Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Announce Return of ‘Project Greenlight’

Today HBO released a promo video of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon announcing the return of their reality TV series Project Greenlight which gives an aspiring director the chance to direct a feature film.

The show originally aired on HBO for two seasons in 2001 and 2003, as well as another season on Bravo, with Affleck and Damon as executive producers.

“Clearly we haven’t had any new ideas in the intervening 13 years” Affleck jokes in the video. “Not a fresh idea,” Damon adds.

In previous seasons, Project Greenlight was about a whole film crew of novices and the mishaps that would occur while trying to film a movie. However, according to the new promo for the show’s fourth season, it looks like the director will be the only novice.

Affleck and Damon explain in the video that aspiring filmmakers can win a chance to direct a “Hollywood vetted script” with Affleck and Damon serving as mentors, in addition to some of their friends in the industry. In order to enter, filmmakers must submit a 3-minute short film they directed through www.projectgreenlight.com. The series will then revolve around the winner of the contest as they go through the filmmaking process.

HBO first announced the series’ revival back in April. “Project Greenlight was ahead of its time,” Affleck had said in a press release then. “Now that technology has caught up to the concept, we thought it was a perfect time to bring it back. A whole new generation of filmmakers has grown up sharing everything, and the next big director could be just an upload away. It is really great having Project Greenlight back at HBO.”

The short film entries must be submitted by August 8.