I'll have to steel my nerves to make it through the final movie. The reviews are confirming every one of my fears for how this would turn out. Here are some nice snippets from a Hollywood Reporter review:

That would make a wonderful front-of-the-box quote for the Blu Ray!

Which is pretty much what the PGL series seemed to show was happening on set.

But at least Jason got to redo the lighting and exposure for a few scenes on his one day of reshoots. Because those technical details are far more important than stupid stuff like a story and characters you care about.

Though the reviewer mentions that Davison's performance was the only thing interesting in the movie.

I loved this shot of the test screening:

The thing is : From the very beginning it seemed that Jason Mann was the least funny person on the planet. Even his shorts, while handsomely made were not in the least bit actually funny. To have a new director with zero sense of humor write and direct a comedy seems to be asking for trouble.

That said, it's impossible for the TV critics who review The Leisure Class to separate the move from PG and the baggage they bring with them about Mann. I certainly understand that, but I have to wonder how it would have be received in the vacuum of being a low-budget indie film instead of the end of this much-watched TV project (I don't imagine it would get raves there either, but it might have been a little different than these reviews are turning out).

It's funny that everyone is pointing out that for all the agony of film vs DV, nobody could tell any difference in the final result. That's what I kept screaming at the TV, Jason!

Oh yeah, that's been a problem for all the PGL movies. The reality tv series has you fully expecting a disaster. And your mind is locked so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The only really objective reviews would come from those who didn't watch the tv show.

Feast was the only PGL movie I enjoyed (in a trashy way). Though as I remember, the series made it seem like the movie would be fun (at least for horror fans).

I would say that the movie's biggest problem is that it's just not funny enough. Certainly there were no where near the numbers of laughs you would need to support it going as dark as did.

Fatal flaw with PG is they keep picking people good at making shorts. Impetus should be on finding someone with the best story to tell. I've yet to watch one of the final films of a PG series because they look like such blatant pieces of shit. Just seems like such a waste of a golden opportunity.

why don't they let the winner have $3million, and then make the movie they want? Why force feed the studio system, the producers and such? Let them hire them all, would make for even better tv imho.

This thing was just destined to fail trying to work within the studio. it seems like we are in an indie era, why not just treat it like an indie production?

I'd really enjoy watching a multi-season journey of finding a director, letting him find his script, then choosing the people around him all the way. The casting process in itself is always fun and criminally under filmed, I would watch a show just on how they cast shows. So much to mine here.

I'd love to see a show like Fargo cast its next season, that thing is so well done its crazy.

Anyway, this show is great and I will keep watching.

The movie that resulted, meh

Even indie movies usually get some kind of studio partnership for distribution, don't they? At least if they wanted theatrical distribution. The early seasons were with Miramax, which thought of itself as the indie movie studio (though Disney had taken over by Project Greenlight time). And this year they tried something new by partnering with HBO, which sounded like it provided more flexibility and independence. The crew is pretty much all from indie productions.

Realistically as long as there's an executive producer footing the $3 million bill, there's going to be accountability (and lack of complete control) for the director. But I get where you're coming from. It would make for a fun series if they treated Jason like the auteur he thinks he is, just giving him the money and asking him to deliver a movie in a couple of months. A disaster, but a fun disaster

Have you watched the other 3 PGL seasons? Each one seems to focus more on different aspects of film making. Season 1 had a lot about the casting and the key roles the AD and DP play on set. Season 2 was an interesting lesson in post-production (they shot a drama but edited it in a way to turn it into a comedy). Season 3 ... what would you say the thing was with Season 3 (for those that saw it)? I remember a lot of emphasis on the strange Gulager (and his family). This was the only season with a lot of on-set special effects work.

I've watched all the PG's and loved them all.

It's been awhile but now I am remembering the Brothers and Miramax and Harvey Conversations... good times...

I understand HBO needs to have some level of creative and budget control, but its just $3mill, a drop in the bucket for this monster, it would be fun to just see what a guy could do with a Solid $3mill, and hire his whole team top to bottom.

I'm sure he'd be able to have producers in his corner if he actually hired them.

I loved the season, and just find the movie process fascinating and wish they would have more shows like this.

