By Jeannie Ben-Hain
What writer doesn't imagine a chance to be discovered and have their
work promoted by top members of the industry? Projectgreenlight.com
gives screenplay writers this very opportunity, allowing them to send
in their work to compete with thousands of others for the chance to
create their movie with Miramax distribution and funding. In addition,
an HBO special will be made about the making of the movie. The contest
and the website seem to be the brainchild of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
who will act as executive producers for the screenplay chosen.
After the contestants sent in their screenplays, the website served
as a forum for visitors to volunteer as reviewers. Once a person signed
up as a reviewer they were required to review at least one screenplay
and could not read another one until they had completed their review.
In addition, each contestant who had entered a screenplay was required
to review 3 other screenplays. In this way, all of the screenplays
were reviewed and the contestants were whittled down to 10. These
ten were sent video editing software and cameras and told to create
a 3 minute clip of their movie. These 10 finalists were reviewed by
members of the industry and ultimately one winner was chosen.
I reviewed this site well after the bulk of the contest. I was able
to watch the video clips made by the 10 finalists and wait to hear
who the final winner was. The job of acting as a reviewer of screenplays
sounded interesting and by signing up as a reviewer I was able to
read a few of them. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate in
the reviewing during the selection process. I hope that the site chooses
to have another contest so that I can participate more fully in the
experience.
The contest and website seem like a new and interesting way that writers
can receive some recognition and critique of their work (even if they
don't get to be the final winner). It is somewhat interactive in that
the users reviews directly affect the outcome of the contest.