (1997) and had a recurrin ...

Krista Allen Krista Allen (born April 5, 1971) is an American actress and model. Allen is known for playing Billie Reed in the soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' (1996–1999) and Taylor Hayes (The Bold and the Beautiful), Taylor Hayes on the soap opera ''The ...

Jason Mewes Jason Edward Mewes (born June 12, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse franchise. E ...

, and

Eric Dane Eric William Dane (born November 9, 1972) is an American actor. After multiple television roles in the 1990s and 2000s, which included his recurring role as Jason Dean in ''Charmed'', Dane was cast as Mark Sloan (Grey's Anatomy), Mark Sloan on ' ...

and was produced by

Dimension Films Dimension Films was an American independent film and television production and distribution label founded in 1992, and currently owned by independent studio Lantern Entertainment. Formally one of the American " mini-majors" (i.e., small to m ...

and

Neo Art & Logic Joel Soisson is an American filmmaker. He works primarily in the field of independent film. His numerous credits include ''Dracula 2000'', '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'', ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'', ''The Prophecy' ...

. The film ran for a special late night showing on September 22 and 23, 2006, almost a year after its premiere. Feast earned just under $690,000 during its box office run. The DVD was released on October 17, 2006, earning an additional $4,687,595. The film spawned two sequels: '' Feast II: Sloppy Seconds'' and '' Feast III: The Happy Finish''.

Season 4 (2015)

On April 2, 2015, ''Project Greenlight'' announced the first annual Greenie award winners. *Best Comedy: ''Heist'' – Director: Brianna Lux and Tony Lazzeroni *Best Drama: ''A Room for Aden'' – Director: Douglas Yablun *Best Action: ''Stan Lee Parkour'' – Director: Tom Grey *Most Unique: ''Listen'' – Director: Joshua Ortiz *Best Horror: ''The Table'' – Director: Shane Free *Most "WTF": ''Pink Shorts'' – Director: Jeff Huston In September 2015, ''Project Greenlight'' became the subject of controversy when an episode aired of

disagreeing with producer Effie Brown over the subject of diversity. A later controversy developed over the titling of the season's sixth episode as "Hot Ghetto Mess" involving Brown's attempt to make sure one of the films did not partake in racial stereotypes, which was to be corrected before airing and replaced with "The Pivot", but was never resolved before airtime. '' The Leisure Class'' debuted on HBO on November 2, 2015.

Awards and nominations

Australia

Series 1

In 2005, ''Project Greenlight Australia'' was launched with

Pay-TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Canadian premium television network and streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequen ...

in partnership with Screentime producing the show and offering the A$1,000,000 financing to the winning film. The entries were received online with last entries being accepted on February 14. The screenplay selected from the 1200 submissions was ''Solo'' by

Morgan O'Neill Morgan O'Neill (born 19 April 1973 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian showrunner, executive producer, writer, director and professional musician. Having earned a degree in literature from the University of Sydney, he graduated from the Natio ...

Series 2

In 2006, comedian and filmmaker

Paul McDermott Paul Anthony Michael McDermott (born 13 May 1962) is an Australian entertainer, best known both for '' Good News Week'' and for his role as a member of the musical comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. He has frequently appeared at the Mel ...

hosted the series. The screenplay selected from the 700 submissions was ''The View from Greenhaven'' by The MacRae Brothers.

Notes

The episode "The Pivot" was originally titled "Hot Ghetto Mess." However, the scene contextualizing the title was removed in last-minute editing. The original title was not corrected for television listings before air due to what was described as a "production error" by HBO. Future airings, along with

HBO Go HBO Go was an authenticated video-on-demand streaming service of the pay television network HBO. The service originally allowed subscribers to access HBO's on-demand programming via the HBO website, mobile apps, and digital media players, among ...

HBO Now HBO Now (formerly named HBO from July 2020) was an American subscription video on demand streaming service for premium television network HBO owned by WarnerMedia subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. Officially unveiled on March 9 and launched on ...

use "The Pivot" as the episode's title.

References

External links

* at

* {{Max (streaming service) 2000s American documentary television series 2010s American documentary television series 2020s American documentary television series 2001 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings 2023 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings HBO original programming Max (streaming service) original programming Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Miramax Television Bravo (American TV network) original programming American English-language television shows American television series revived after cancellation Television series about filmmaking Hoorae Media