The most recent season of Project Greenlight was beyond frustrating for me to watch. I realize that even “reality” series are scripted and edited in order to heighten the drama and make for good TV, but it was as if we were being shown a literal interpretation of what’s going on in the Film Industry, without them realizing that they were showing it to us. There has been much debate and discussion about the lack of women and the lack of diversity in film and both of these issues were at the forefront of this season. It wasn’t only those two things that caused my frustration though. Here’s a list of the most frustrating things about Project Greenlight Season 4.
- Hollywood is run like a bunch of teenagers who just want to be accepted by the cool kids.
In the first episode of Project Greenlight they interview all of the finalists and decide who is going to be the winner. There were many emotional interviews, where the finalists expressed their desire to be a director, what this opportunity would mean to them and how grateful they were at the chance to be in the room with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Len Amato, who is the PRESIDENT of HBO and many other “big dogs” of the industry.
In the room there were filmmakers who impressed them and a few who became emotional and spoke about how much this opportunity would mean to them and their career. When Jason Mann is interviewed they all agree that he’s an incredible filmmaker but worry that he does not have broad comedy sensibilities, which is important since they’re making a comedy. His demeanor in the room is strikingly different from that of the other contestants. When they meet with him the judges are all put off by his hard to get approach. He acts hesitant, nonchalant, not sure if he wants this opportunity of a lifetime being handed to him. Ben eventually stops beating around the bush and asks, “Do you want this job?” Jason replies, “I think I do. If changes are allowed.” According to HBO’s website, “The team is left with serious reservations about him”.
THEN THEY PICK HIM AS THE WINNER.
As soon as Jason didn’t want to be a part of their clique, they all scrambled to get his attention, and awarded him the prize.
Immediately following the announcement, Jason stepped off stage, cornered Matt and Ben, requested to shoot on film and said that he wanted to fire the writer. Jennifer Todd, President of Pearl Street films said, “That’s Hollywood. That’s what making movies is really actually like. It’s never like a bunch of nice people get together and just creatively agree on everything and make art.”
Matt Damon summed it up when he said, “Our tendency is to assume somebody should be incredibly grateful when you give them something, but I think he, like a true filmmaker was just acknowledging that what we were giving him was laden with problems.”
Problems or no problems, he could have at LEAST been grateful for the opportunity.
- The diversity issue.
I find it incredibly frustrating that they started with a script that had a black female lead and their white male winner managed to convince them all that he already had this script that was better. Sure, the original script had its issues and even Effie Brown; the strong, black, female producer had her doubts about it. Next thing you know, they’ve Green-lit a movie about upper class white people with two men in the lead roles, a one- two punch that takes care of two groups of people often overlooked in this industry, women and people of color.
In a now famous exchange, Matt Damon and Effie Brown got into it about whether or not there’s a diversity problem in Hollywood. Matt claims that there isn’t and the time and place to bring diversity onto a film is within casting and that it’s not a real concern whether or not women and people of color are hired to work on the film. Which is an insane thing to say.
Later, in another episode Effie fights to remove the one person of color that shows up in the overwhelmingly white film when an extra is cast in the role of a limo driver. She’s the only one who noticed that this was happening and you’d think that the First AD who was also black would have been aware of it, but even he didn’t think it was a big deal.
- The Female Issue
Having a strong, female producer with a proven track record was a great step in the right direction. The way she was treated throughout the process felt like a real slide backwards. It seemed to me like Effie Brown was vilified and made to be the enemy. During this entire process Jason Mann, the director, doubted her every move and consistently questioned her ability to actually bring this movie to fruition. He also accused her of not being clear or lying to him about what the reality of the budget actually was. When she declared at the end of production that there was a surplus of money left over for re-shoots, he insisted, pouted that their car crash could have been bigger if the mean lady wasn’t keeping him from his money. I wonder if Marc Joubert would have been delivering these limits if Jason would have reacted differently?
One of my favorite moments of the show happened when Jason asked Effie to watch the rough edit of the film and she expressed to him that the main female character’s story needed to be fleshed out a little more. She felt that the character’s storyline made no sense when she turns on a dime in the last minute. Of course Jason brushed her off, thought nothing of it, until a room full of men and some women said the EXACT SAME THING that she said. He even resisted adding depth to a scene for the character Fiona as they were on set shooting the scene. Len Amato, president of HBO films had to insist that they shoot a line of dialogue for Fiona that clarifies the whole situation, eventually pulling rank and making Jason shoot it.
I find it fascinating that this successful, strong female even caught herself allowing the situation to make her feel insecure, “ …I was insecure. That’s why I kept bringing up, “I did 17 films.” What’s so pathetic about that is I’ve done like 23 films. I was saying 17 to have some sort of humble brag. Looking back, it’s like, what were you thinking? I watch the show and realize that nobody else qualified their experience.”
To add insult to injury, Brown told Indiewire’s Anne Thompson that she was unaware that she would play such a prominent role in the docuseries and that she was only paid the Screen Actors Guild day rate for one day of shooting the week’s long TV series, along with her producer’s fee and two points on the back end of the movie. “It was a (bad) deal,” she told Thompson. “I only got paid to do the film.”
At a recent panel convened to talk about diversity in the film industry, Brown urged the crowd to move beyond just talking about the issue when it comes to diversity. “Stop talking about it and be about it — what you produce, what you write, what you direct, make sure it’s diverse. Otherwise we don’t have any right to bitch about it.”
Its time for all of us to stop talking about it and BE about it, how will you affect change in your personal journey?