MovieChat Forums > Prisoner (2007) Discussion > Project Greenlight Screenplay

Project Greenlight Screenplay

posted 19 years ago by Nipfan
7 replies | jump to latest

This film is from a screenplay which was runner up in the 2003 Project Greenlight. As such, it was posted on the internet at the time, along with the other finalists. I don't suppose anyone still has a copy because its long since been taken down and would make very interesting reading now.

By the way, the screenplay which won that year was The Battle of Shaker Heights, which was actually made and released. It has a listing of IMDb and the message board comments make interesting reading. One poster in particular, goes into great detail on the pros and cons of making a film in this way. The film, of course, was a flop but that certainly isn't unique.

[–] endywood 19 years ago

I haven't followed Project Greenlight, have they had a successful film yet?

[–] Nipfan 19 years ago

I'm not aware of any other film being made from Project Greenlight but I haven't really been following it either and it does take a while to get a film made.

Prisoner was not actually made as part of Project Greenlight because it didn't win, it was only the runner up but, reading the IMDb site for The Battle of Shaker Heights, it almost sounds as if that was a lucky thing. In any event, there's no doubt that Project Greenlight would have brought the screenplay to a lot of people's attention and so was probably helpful in that way.

[–] idlewood 17 years ago

I remember Prisoner as a close contender for the PG prize. Interestingly enough, Shia Leboeuf, who was cast in Shaker Heights,has become a big favorite of Spielberg and heading for stardom of major level.

[–] nightmarewalking 16 years ago

Feast was the horror film made from the one season they decided to make horror films. It was excellent old school style fun. Check it out.

[–] randino101 17 years ago

Hello,

I do indeed have a copy of the Project Greenlight draft of PRISONER.

I must say though, that although I like the script and was generally impressed with Mr. Lynn's writing, the ending of PRISONER made me want to hurl.

WARNING: SPOILERS!

Basically, up until the climax in Act 3, we're on the edge of our seat wondering who the hell the antagonist jailer is, how the heck does he know so much about the imprisoned protagonist Derek Plato, and how in the world is Derek going to get out of this mess.

But then at the end, we discover that the jailer is none other than Derek himself, and practically the whole damn script was a big, long dream sequence. It almost seems as if Mr. Lynn couldn't solve his own plot, so he resorted to the laziest screenwriting trick there is, to cast aside all logical cause and effect and have entire plot based on the thoughts/dreams of a delusional protagonist. Of course, many other films employ this gimmick, IDENTITY being one recent film that springs to mind.

I haven't seen PRISONER the film yet, but I do hope they did something about that ending.

Rgds,

Randy

[–] alesisqs61 15 years ago

LOL a big dream sequence.

I thought of stuff like that when i was in high school.

http://www.vimeo.com/1986276

[–] RexYgrek 15 years ago

Just saw this movie and thought about how cheaply (little money) it could've been made for. Didn't know until reading these posts that it was in Project Greenlight. Don't have HBO or would watch that show. Noticed, too, that when it ended my dvd player showed 1h12mins, or 72mins, which is rather short for a feature film. Did they run out of $ to film more or could they just not think of enough material to make it the usw 90mins or were there technical probs or s/th which forced them to make it so short? But to your post, I wondered if you could make the .pdf or .doc file of the screenplay available to us, maybe w/ a url at a free filehosting service. Not illegal, right, since they posted it for free previously? Would enjoy reading it and seeing how the description of the original screenplay compares to the action in the final cut of the movie I just saw. Thanks. Overall, not a bad film, but I would've liked to have seen more of an explanation of why he had that dream when he did. Was the prison haunted or what was so special about his argument w/ his girlfriend that made him confront his past at that particular moment? IE, what triggered this major emotional reckoning at that time, esp when he only had an hour of daylight to film the interior of the prison to get an idea of what shooting in it would be like?