Affleck and Damon to reboot Project Greenlight for HBO

[terry78]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=117714

I always did dig that show, should be interesting.

 

[cronosred]

Just a reminder this show is back Sunday Sept. 13.

 

[Mysteryman]

Enjoying it so far .
Although Jason doesn't seem that easy to work with .

 

[Doctor Jones]

This show's great and very educational.

The thing about Jason is at least he has the talent and skill to back up his ******** because in other circumstances, he'd be fired or they would just do the Farrelly script. I can at least respect that he can walk the walk to back up his talk which is something you can't say about a lot of aspiring filmmakers and that's where they go wrong. He's good and that will carry him far. I get where he's coming from with some things but you just have to play along. Like shooting on film. I mean he got the script he wrote actually approved and won everybody over and then he thinks he can still shoot on film? That's where you have to compromise.

 

[Mysteryman]

I suspect Jason isn't going to let go of the whole idea of shooting on film.

My guess is that he will get what he wants but , he will have to cut quite a bit out of the budget .

 

[Doctor Jones]

At the end of the day, he's a first time director working for HBO. HBO is all about quality and creativity, but digital doesn't effect overall quality of a film if its shot right. But Jason is not in a position to make those kind of demands at his level. Yes he won a contest, but it doesn't mean he can get everything he wants. He has to learn to work within the system and strike a good balance between fighting the right fights and not rolling over to just compromising.

He's a good director and if they get a good DP, it will look great. He needs to let that go.

 

[Pickleweasel]

This movie doesn't get made does it

 

[Doctor Jones]

I haven't watched the new episode but are you referring to the director preventing this movie getting made or if they're actually going to get this made to premiere on HBO? Because it's set to premiere I think at the end of the year, don't know when for sure.

 

[Mysteryman]

They had a premiere for it.
It was made.
It sounds like it might of been a bit of a bumpy ride though.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Of course. This is a reality show. You can't have one without drama along the way. I do think part of the decision making process is the kind of drama that the choice of filmmaker will entail. Filmmaker and talent mainly, but I can't help but feel this goes into it.

Jason's a good director, but he's head strong, stubborn and whose sensibilities don't fit the material. Same happened with Pete and the two friends. Pete was a writer and never directed a film in his life. The duo director are exactly that. Two directors which can cause all sorts of tension and dynamics for the viewers. They're interesting choices too of course, but the drama is a given.

 

[cronosred]

I feel bad Effie's stuck with such a manipulative spoiled brat that's constantly going behind her back, and worse yet it seems like everyone around is writing off any of the trouble as if it's her fault. I mean what has Jason done in this short amount of time to earn everyone's loyalty?

 

[flickchick85]

I feel bad Effie's stuck with such a manipulative spoiled brat that's constantly going behind her back, and worse yet it seems like everyone around is writing off any of the trouble as if it's her fault. I mean what has Jason done in this short amount of time to earn everyone's loyalty?

Agreed. While watching this I just want to punch Jason in the face about 90% of the time.

 

[flickchick85]

Ugh, Jason keeps getting worse by the episode. Yes, Effie set aside a part of the budget for re-shoots and didn't let you blow it on a bigger car crash because that's what a good producer does, ass. And instead of thanking her for doing so to make the re-shoots he wants possible, he just whines that he doesn't have enough to do ALL the re-shoots he wants. Look dude, if they had done things your way, you wouldn't be able to do ANY re-shoots, so just be happy your producer didn't fall for your "we need a bigger crash for the story" BS.

Also, no matter how many people gave him feedback that the female lead's arc was weak, it was so blatantly obvious he didn't care. Not as much as his under-exposed shot. I'm trying to think of a TV character that has annoyed me so much and I'm coming up short, and this guy is an actual real-life person, lol.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I haven't watched the last two episodes but yeah, this better be a good film, or else all of Jason's bullheadedness will be for nothing. I can respect him for being uncompromising and sticking to his vision which makes for great films, but he isn't a feature director and hasn't dealt with making a film on this level. He has no experience in that and he's unproven. His mentality works for short films because you aren't dealing with unions and big logistics and a real budget so he sometimes just doesn't know which battles to fight and to just let go. I think he still thinks he's making a short film where he has absolute control. He ain't ****ing Scorsese.

 

[SoNicRaDiATioN]

I'm trying to think of a TV character that has annoyed me so much and I'm coming up short, and this guy is an actual real-life person, lol.

I got one for you, that mouthy know-it-all/told ya so, unprofessional, massive chip on her shoulder biatch named Effie. She came across as the beacon of Hollywood.

 

[The Chris]

Neither Effie or Jason came off well in my opinion. Now with Jason I had a little bit of understanding at first as a director myself but he screwed that up yesterday with the reshoot whining. I had to do reshoots for the first time a few weeks ago for a short that I am working on, but I decided to do that not because of a shot that didn't work and wasn't up to standards (which does happen and I usually just live with it and try to fix it in post), but because the story didn't work for me. I just watched it and realized that I didn't care what was going on in the film, and I made the darn thing so I knew that no one else would. So I took a day to fix the script, I recast the villain role because it was terrible and last minute anyway, re-wrote all the villain's lines because they were cheesy and didn't fit any of us who were working on the film, and added the hero's dad, bringing some heart into the darn thing. That's what I think reshoots should be about, fixing the core of the movie's problems, not the little things. And trust me, I care deeply about my visuals and am pretty particular about them, but my visuals serve the story, so story first. Jason didn't seem to get that and that was my problem with him. I'm gonna watch the Leisure Class out of curiosity, but I don't expect it to be good.

 

[flickchick85]

I got one for you, that mouthy know-it-all/told ya so, unprofessional, massive chip on her shoulder biatch named Effie. She came across as the beacon of Hollywood.

