Season 1 (2001–02) The script contest ran from September 2000 to March 2001. Over 7,000 screenplays were submitted, and Pete Jones was selected as the winner for
Stolen Summer, which he then filmed on location in his hometown of
Chicago during the summer of 2001. The first season of
Project Greenlight, helmed by show runner and co-executive producer Liz Bronstein, chronicled the selection of Jones's script and the filming of the movie, aired on
HBO from late 2001 through early 2002.
Stolen Summer premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2002, then went on to a limited theatrical release which brought in just under $140,000.
Season 2 (2003) For its second run, the contest was split into two categories: writing and directing. The winners were chosen on January 18, 2003. Erica Beeney won the writing contest for her script
The Battle of Shaker Heights, and
Kyle Rankin and
Efram Potelle won the directing contest. The film stars
Shia LaBeouf,
Elden Henson,
Amy Smart, and
William Sadler. The series aired in the summer of 2003, detailing the production of the film in
Los Angeles.
The Battle of Shaker Heights opened in limited theatrical release on August 24, 2003, earning just under $280,000 during its box office run.
Season 3 (2005) Script submission began and ended during February 2004. After two seasons on HBO, the series moved to
Bravo and season 3 began airing on March 15, 2005. The selected screenplay was a horror script titled
Feast written by
Marcus Dunstan and
Patrick Melton. The director was
John Gulager. The film stars
Balthazar Getty,
Krista Allen,
Jason Mewes, and
Eric Dane and was produced by
Dimension Films and
Neo Art & Logic. The film ran for a special late night showing on September 22 and 23, 2006, almost a year after its premiere. Feast earned just under $690,000 during its box office run. The DVD was released on October 17, 2006, earning an additional $4,687,595. The film spawned two sequels:
Feast II: Sloppy Seconds and
Feast III: The Happy Finish.
Season 4 (2015) On April 2, 2015,
Project Greenlight announced the first annual Greenie award winners. • Best Comedy:
Heist – Director: Brianna Lux and Tony Lazzeroni • Best Drama:
A Room for Aden – Director: Douglas Yablun • Best Action:
Stan Lee Parkour – Director: Tom Grey • Most Unique:
Listen – Director: Joshua Ortiz • Best Horror:
The Table – Director: Shane Free • Most "WTF":
Pink Shorts – Director: Jeff Huston In September 2015,
Project Greenlight became the subject of controversy when an episode aired of
Matt Damon disagreeing with producer
Effie Brown over the subject of diversity. A later controversy developed over the titling of the season's sixth episode as "Hot Ghetto Mess" involving Brown's attempt to make sure one of the films did not partake in racial stereotypes, which was to be corrected before airing and replaced with "The Pivot", but was never resolved before airtime.
The Leisure Class debuted on HBO on November 2, 2015. ==Awards and nominations==