Exclusive: Project Greenlight Digital Studios is Launching Brand New Advisory Board

READ MORE: Effie Brown on the Upside of the ‘Project Greenlight’ Controversy and Why Diversity is Suddenly a Hot Topic

Project Greenlight Digital Studios has announced today the official launch of a brand-new Advisory Board, complete with 18 members that include “a broad group of thought leaders

and experts across digital and traditional media, who provide a unique

perspective, guidance and mentorship to greenlighters and further highlights

Project Greenlight Digital Studio’s commitment to facilitate new ways for

diverse voices to tell their stories.”

The board includes such luminaries as director Catherine Hardwicke, Women & Hollywood blog creator Melissa Silverstein and Seed&Spark founder Emily Best, among others. These new board members will hopefully help steer the future of storytelling into a fresh, diverse and exciting new chapter. After a notoriously fraught last season of the original series “Project Greenlight,” the creation of the board could not come at a more opportune time.

Of the creation of the board, Perrin Chiles, CEO of Adaptive

Studios said, “Our Advisory

Board reinforces Project Greenlight’s belief that talent can not only come from

anywhere but also go everywhere.

The members on the advisory board were

hand-picked to give our creative community more avenues into Hollywood. From

working on Academy Award-winning films to producing viral digital videos seen

all over the world, our Advisory Board represents some of the best and

brightest in the entertainment business today.”

PGLDS is currently aiming to “create an engine for generating, surfacing and

monetizing premium digital content. Visitors and community members will find

creative opportunities for emerging filmmakers through ongoing competitions and

other channels: 24/7 content discovery and the ability to greenlight projects,

a marketplace where brands can engage with talent, and access to representation

and multi-platform distribution relationships.”

In short, they want to “[bring] the model of an

independent film festival directly to everyone’s home: premium content,

crowdsourced in a transparent, community-based environment, and monetized

holistically across multiple channels.” Beefing up on their diversity and engaging experts who can provide their own unique experiences and insights is certainly a smart move that should hopefully pay off for both the studio and their very own “greenlighters.”

Of her appointment to the board, Silverstein (who owns and operates Indiewire’s Women & Hollywood blog), told Indiewire: “I was pretty vocal about my issues with the show which put on full display the stark problems in the business. So imagine my surprise when the folks from ‘Project Greenlight’ reached out to me to get involved with them as they try and use the lessons of the recent season to make change in the business. I look forward to seeing what comes next and to a be a part of the solution.”

The Advisory Board members include: Director Catherine Hardwicke; Mike Farah, President of Production for Funny or Die; writer, actress and host Tamara Krinsky; producer and former WGA President Patric Verrone; producer Wendy Calhoun; producer Shannon McIntosh; digital media expert Sarah “Sully” Ullman, Indiewire’s Women & Hollywood blog creator Melissa Silverstein, Seed&Spark founder Emily Best; producer Mark Ordesky; producer and co-CFO of Women in Film, Los Angeles Jane Fleming; HBO’s Kelly Edwards; The Black List founder Franklin Leonard; Erica Oyama; writer and producer Luisa Leschin; producer and creative executive Luke Ryan and producer Allie Esslinger.

READ MORE: The Unsinkable Effie Brown Makes ‘Project Greenlight’ a Must-See

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