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Christina Varotsis - UPM
The Project Greenlight series, and more specifically the episodes covering pre-production and principal photography, have very little to do with the production of the film. The show is not a documentary on the making of a low budget film, it is a reality TV show where skilled editors and agenda-driven producers are manipulating images to enhance drama and boost ratings.
To a certain extent, I do understand the motivations of the TV show producers and their responsibility to HBO, and to be honest I would not have taken issue with the show format and content (it makes great TV!) if the producers would have informed us that the term "documentary" was used quite loosely and that the crew was going to be turned into reluctant (with the exception of Frank...) or invisible cast members in a reality-based soap opera. Naively, I was misled into participating in a show that magnifies producer politics and dissension and distorts reality through deliberate omissions, time compressions, and strategic editing.
During pre-production, to insure cooperation (i.e., not running away from the cameras) and pacify crew concerns (there were quite a few), the TV show producers explained time and again that the purpose of the behind the scenes "documentary" was simply to chronicle the process of movie making and not to portray people or events unfavorably. Ironically enough, a consistently negative tone prevails throughout the series as presumed errors, lapses and blunders are scrutinized with the benefit of hindsight while never putting them into perspective or within the right context. No solutions or resolutions, achievements or successes are anywhere in sight.
Unrealistically perhaps, I was genuinely hoping for a show that would showcase the very intricate workings of a film crew on the job and how each element of the puzzle combines to make a film. The drama would stem from the mystifying conflict between art and business and from the daily challenges that each department and each crew member face. And there are indeed many challenges inherent to the filmmaking process and more specifically to the making of an ambitious low budget film.
What the production of Stolen Summer was all about was an amazing group of people--the cast, the crew, the Chicago film community, the vendors, Pete's family and friends--who embraced the project from the onset and contributed to finishing Stolen Summer "on time and on budget." The successful completion of the film is a testament to the skills and dedication of all those involved. The making of Stolen Summer was not just about mishaps, betrayal and intrigue, it was about hard work and camaraderie, commitment and generosity.
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