|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Guest Column - Miramax
by Eli Holzman
Let There Be Greenlight
The decision to make Project Greenlight a reality at Miramax didn't happen in a boardroom or in a committee meeting. No formal vote was taken; there are no minutes from a staff meeting for me to quote. In fact, no decision at Miramax has ever been made that way. Ever. The decision was made by each of the people who embraced the project, contributed to it and decided to champion it personally. From Co-chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein down to the interns who volunteered to help us get the word out to film schools when the contest was launched, everyone at Miramax, in one small way or another, made the decision to make Project Greenlight. And that's the way it's always been at a company that is ultimately governed by passion and a love of filmmaking. Really that's what Project Greenlight is all about and, at base, from its beginning at the dawn of the independent film movement and to this day, that's what Miramax is all about as well.
I suspect we all have our own reasons for getting behind Project Greenlight. One of the biggest for all of us was the opportunity to collaborate with Chris Moore, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and their exciting new company, LivePlanet. (We didn't know their fourth partner, Sean Bailey, at the time - or the rest of their incredible team) but suffice it to say that without all of them there simply would not be a Project Greenlight.
For Billy Campbell and me in the TV department, Project Greenlight seemed like the perfect project to herald Miramax's entry into the TV business - it's film-related; cool and interesting (we think); it could be truly compelling, poignant and dramatic in a way only documentaries can be; and unlike just about everything else you might find on television, it had never been done before.
Our colleagues in each of the other divisions got behind the idea early on as well. The feature production team was excited about the experiment. They saw Project Greenlight as yet another opportunity to think outside the Hollywood box in their never-ending search for fresh voices and great, new filmmaking talent.
The marketing, promotions and publicity teams thought it was a great opportunity for the departments to work together - each element of Project Greenlight supporting the others.
The people in business and legal affairs were some of the most supportive. And while they thought the idea was cool and they recognized a good opportunity - the thing they really responded to - the thing that everyone responded to - was the idea of giving someone their big break. And that is the real reason Miramax decided to make Project Greenlight.
Now, having said all of that, in the spirit of Project Greenlight, I should go back a bit and admit - the decision was not an easy one to make.
First, plain and simple, it's risky. There's a reason that movies and TV shows tend to conform to the same tested and true genres year after year: those genres work. And that's really saying something. Because while everyone thinks they could make better movies (and a select few can) - most of us can't. And even that select few have to struggle and work their asses off - ask Pete Jones. (Or, better yet, watch him). Everyone thinks their job or their family or their life would make a great sitcom. And as someone who has heard a lot of pitches in my office...and at restaurants, parties, in cabs, at home, on the beach...(you get the idea), I can assure you - they wouldn't. Making great movies and TV - making okay movies and TV is really, really hard. And they take years and cost millions to make. And no one wants to waste years or lose millions.
It's also a lot of hard work. Not only do you have to make a movie and a TV show - you have build a website, launch a contest and do it all at the same time making sure everything fits together perfectly. Once you've seen the show you'll have an idea of how hard just one of those things can be - don't bother imagining how hard it is to do all of that other stuff at once - you'll just get a headache - like we all did.
Finally, it's scary. Hats off to Pete Jones for being able to make a movie - his first movie - with cameras on him at all times. Our executives (Billy and I included) really didn't want to be on TV. As if the million dollar gamble on a guy no one had ever met with a script no one had ever read on a TV show no one had ever tried wasn't bad enough - we were going to do it on national television.
As I read this back now it's a wonder Project Greenlight got made at all. But the real wonder is that despite this very intimidating downside, no one at Miramax ever said "no." That's not to say the fear, the risk and the hard work weren't intimidating - I already admitted the decision wasn't an easy one - but, without exception, for all of us, the idea of giving a first-time filmmaker a chance won out every time.
So we might have griped a little when we had to work long hours on the weekend - and we definitely lost some sleep at the thought of the whole thing going horribly wrong. But for the most part we were all thrilled to be a part of something so exciting and new. Something that encapsulates the reason each of us is in this business - we want to make better movies and TV. And we're trying. Sometimes we succeed. More often we fail. And that's what Miramax is all about.
And that's why Miramax wanted to make Project Greenlight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