Oh yeah Effie definitely has a chip on her shoulder and seems like a pain to deal with in real-life, but she's a damn saint compared to Jason, imo. I mean, if I were his producer and he were passive-aggresively going behind my back on every little time he didn't get his way, I wouldn't be all sunshine and roses either. Jason tried SO HARD to ignore her feedback about the female lead until everybody at the test screening and eventually the head of HBO was like, no, THIS is your priority, not the stupid under-exposed shot. Which basically sums up how he deals with everything Effie tells him.

And yeah, I'm a filmmaker myself but Jason's behavior is beyond unprofessional, imo.

 

[SoNicRaDiATioN]

Oh yeah Effie definitely has a chip on her shoulder and seems like a pain to deal with in real-life, but she's a damn saint compared to Jason, imo. I mean, if I were his producer and he were passive-aggresively going behind my back on every little time he didn't get his way, I wouldn't be all sunshine and roses either. Jason tried SO HARD to ignore her feedback about the female lead until everybody at the test screening and eventually the head of HBO was like, no, THIS is your priority, not the stupid under-exposed shot. Which basically sums up how he deals with everything Effie tells him.

And yeah, I'm a filmmaker myself but Jason's behavior is beyond unprofessional, imo.

That's three filmmakers with me, you and The Chris

I have problems with Jason as well. I've made short films myself and one of the first things I learned was to be flexible and find ways to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. I admire Jason for fighting every inch for his baby, but you'd think he would have learned by now, or at least expected given his circumstances that he wasn't going be afforded the luxury of being too precious about every little detail...I was like that myself at first but soon became the polar opposite as a means of survival (and frankly growing as an artist). I became unscrupulous in dissecting my own work.

 

[flickchick85]

That's three filmmakers with me, you and The Chris

I have problems with Jason as well. I've made short films myself and one of the first things I learned was to be flexible and find ways to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. I admire Jason for fighting every inch for his baby, but you'd think he would have learned by now, or at least expected given his circumstances that he wasn't going be afforded the luxury of being too precious about every little detail...I was like that myself at first but soon became the polar opposite as a means of survival (and frankly growing as an artist). I became unscrupulous in dissecting my own work.

Yeah I mean I'm still on the student level as I just finished my grad thesis project, but I'm primarily an editor and lately an aspiring producer, so maybe that's why I'm finding myself empathizing with Effie so much more. As an editor, I'm used to going and telling the director, "let it go, you don't need this shot...this part's superfluous....the pacing's off here," etc. It's hard telling someone they need to chop pieces off their baby, but you get used to it. And having just acted as producer on my thesis for another writer/director, I find that producing is just that same thing (telling people what they need and what has to go) but on a much bigger scale. Sometimes that will inevitably make you play the villain, but someone HAS to do it, and be firm about it. Jason seems like he's never even had a producer before, based on his behavior here.

 

[The Chris]

Yeah I mean I'm still on the student level as I just finished my grad thesis project, but I'm primarily an editor and lately an aspiring producer, so maybe that's why I'm finding myself empathizing with Effie so much more. As an editor, I'm used to going and telling the director, "let it go, you don't need this shot...this part's superfluous....the pacing's off here," etc. It's hard telling someone they need to chop pieces off their baby, but you get used to it. And having just acted as producer on my thesis for another writer/director, I find that producing is just that same thing (telling people what they need and what has to go) but on a much bigger scale. Sometimes that will inevitably make you play the villain, but someone HAS to do it, and be firm about it. Jason seems like he's never even had a producer before, based on his behavior here.

Yeah he probably hasn't had one before. I feel like sometimes you have to build a "no" side within yourself. I usually don't have another producer besides myself, and when I did he was a noob who's backside I had to be on in order to get things happening, so I will be there sometimes telling myself no because it's not really needed, this shot already did the job, and we need to save time. The desire to serve myself and my vision is there, but usually for me what's best for the story will win out, so it's really important to listen to the people around you. That's actually what I like most about moviemaking. I love collaborating with my actors and crew. They may come up with an idea that's better than what I originally thought of.

 

[Pickleweasel]

Getting really bad reviews

I found it strange that yesterday they aired Affleck saying that he didn't like it

 

[The Chris]

Just watched the leisure class. The film didn't work at all for me. The story was a mess, and the attempt at ambiguity didn't work. You're making a comedy, not Blade Runner.

It didn't feel like there was any flow in the cast. Just felt like a bunch of people reading their lines, with the leonard character being incredibly annoying. I thought the whole breakdown scene just ran forever and didn't work, but the most important thing is that it's not funny at all. It's very bland and didn't know what it wanted to be. And for a guy who sees himself as a true artist, i found no artistry in the directing from jason. Dull lighting, uninteresting shot compositions, bad pacing, and no grasp on the story. All the conflicts on set and no one stood up and helped the movie and the story. No one served the story. Only themselves.

 

[flickchick85]

Yeah, I caught most of it the other day too, and yikes. NONE of the comedy worked, imo. It seems like Jason's sole direction to Tom Bell was, "just be weird and inappropriate the whole time. I'm sure you'll be funny." Like, I get the type of character he was going for, but it was just a totally aimless attempt at such a character, imo. The visual direction was basic as hell, too.

Even Battle of Shaker Heights was better than this. And hey, remember Feast? Sure it was a dud, but at least it was a dud with personality.

 

[pixen]

The movie was so painful. It seemed like it was a lot of pointless talking. Jason probably assumed that the dialogue was witty/funny banter but it was just so boring.

I really hope this gets another season as the drama that played out over Project Greenlight was so entertaining!