'PROJECT GREENLIGHT' BACK TO THE STORYBOARD.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

HBO'S REALITY SERIES ``Project Greenlight'' and its neophyte subjects making their first film share a particularly unsymbiotic clashing of goals: The show's only fun to watch as things get really miserable for the filmmakers, yet the result is hardly a sterling recommendation for the film itself. (If it's as bad as it looks, why pay to see it?) Yet smooth sailing and the end result of a nice film makes for bad television.

Still, the best indication of how serious the new ``Project Greenlight'' is in creating a good movie this season is its paucity of references to the original series. Co-creator Matt Damon observes, ``This could really be good this year,'' a rare nod to version 1.0, which became a cult hit among locals in the filmmaking industry who snickered their way through wannabe Pete Jones' travails. (He, of course, offered that typical reality-show complaint: that the show really didn't mirror reality, that he wasn't as thoroughly incompetent as he looked.)

``Greenlight'' inspired a dead-on parody by Denis Leary for Comedy Central, but it scarcely translated into mainstream interest for Jones' ``Stolen Summer,'' which didn't even make back the teeny bit of money it cost to make (the film was added as a ``bonus'' to ``PG's'' first-season DVD set). The handful of people who did see it offered assessments that were variations on ``It wasn't as bad as I expected'' - hardly a ringing endorsement, but suggesting the series did accentuate Jones' incompetence.

Unfortunately, in the two hours of ``Project Greenlight's'' latest incarnation available for review, we don't get into the juiciest parts - the actual production. Instead, it's all lead-up - the contest (this year divided into two competitions - for screenwriting and directing) and pre-production.

Mild titillation comes from the fact that two former strippers wrote one of the finalist scripts; alas, they don't win. On the other hand, neither does the game-show writer. No, earnest young Erica Beeney wins for ``The Battle of Shaker Heights,'' which is - oops! - another coming-of-age film, albeit one universally described as ``edgy.'' Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin form the winning directing team; their work looks funny and stylish. All three are immediately more likable than Jones, even though Rankin actually has one of those annoying teeny ponytails aptly called ``dork knobs.''

There are attempts to squeeze drama out of the fact that producer Chris Moore, who relishes his role as the bad guy, thinks these guys are wusses and that Jeff Balis, the lovably incompetent line producer from season one, returns to everyone's dismay. Moore mocks Potelle because he asks for a loaner car. That's not really enough for two hours; let's hope things go into splatter mode when production starts - or that they actually manage to make a good movie.

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

PROJECT GREENLIGHT - Two and one half stars

What: More neophyte filmmakers venture into Hollywood's minefields.

Where: HBO.

When: 10:30 tonight, also Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; HBO2: Monday.

In a nutshell: In two hours made available for review, the new film hasn't yet gone into production - where all the best material happened in the first go-round.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) Line producer Jeff Balis, left, winning screenwriter Erica Beeney and director Efram Potelle team up for the second go-round of HBO's show about filmmaking, ``Project Greenlight.''