Project Greenlight

After a brief overview of the Project Greenlight contest by its creators, the season begins with the narrowing down of the top 50 scripts (from an initial 7,000!) to ten, and the directors down to four. Matt, Ben and Chris personally call the finalists to summon them to the 2003 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The excitement of arriving at this indie-film mecca soon turns to anxiety, however, as the judging panel screen directors' scene assignments and observe the screenwriters pitching their stories. Finally, six scripts are eliminated - and four directors and four writers are left standing.

After a brief overview of the Project Greenlight contest by its creators, the season begins with the narrowing down of the top 50 scripts (from an initial 7,000!) to ten, and the directors down to four. Matt, Ben and Chris personally call the finalists to summon them to the 2003 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The excitement of arriving at this indie-film mecca soon turns to anxiety, however, as the judging panel screen directors' scene assignments and observe the screenwriters pitching their stories. Finally, six scripts are eliminated - and four directors and four writers are left standing.

Press photos are shot and ""Stolen Summer"" producer Jeff Balis is surprisingly reintroduced. The group meets for some initial discussion about the winning screenplay. Erica ties up loose ends back home in Ohio as she prepares to move to L.A. The winners meet in L.A. for casting and budget meetings and quickly realize they may have little actual control over certain critical production elements. The producers talk about the winners' capabilities.

The executive producers and Dimension executives sat down and interviewed the top 3 writers and the top 3 directors. Coming to the conclusion of the script, which was written by both Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. This script is titled ""Feast"" and would be directed by John Gulager.

The group finds out from Dimension that they're not going have an easy time making their movie. They're told that the script's flawed, that the studio has reservations over the director's ability to pull it all together, and that they'll have to rewrite the script in order to make in with the $2 million budget. They then work 12 hour shifts fixing the script by eliminating scenes and combining characters. The director also stubbornly insists that his family members be cast in the lead roles, which causes frustrations the casting director.

Only nine weeks are left in pre-production. Ideas for the film are coming together and the director is finally starting to take charge. The group gets permission from Dimension to look for gap financing from another investor willing to put money into the production. They get an idea from a radio show to hit up the Maloof family for money. Their call into a radio program fails but they arrange a formal meeting through the Maloof family's office. The crew is assembling but the director still butts heads with the others over his insistence that his family be cast in the main roles.

Narrowed down from thousands of submissions, thirteen finalists arrive in Los Angeles to meet with the 'Project Greenlight' judges - Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, executive Jennifer Todd, producer Marc Joubert, producer Effie Brown, HBO's Len Amato, and the Farrelly brothers. As the judges discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each contestant's final project, they also debate the importance of artistic vision versus the collaborative skills required to be a successful director--all leading up to a red-carpet event where the winner will be announced.

With two months until production begins, Effie, Marc and Len try to convince Jason that digital is the only way to keep the project on schedule and within budget. Meanwhile, instead of moving forward with the original 'Project Greenlight' script, Jason pitches his own script: a dark comedy called 'The Leisure Class.'

Key production staff roles are filled, so Effie asks the location manager to scout mansions in the Los Angeles area, but Jason doesn't think any of them match his vision. Meanwhile, Jason continues to resist shooting digitally, which causes friction between Effie and Peter Farrelly.