Miramax, HBO 'Greenlight' indie bow
Script to be chosen from 'Net contest
Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore ("American Pie") will exec produce the movie and the TV series, HBO announced Monday at the semiannual Television Critics Assn. Tour.
The film will be based on a screenplay chosen via an Internet contest. Writers will be able to submit screenplays electronically at www.projectgreenlight.com and the winner will be paid by Miramax to direct the feature film. Pic's budget will be in the $1 million range, according to Miramax Television president Billy Campbell, who anticipates that hundreds of thousands of screenplays will be submitted.
The contest will begin in September, and pre-production on the movie will begin in early 2001 with a release date projected at January 2002, around the same time the series hits HBO. "We'd love to have the last episode of the series feature the filmmaker at the premiere of his film," said Campbell. HBO has ordered 13 episodes of the half-hour series and plans to bring in a documentarian to direct it.
The series will begin pre-production immediately. Spanning the entire process of creating a movie, "Greenlight" will begin with an episode that introduces the aspiring filmmakers who submitted their screenplays via the Internet, followed by the selection of the winning scripts. Subsequent episodes will cover everything from pre-production and casting through principal photography and post-production.
Talent overseers
Damon, Affleck and Moore will be an integral part of the series, as viewers will witness the decisions they make as they help the director through the process of bringing a film to the bigscreen. Campbell said it's likely that the stable of Miramax directors such as Kevin Williamson and Robert Rodriguez will also help guide the filmmaker along.
In addition to helping the exec producers select the winning screenplay, Projectgreenlight.com will also serve as an interactive online community where aspiring filmmakers can meet and learn about each other's projects.
"Greenlight" was created by Alex Keledjian and developed for television by Eli Holzman, VP of Miramax TV, and Kent Kubena, VP of Pearl Street Prods.
