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CNN Live At Daybreak

Project Greenlight Chooses First Screenwriter Winner

Aired November 29, 2001 - 05:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Think you might know that Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been pretty lucky in the movie business.

Now they want to share some of that luck and opportunity and our Sherri Sylvester tells us how.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Project Greenlight began as an online contest, 10,000 aspiring screenwriters applied.

EVAN KATZ, AGE 28: Evan Katz, age 28, Los Angeles, California, hair salesman.

SYLVESTER: Only one could get the green light and a million bucks to make their movie. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and their producing partner, Chris Moore (ph), came up with the idea to give a kid a break only to find themselves in a behind-the-scenes drama documented by HBO.

PETE JONES, WRITER-DIRECTOR, PROJECT GREEN LIGHT WINNER: I think my film probably wouldn't get made by a studio.

SYLVESTER: Act 1, Scene 1, Matt, Ben and Chris are holed up in a hotel room with Miramax, execs who are forking over the million. Choosing the winner is a nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just make them wrestle for it.

BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR: I have a date.

MATT DAMON, ACTOR: I walked in thinking everyone was going to agree with me. I mean the answer's clear.

SYLVESTER: An unknown Pete Jones goes from zero to 60 on the Hollywood freeway as his name is announced on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He takes a victory lap. The very next day, he's to start his film.

JONES: Like the audience, I learned how to make a movie and they're going to see warts and all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about to get a real bad piece of news.

SYLVESTER: Lesson one, never leave a script meeting to go to the bathroom.

JONES: Went to the bathroom, because I had to go, and I come back and things in my movie are being cut out.

SYLVESTER: To cut costs, the studio wants to dump his Chicago location 1976 setting and some cast members. Affleck comes to the rescue using his clout to call Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein.

AFFLECK: Yes, I just want to sit down with you and talk about this Greenlight budget and a few of the little things, is that possible?

SYLVESTER: Politics are part of the process.

AFFLECK: Nobody, you know, in Hollywood wants to come across looking badly. Nobody in Hollywood wants to have their image ruined by them coming across as some moron or some lunatic on HBO.

DAMON: We just felt that that process was inherently dramatic because every single movie we've ever worked on, you know, well we'd always say, wow, I wish there was a camera in here and, you know, you could see some of this stuff.

SYLVESTER: They won the Oscar for their first feature, but how to allow Pete Jones to make his own mistakes.

JONES: Jumping in and sort of calling my friends who, you know, do special effects on 'Reindeer Games" to just come do me a favor and make it work.

DAMON: So you're corrupting the process.

JONES: Right, right.

DAMON: This is about showing other filmmakers how hard it is, you know. You can't just -- Chris Moore can't just call the studio and -- every time.

SYLVESTER: The 13-part documentary series begins Sunday. Pete's film, "Stolen Summer," will be released in March.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Imagine that, the big revelation that Ben Affleck had a date that night. Have to tune in to that one.

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