Season 1 - 10 episodes (2023)
Watch the trailer
Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Issa Rae, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Meko Winbush
Rated: TV-MA
Plot
This relaunch of Project Greenlight focuses on the next generation of diverse, up-and-coming talented female filmmakers who are given the chance to direct a feature film, under the guidance of Issa Rae as Executive Producer.
Verdict
This is a look behind the scenes of how a movie is made. I like what this is trying to do, but I wish this season was more interested in the parts that make up the whole rather than focusing on the drama between the studio and an inexperienced director. This could have been more more educational, and certainly the producers should have been more confrontational.
It depends.
Review
I really enjoyed the original four season run. This is the same premise where a promising director gets a chance to helm a movie. I love the concept alone. It's a lot of fun to see all the parts that make up a movie as well as the potential pitfalls.
Meko is an inexperienced director that gets the chance of a lifetime, to direct Gray Matter. She has the skill but her lack of communication was a source of frustration throughout the season. Most of her responses are 'I don't know' or 'I need to think about it.' This is reality television and it feels like that is driving drama. The timeline is a constant concern. I get time is money, but the show should explain better why the schedule is so short rather than just using it as a way to create drama.
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| Kumail Nanjiani, Issa Rae, Meko Winbush, Gina Prince-Bythewood |
While producers have concerns, nothing ever happens. They circle through a lot of the same problems and get excuses back from Meko. I wasn't sure if it was reality television or Meko is just like that. With this immense opportunity she takes two weekend trips during production. I really had to wonder about that. Anytime she gets advice or constructive criticism she dismisses it. She states, "I can't be responsible for everyone." after just stating the items she lets her assistant director Danny handle.
Later in the season she complains about how a false positive Covid test cost her valuable editing time, but that's right after she took a trip to Joshua Tree that confounded everyone else. The producers let it happen though, despite expressing concerns, the producers seem quite gentle.
Meko got all these notes about the script, but she keeps talking about defending her vision. Near the end and at that point with a nearly complete movie, everyone has the same concerns that they had at the beginning. Meko blames the script. The same script the producers told her needed to be fixed and didn't hold her accountable for actually fixing. "That's a script note" Meko states after a screening, adding that we can't explore that in post. I
appreciate the episode providing a montage of all of those same comments coming during the script phase. It makes me wonder how much of this is dramatized. The producers are footing the bill, but never push Meko for direct answers or immediate changes. If the producers are footing the bill, they get to make more than a few calls.
I would like for this to spend more time on all aspects of a movie. The producers talk about budget and time but I wish they talked more about why and about what drives their decisions. The show states the story needs to be fixed during editing but never gets specific. Since Meko didn't capture a lot of alternative takes that robbed editing of options. That was a concern during filming, but no one made a point of it during editing.
This show can be frustrating. you need that to keep people engaged but this could step back a bit and give us a broader look instead of so focused on drama. Are directors just naturally over confidant? I watched the original series, and a lot of my issues are directors that have never done a movie refusing to budge or consider others' opinions. That persists on this show too. I enjoy the behind the scenes look, but I wish this was more focused on education.
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