by Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Promising $1 million and moviemaking clout, top actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck named four unknown writer-directors as finalists in their “Project Greenlight” Internet contest they hope will break Hollywood's old barriers to making movies.
The actors and Miramax Films named the winners — Evan Katz and Barron Ebenstein for their screenplay “Freeing Mr. Jiggs,” Brendan Murphy for “Speakeasy,” and Pete Jones for “Stolen Summer” — at a packed Hollywood theater late on Monday.
A green carpet had been rolled out, and cameras captured 10 semi-finalists as they strolled past reporters as if they were at their own premiere. Inside sat top talent agents, managers and industry players who could transform them from first-timers to full-fledged filmmakers with a flick of their fingers.
“I honestly have not been this moved — or this nervous — in a long time,” said Affleck, who along with Damon had been personally involved in the selection process that winnowed some 7,300 screenplays to the 10 semi-finalists in the theater.
“I really never thought I'd say such a trite thing, but you all are winners,” he said.
While Damon sees “Project Greenlight” as giving something back to an industry that made him an instant star after “Good Will Hunting,” a film that both he and Affleck starred in and shared an Oscar for on the basis of its screenplay. He stressed that he saw “Project Greenlight” as a way to shake up the Hollywood power structure.
Both actors want to show Hollywood that talent is waiting to be discovered across the country, if somebody would only look.
“THE RIGHT THING TO DO”
“This is not a charity or anything,” Damon told Reuters. “It's just the right thing to do. Rather than the traditional gatekeeper system, this contest is based on merit.”
“Project Greenlight” began last fall through the Web site www.liveplanet.com that Affleck and Damon founded with partners Chris Moore and Sean Bailey. Applications were taken and scripts were posted at www.projectgreenlight.com.
The scripts were evaluated by Web site readers, and their reviews helped narrow contestant numbers to 250, who then were asked to submit three-minute videos about themselves and their dreams of making a movie.
Using the tapes and screenplays, Affleck, Damon, Moore and Miramax executives picked the 10 semi finalists who were sent $8,000 worth of digital video equipment to shoot one scene from the script by which the judges could determine their ability.
DOING ONE'S BEST
“We did the best we could under the circumstances,” Ebenstein told Reuters at a party at a hip Hollywood nightclub “The Knitting Factory,” after audiences viewed each of the semi-finalists' three-minute scenes. “But hey, the feeling was, we made it here, so we'll make the most of what we have.”
And what he and his partner had was enough to make it into the “Project Greenlight” finals. The winner will be picked this week and must quit his job to begin production on the movie, budgeted at $1 million. Miramax Television is filming the process for a documentary to air in early 2002 on HBO.
Katz and Ebenstein, who live in Los Angeles, dub themselves writers by night and hair replacement executives in day jobs.
The two said they have tried for several years to get into the offices of top Hollywood's agents, managers and production executives. They've seen low-level agents and even optioned a few scripts that went nowhere. Mostly, they said, it's been a hard knock existence outside Hollywood's steel-trap doors.
Ebenstein and Katz stand in stark contrast to Atlanta graphic artist Brendan Murphy who never thought he'd get to a true Hollywood premiere.
“It's all very surreal, that's the only way to describe it. Not only to be sitting on the front row in a film premiere, but to see these two film icons,” Murphy said, then pauses before he adds. “I can't really describe how it feels.”
Murphy had wanted to enjoy the moment with his brother but in true Hollywood fashion, his brother couldn't get past the security guards at the Knitting Factory's V.I.P. room door.
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