Project Greenlight is returning

Just saw that they're going to produce a new season of Project Greenlight:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbo-reviving-project-greenlight-ben-700165

Apparently Chris Moore (producer on the first seasons) also has a competing series coming out on Starz later this year.

I thought the first couple seasons were interesting but flawed; I wonder if the changes they're planning will result in better success for the projects this time around. They'll basically be looking for a director to produce a script they've already selected, presumably based on it's commercial viability. Moore's is taking a different approach - they have two different directors producing the same script with a different cast but the same budget and in the same town, and then the most successful film is what determines the winner.

Filmmaking always seemed to me like it has a lot of potential for a reality series, but so far no one's really managed to make a success out of it (anyone remember On The Lot?). It'll be interesting to see if they can make it work this time around.
 
What was the flaw in your opinion? I'm curious.

I remember during the second season, I was really busy, and I used to tivo 3 shows a week, just project greenlight, real time, and the sopranos. I was crazy about it. And my roommates couldn't be bothered about it. They didn't care at all for it.

I thought about the reason, and I remembered watching the oscars with my roommates. I would pick out the directors as they walked in or talked to some reporter. My roommates used to be incredulous. "How do you know these people?" they would be dumbfounded. And that's what made me think, that the reason Project Greenlight never took off was that most moviegoers don't really care that much about the "making of," to the point that even Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in it didn't interest them. They were busy too and watched their own shows.

It'd be nice to see a new season though.
 
I did enjoy watching it, but I felt like they sort of set the people up for failure - things like choosing someone who's work was quirky and unusual, then expecting them to produce a commercially viable mainstream film. On the one hand I can see why the producers might do that in order to create a situation with more potential for 'reality drama', but then they ended up canceling the show because none of the films produced had any real commercial success. I feel like they need to decide what it is they're hoping to get out of the show and the films produced as part of it.

I agree though - many people aren't as interested in the behind the scenes part. I wonder if part of the decision to bring it back has to do with the much larger potential audience of people who are producing their own work - the youtube generation, basically - who may have more interest in the process.
 
... many people aren't as interested in the behind the scenes part.

It depends upon which behind the scenes aspect filmmaking. The SyFy Channel has two relatively successful competition/reality shows that relate to filmmaking - Face Off and Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.

http://www.syfy.com/faceoff

http://www.syfy.com/creatureshop


Both are rather fun, by the way.


Let's face it, some aspects of filmmaking are very boring - even to other filmmakers. How do you make even a small piece of a show about a guy/gal who sits in a room and auditions every single line of dialog from every single take of a film even remotely interesting? Foley is probably a bit more fun as would be the sound effects field team, but, even still, even the most dedicated of filmmakers find these processes tedious; forget about the "average" viewer. Lighting a set/shot is equally uninteresting.

However, stunts, H/MU, special effects, auditions and a few other filmmaking crafts could be moderately interesting.
 
While it was interesting for me to watch, Don is right. The flaws is pretty obvious. What would make for a good combination for a watchable TV show for the public makes for a bad combination for a successful movie.

Success TV series: Hire the worse combination possible to instigate drama. Pack in as much drama, make as many things go as wrong as possible, reward bad behavior, explode in public as often as possible, encourage face-palm situations... the list goes on.

Successful movie: Hire the right (and best) people who work well together. Work as a team towards a common goal. Nip the bad ideas in the bud as early as possible. Keep drama in private.

none of the films produced had any real commercial success

While this is true, one of the films got a sequel. Go figure.
 
Interesting premise and commercial results considering the industry professional talent, project exposure, and budget resources allocated towards each season's products.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Greenlight

Season 1:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Summer
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stolensummer.htm
Ratings: 6.5/10 from 2,203 users = 13 theaters, $6,664 average
Production Budget: $1.8 million
Worldwide Gross: $163,348

Season 2:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357470/
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=battleofshakerheighits.htm
Ratings: 6.2/10 from 3,391 users = 13 theaters, $12,187 average
Budget: $1,000,000 (estimated)
Domestic: $280,351

Season 3:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426459/
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=feast.htm
Ratings: 6.4/10 from 22,134 users = 146 theaters, $384 average
Budget: $3,200,000 (estimated)
Worldwide Gross: $688,854

Those are some pretty... disappointing ROIs, all things considered.
Kinda sobering.
This movie making gig must be tough or something.
;)
 
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Successful movie: Hire the right (and best) people who work well together. Work as a team towards a common goal. Nip the bad ideas in the bud as early as possible. Keep drama in private.

Pure gold. :yes:

Not to knock the show. Thanks for the heads-up, IDOM. =)
 
Flawed yes, but I kinda enjoyed the Greenlight series, even if just to see the production company truck make a drive-by appearance in a shot! :)
 
Looks like it's up and about to start - anyone who hasn't had a feature distributed can enter; just need to submit a 3-minute max short film starting July 24th:

http://www.projectgreenlight.com/

Someone suggested I submit my criminal bounds short but idk. I guess it can't hurt. It sucks you don't get to develop your own ideas but I guess people like that don't need green light, we can make it on our own
 
So we shot our Greenlight entry yesterday. Characters and (i believe) 9 extras. Took about 5 hours (for this 3 minute short). Our DP is editing this one so I am sideline till we see what he gets us.
 
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