In Issa Rae’s reboot of “Project Greenlight,” filmmaker Meko Winbush was chosen to direct the film “Gray Matter,” which launched alongside the docuseries on Max July 13. Rae, along with Kumail Nanjiani and Gina Prince Bythewood, served as Rae’s mentor in addition to her role of producing via HooRae Media. “Project Greenlight” previously aired on HBO from 2001-2005, and the mentors discussed how this newest iteration reflected 20 years of change in cinema.
In an interview before the SAG/AFTRA strike, Rae, Nanjiani, and Prince Bythewood discussed the overall structure of the film, noting that the simultaneous release of both the completed film as well as the unfinished version would compel audiences to want to know how the movie came to be.
“I’m really curious about what the audience’s reaction is going to be to watching it,” Prince-Bythewood said. “I know there’s going to be some pretty strong opinions about it.”
Rae stands by the competition show format through with “Gray Matter” was produced.
“It’ll be interesting because it’s almost like a layered experience watching the movie,” Nanjiani added. “You’re not just watching the movie. You’re watching how it interacts with what you know of the making of the movie. So it’s, it’ll be fascinating.
You can read more about the interview here:
You must have felt that the Meko film’s genre element presented some challenges. But, it also provided an opportunity for the audience to get a glimpse of what the production process was like.
Rae:It was definitely a lesson learned for me. I felt like we were really ambitious on our side to one, I think that finding a talented female filmmaker wasn’t a challenge at all, it’s more just having them produce something with a limited budget in a limited amount of time. That’s that’s just extremely challenging no matter what, and one of the things we’ve been discussing is obviously the script needed to be in the best shape. It’s a challenge to rewrite the script in such a short timeframe.
Then, you can see how much of a good director you really are. What kind of visionary are you? Yes, the genre element was definitely a challenge.
Nanjiani:Sci-fi movies you think of are not made in 18 days, so you’re really having to, in some ways, do a deconstruction of a genre because you can’t afford to really go all out. You can’t make a “Star Wars” movie with this budget. It’s a challenge, but the writer has done a great job in bringing a grounded approach to a superhero film.
You have a second chance. What other lessons did you learn during the season? Would you apply them to your next attempt, or would you at least give advice to someone else who wanted a go at it?
Prince-Bythewood:“When I used to watch ‘Project Greenlight’ it was just normal for all of the filmmakers and even the people up for it were all white men. I don’t even remember a person of color even being even up for it and the normalcy of that is kind of stunning to me. I’m so happy. Issa’s team came up with the idea of rebooting it to reflect what was happening now, and to show where this industry must go. The fact that I was able to change the story of filmmakers, and of what voices were worthy is really rewarding. To be able to do again, I’m confident that we would all continue in this vein and give shots to filmmakers that aren’t getting shots that should be getting shots.
Rae:I’m gonna be a little controversial. There’s some filmmakers that we that we met that I still think about daily and I wonder what it would look like if we chose [them] If we were to create the same film, what would it look like? Obviously, that’s like a budgetary Max conversation, but like I constantly think about what would it look like if LC made a movie as well with more comedic instincts or Nicole. There’s so many other filmmakers who are doing well and have these opportunities, but I just feel like there’s such a cruelty in even just choosing one, and that almost plays into the there’s only one slot for you women, so get it together. But I hope that especially with the ending episode we’re showing these other women are working and they’re still out there and they’re hireable. The exposure I’ve given them will hopefully lead to greater opportunities.
Nanjiani:Choosing Meko was a very difficult decision, and it wasn’t based on talent. It was based on ‘Who was a good fit for this material? The material itself is quite specific. It’s a Lo-Fi sci-fi movie. Lisa pointed out that many other filmmakers have a really great talent. I’d love to work with them in any capacity doing something with a different tone.
It is a simple process. First, the contestants submit a film. Next, they each make a single scene from the script. Is that enough to judge a director’s ability and also to get exposure for the other directors that don’t get chosen?
Rae:You can count on me [the competition structure]. Having them all create the same scene was probably the most exciting thing for me because you really get a chance to see — they don’t know anything about the script and this is purely [their] What is your vision? How can you best showcase yourself without just throwing everything at it? [in] Everything including the kitchen sink Some filmmakers kind of fell into that trap of just like I’m going to show them everything.
Nanjiani:Some of the filmmakers really tried to sort of show everything they could do, but that wasn’t the point of the exercise. It was important to be able to perform the scene, to have faith in the scene as well as yourself. They were all so talented, but the ones whose scene we felt we didn’t connect with were the ones who couldn’t focus down and find the core of the scene, the purpose of the scene, because they don’t have the full script, but you read that scene, you see what the emotion of it is, you see what’s going on. And the ones who sort of tried to show us their ability rather than just do the same were the ones that didn’t resonate as much.
Prince-Bythewood:It’s a strange thing to make creativity competitive. The competition was fairly even. All the participants received the same money and time and the same scene. This really elevated a few people to the top. The bottom line is that we all wanted to know what it was like for a filmmaker. Did you move us, and the top three, that’s what they had. It isn’t just about showing off your craft and skill and look what I can do, but did you make me feel and so that was a really fascinating exercise, and I think it’s a great way to you know, to structure this thing and choose a filmmaker, but it really came down to a top three that was really difficult to choose, so that’s what we have to do again.
“Project Greenlight” and “Gray Matter” are now available on Max.