VIDEO : Effie Brown Says ?Project Greenlight? Conflict Helped Spark Industry Conversation About Dive

The drama that has played out on HBO?s ?Project Greenlight? this season has been part of the groundswell of discussion within the entertainment industry about diversity. That?s what panelists at the Produced By NY conference agreed Saturday in a session focused on tactics for boosting diversity across film and TV. The panelists included producer Effie Brown, who had a much-publicized confrontation with ?Greenlight? exec producer Matt Damon over the issue of diversity in the show. Brown told the crowd at Time Warner Center that she flagged his comment that as a flashpoint for HBO and ?Greenlight? producers before the series aired. She said she was surprised that it remained in the final cut of the first episode. ?They didn?t think they were starting this conversation,? Brown said. ?It set the tone." Damon sparked outrage when he said diversity in filmmaking was about casting of actors rather than behind the scenes.