By Steven J. Stark

PASADENA (The Hollywood Reporter) — HBO and Miramax Television announced Monday a project with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon titled “Greenlight,” in which an aspiring filmmaker will receive about $1 million and the opportunity to direct their first feature. The process will be chronicled by HBO.Development of the movie will be shown in a 13-episode, half-hour “reality” series on HBO, which starts with Damon and Affleck picking the winner and concludes with the first-time director walking down a red carpet for the movie’s premiere, Miramax Television president Billy Campbell said. The winning filmmaker will also get to pick the brains of other directors who found success with their first projects, including Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Kevin Williamson. “Once we got it to the point where it made sense, we took it to Matt and Ben,” Campbell said. “The idea stands on its own, but Matt and Ben had a close relationship with (Miramax co-chairman) Harvey Weinstein.” HBO original programming president Chris Albrecht said “Greenlight” is “sort of like the real-life version of ‘Action,’ which we developed and Fox ruined.” Campbell said that since he arrived at Miramax from CBS in September 1998 to create the studio’s TV division, his goal has been to bring that division and the well-known movie unit together on a project. Campbell said the contest to find the lucky first-time filmmaker will begin in the fall. The selection of a screenplay and preproduction will start early next year, shooting will commence in the spring, and the movie is expected to be released in early 2002. “The goal is, if we can, to have the movie release coincide with the launch of the series,” Campbell said. “If we can pull it off, we would have the last episode be that red-carpet experience for the director.” “Greenlight” was created by Alex Keledjian and developed by Miramax Television vp Eli Holzman and Pearl Street Prods. vp Kent Kubena, the executives who brought in the project. Aspiring directors can submit screenplays to the “Greenlight” Web site, www.projectgreenlight.com.