Project Greenlight 2

I picked up the Project Greenlight 2 DVD set for cheap. I've finally caught up to the series after 3 years since it aired on the TV and it was enjoyable as my friends kept telling me. I was reeled in right after the 3rd episode and ended up watching it all night long till the end of the series, and saving the movie for the other night so that I can distance myself from its filmmaking journey.

I think the series well encapsulated the passion and the trials of making a feature, the first big studio feature/project, for novice filmmakers. Of course, the directors boast that they've been making films for 10 years in Maine, but they got crash lessons of making a feature within the system, the Hollywood ways, etc. It's often said that making a movie is more dramatic and entertaining than the movie material itself, and this series shows you why. I think every aspiring feature director and writer should watch the series and learn the lessons not to repeat the same mistakes these directors & the writer went through. This DVD set should be required viewing for all filmmaking classes! (Are YOU ready to make a film with that much heartbreak and turmoil?! Can YOU handle the TRUTH?!)

For all intended purposes, I do believe the producers hired wrong directors for the script they have chosen to shoot. Although their choice ultimately made more engrossing reality show series, it ultimately hurt the final goal of making a commercially-viable yet creatively-independent studio movie under 1 million dollar budget. Sure, the low-budget and short production schedule did hurt the quality of the movie, but against the odds, the directors and the writer didn't have the chance and the time to learn and work with the system given short time frame. Undoubtedly, the pair of the directors and the writer learned and experienced valuable lessons that would lead them to more creative and productive filmmaking endeavors in future. However, they did fall short of the delivering the movie that would be commercially self-sufficient to earn back the invested money, if not time. (I had to wonder if the producers and key personnel salary were factored into the 1 million dollar budget of the movie or the show budget.)

I guess that's the main reason the series are canceled (?) after the producers went onto produce more commercially viable horror film on 3rd season. Considering I have yet to hear about the movie they've produced in 3rd season, Miramax doesn't want to back another money-losing feature from this series, and all hope are abandoned. It's pity, really, because Ben and Matt did create something really wonderful, yet for all their best intentions, the series also humbled them into proving that in this business, you can't never know what you'll get at the end of the day.

I'm also humbled into thinking that I could easily succeed against this incredible odds. I'm reminded that only persistence and perseverance go together overcoming this incredible odds with my whatever talent I posses. Good luck and good night.