Yikes. I feel like I

Yikes. I feel like I either must or must not watch the documentary, Project Greenlight, which premiers on HBO tonight. It's the "making of" story of a guy from Chicago who won an online script contest by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company, Live Planet; top prize waw a $1mm budget and a distribution deal from Miramax. The NY Times review hinted at a couple of interesting and not-unexpected points: 1) Ben Affleck's observation on the possible heinousness of the final product (an anxiety I share about my own project), "If Pete's works, it's `Stand by Me.' If it doesn't, it's the after- school special I did when I was 13." and 2) Caryn James' observation that "though no one says this on camera, one of Mr. Jones's assets was that his personality plays better on television than the runner-up's." As it turns out, then, was like acing the SAT's or winning the first Survivor; there is a system to be understood and played. Just sign up for the Princeton Review of film making...