The Battle of Shaker Heights (Project Greenlight)

[Andres Lucero]

Got this e-mail from Project Greenlight, thought I would share with anyone interested in the series/contest...

Tired of the summer sequels? Go see an original!
Almost a year since the contest began and now after months of contest
selection, pre-production, filming and post-production, we are extremely
proud to announce the release of the second Project Greenlight film: "The
Battle of Shaker Heights."

"The Battle of Shaker Heights" will open in Los Angeles and New York on
Friday, August 22nd. On August 29th it will be released in the following
additional cities: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia, San
Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.

As you saw in the HBO series this film was not an easy project to pull off,
but we are incredibly proud of the final product and we think it's
definitely worth seeing.

Here is what other people are saying about the film:

"HOT!...Fresh and original, with an engaging performance by Shia LaBoeuf. I
thoroughly enjoyed it." -- Leonard Maltin/Hot Ticket

"Shia LaBeouf is this year's break-out star in THE BATTLE OF SHAKER
HEIGHTS". --Andy Jones/E!Online

Please see the Project Greenlight home page for the most updated information
on release cities and theatres:

http://projectgreenlight.liveplanet.com/

[Yi Fong Yu]

have you guys watched the series/show? it totally helps one out when working on an indie dealing with people =)

[Marco Leavitt]

Man is this movie getting slammed. The NY Times said "success may have many fathers, but failure has Project Greenlight." Ouch.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

For those interested in a Cleveland-based movie that has been getting slightly better reviews, check out American Splendor.

[Andres Lucero]

I love the series because I'm more interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff than the actual movie. I think the biggest problem facing the film is that the directors couldn't find the right tone from the beginning, and it affected the rest of the production.

I read parts of Erica's winning screenplay after she was chosen on the show, and to me it seemed like a dark, tongue-in-cheek comedy along the lines of Ghost World, The Good Girl, Adaptation, etc. The finished movie, though, looks more like a heartfelt drama with a few comedic moments.

American Splendor looks awesome, I definitely want to check it out, but it's not playing anywhere near me right now. :(

[Heath McKnight]

I heard it tested bad as a drama and they re-jiggered it as a dark comedy.

Man, HBO has the fame while Miramax gets the hell when the movie is slammed. Glad I gave up the first time when their stupid servers kept screwing up. It was rumored they lost maybe 60% of the people who sent in scripts.

heath

[Imran Zaidi]

Miramax really should get hell. We all understand that marketing is important for a movie, but based solely on one screening and a bunch of marketing slimes, they reworked a total family drama into a comedy, after they'd already shot a drama. Yeesh. It's like the way politicians base their opinions solely on polls. I've heard many times over that studio test screenings are the devil - now I understand why people may think so.

I really want to see the finished product, but when you pull stuff like that, it's no wonder there are no great movies in the theater these days. Miramax never used to be a slimy studio, but it looks like they're getting more and more like that the bigger they get. It used to be that you could go see any Miramax movie and know you'd get your money's worth. I think the decline started with She's All That.

[Marco Leavitt]

I think one of the problems with Project Greenlight is they seem to be trying to take an independent filmmaking process and force the finished product through the major studio sausage making machine. What's the point of even trying that? They should be making small, innovative movies that find their own market on the art house circuit. I have to agree with Imran. After watching this show, I think Miramax is as bad as any of the studios. As arrogant as Kyle and Efram came off, you really get the feeling that this would have been a much better movie if they'd just been allowed to make it their vision entirely. As a writer, I have a hard time admitting that, but compromises usually mean you end up with something that just doesn't work very well from anybody's perspective.