Is the Chair coming back?

Though that's not how the business works. Producers hire the director, not vice versa.

If I was in the shoes of a PGL winner, I'd like to have an experienced producer working with me from the start. Someone who can keep track of all the stuff that isn't even on the radar of a fresh-out-of-film-school guy like Jason.

The trouble is that the producer is the middle-man between the creative team and the financiers. So it's not always possible to do what the director wants. That just seems like part of the business, so I like seeing that on PGL. Instead of some fantasy world film set that rarely happens in real life.

Enjoyed Project Greenlight.

I can give The Leisure Class a pass, because of Project Greenlight.

The problem with The Leisure Class is that problem with so much entertainment right now. Every film that us movie people latch onto has some voice and cinematic creativity - or else it's just a movie that everyone else is making. If a movie can't risk with some creative chances, it's just another 'heap of content' on the pile. That rule applies to film, television, music and books. There's too much "content" to be bothered with anything that doesn't have something that doesn't stand out.

They spent a lot of time showing the casting for that season--especially the conflict between what Gulager wanted to do (cast his family and friends in everything) and what the casting director wanted.

If you've watched "Greenlight", you'll also want to watch "The Chair", which aired earlier this year on Starz. This was Chris Moore's attempt to revive the series (Moore produced the original HBO series with Matt and Ben). "The Chair" featured two different directors doing two different films using the same script. One director was a woman with more of a "Independent Character Drama" approach and the other director was a guy who had a following from his you.tube comedies who took more of a broad comedy approach. The goal in this series was to create a Theatrical film. The dramatic conflict was the differences between the two directors and their approach to making the film . If you enjoyed "Greenlight" missed this one, "The Chair" is worth looking up.

^Sounds interesting. I will check to see if it is on Starz On Demand.

I really need to watch the PGL season with Gulager. I love the movie Feast but missed that season.

I have The Leisure Class on my DVR ready to watch but I am not looking forward to it. As Ben Affleck said, "It's not my kind of film."

They should take someone who already had an indy movie hit done with a tiny budget, and give that person 3 mil to make their next movie. Like the guys that did Bellflower; give Evan Glodell 3 million. Glodell had to go to Kickstarter to fund his next film. That's crazy.

So I finally broke down and watched The Leisure Class after avoiding it on my DVR for the past several weeks.

It's bad.

The worst thing about it is the story and script. It's just not very interesting and it certainly didn't give me any reason to be invested in what happens to these characters. The movie kind of starts in the middle of the story, and uses exposition to let the audience know how we arrived where the movie starts. The problem is that this effectively skips over the character development that would have made us care about what happens now. The pacing is up and down and all over the place. The big car crash scene? I thought that would be the climax of the story, but it happens about halfway through. Then there is another scene later where the storylines build to a climax, but then there is another 20 minutes of movie after that.

The directing was... serviceable. Nothing really stood out, good or bad, in terms of shot selections, compositions, transitions, etc. Workmanlike, I guess. I expected more from someone who appeared to be as meticulous about everything as Jason Mann was.

The actors are the only slightly redeeming thing about it (though not enough to recommend it). Bruce Davison as the father is always good at chewing scenery (he could have done this in his sleep) and Brenda Strong as his wife is one of my favorite "that girl" actresses. Bridget Regan as the female lead has good screen presence, but doesn't have much to work with here--the sisters' roles were more memorable. The brother engaged to Regan's character could have been better--I didn't find him very convincing and he had no chemistry with Regan. The deadbeat brother played his part very well--so well that I wanted to punch him in the face after about 5 minutes. However, I think he was supposed to be the 'comedy' in the film and I didn't find him funny, just a miserable human being.

I imagine Affleck and Damon are not proud to have their names attached to this.

It currently has a 4.0 rating on IMDB. Ouch.

Oh, and I saw absolutely no reason this needed to be shot on film rather than digital.

Wound up binge watching THE CHAIR based on this recommendation; really had a good time with it. It's basically PG except with two aspiring directors. But, again, the movies they're making look awful. It's funny how the making of a movie can be infinitely more interesting (seemingly) than the actual movie(s) they're making.