Perks of Being a Wallflower Nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award

Perks of Being a Wallflower was been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America. Pittsburgh native Stephen Chbosky wrote the novel, adapted the screenplay, and directed one of the best movies of 2012. Perks was shot in the Pittsburgh area in 2011.

Annual Steeltown Short Script Contest

Steeltown's annual short script contest

My IMDB Movie Ratings

As a movie fan (and, yes, as an industry semi-professional), I've always loved The Internet Movie Database, AKA IMDB. Back in the olden, pre-Web days, a number of movie fans congregated around the USENET group rec.arts.movies (since split into many other areas). A guy named Chuck started collecting movie information and encouraged people to share their votes on movies. Eventually, this blossomed into IMDB, now owned by Amazon.

Much as I really love the IMDB voting feature, I've only ever voted for a small fraction of the movies/TV shows I've seen. So, here's my rating chart, for the movies I've remembered to vote for. The ratings skew high, but that's because if a movie looks bad, I don't bother seeing it.

2012 IMDB Ratings

Glimmer to Shoot in Pittsburgh, Spring 2013

A science fiction movie (probably YA as it will star teens) is being shot in Pittsburgh next spring. It's called Glimmer, it's about time travel, and the script is rumored to be pretty good.

There's information about the project at Scriptshadow.

Casting Call for Wrestling Movie

A movie is being shot here locally, and it is recreating a number of wrestling matches during the '80s and early '90s including the '88 Seoul Olympics. If you have free time over the next two weeks, especially Thursday, December 13, especially if you're a man over the age of 18, they are looking for people who have full availability on Thursday, submit your photo, age, name and phone number to: Wrestlingextras@gmail.com

Two Pittsburgh-Made Films Win National Board of Review Honors

Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower and Gus van Sant's Promised Land were named by the National Board of Review as two of the top movies of 2012. Perks is a smart teen flick and van Sant's deals with the impact of fracking in a small town (and won't be released until late December).

Tbe National Board of Review named Zero Dark Thirty its best film of the year. Here's more information about the National Board of Review 2012 award winners.

Casting Call for Umbrella Man

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[from Craigslist]

Don't miss your chance at being a featured extra in THE UMBRELLA MAN, a feature film shooting in Pittsburgh until October 26th!! Please send a headshot, contact info, and your availability to um.extras@gmail.com for more details! All extras will be entered into a raffle for the chance to win Apple's New iPad, an Amazon Kindle Fire & Apple TV!

• Compensation: Chance to win an iPad, Kindle Fire & Apple TV!
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

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So, say, you're an extra. Why in the world would you want to work for free on a movie? The first three years I did extra work, I ignored all calls for volunteer work. Shouldn't I be paid?

Generally, yes, you should.

However...

I went to the stadium shoot for The Dark Knight Rises, which called for volunteers. About 11,000 volunteers showed up. Even though I got heat exhaustion late in the day, I had a wonderful time and learned a lot about large scale movie-making. I didn't win anything and the food wasn't so hot, but that was OK. It was only one day. (Ironically, while I was in the stadium, I was called to work for pay the next day...and I had to turn it down because I was too busy working on another project to do a second day of movie work. Oh well...)

Last spring, I worked two days on Monongehala. That was ultra-ultra low-budget, and I had the chance to help run errands and carry equipment. The second day, I was more of a PA than an extra while I watched tables and guarded food while the crew was in another area shooting. Fun time.

So, if you have the time and some group making a movie on the cheap in Pittsburgh is making a movie (like, say, The Umbrella Man folks), you might consider donating a day of your time. If you really hate volunteering for a movie, don't do it, but if you don't, it's a worthwhile experience.

The Pittsburgh Film Office has a list of all kinds of projects, both volunteer and for pay.

Pittsburgh Film Office: Major Motion Picture Looking for Extras

Feature film being directed by an Academy Award nominated filmmaker is scheduled to shoot in the Pittsburgh area in November and December. 

The casting department is seeking men and women over the age of 18 interested in taking part as extras (background artists) in the film, who would portray characters such as police officers, wrestling world people (coaches, trainers, refs, wrestlers, etc.), business men and women, politicos, photographers, owners of cars from 1975-1998, general background wrestling match spectators amongst many other characters. 

OPEN CASTING CALL

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13th

Double Tree Hotel Pittsburgh-Green Tree

500 Mansfield Ave

Pittsburgh PA 15205

9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.

Please bring along a recent photo or snapshot, and a pen. These are paying positions. Must be 18 and over.

If you can't go to the casting call, send questions, headshots and resumes to: wrestlingextras@gmail.com.

Quick Reviews: Perks of Being a Wallflower & Won't Back Down

Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of the better teen flicks of recent times.  While I wasn't familiar with male leads (Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller), they could match wits against the excellent Emma Watson in a movie about early '90s teenage angst.  Set in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, novelist/screenwriter/director Stephen Chbosky did a fine job with his first book/script/movie.

One highlight of the movie is that most of the characters are fairly well-developed.  Even without knowing everything about him, Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Miller) can tell our hero Charlie (Lerman) is another "misfit toy," just as they are.  All of the kids have had trouble in the past or in the present, and they're generally dealing with it.  But Charlie, especially, has difficulties. Chbosky shows how Charlie's past problems can't always be hidden, and emerge in some unexpected ways.

The movie makes good use of its Pittsburgh location, particularly with some memorable trips over the Fort Pitt bridge.  Any movie that can both cast Tom Savini and give Eide's a plug is good in my book!  I'd give it a 9 on the IMDB scale, and think it might be a movie like American Graffiti in the future - a movie with an awful lot of young talent in one place at one time.

Won't Back Down is less a movie about living, breathing characters (with one exception) and more a political polemic about bad schools and bad unions.  Viola Davis manages, as usual, to rise above surprisingly simplistic material and give a fine performance.  But most of the characters were reduced to giving talking points, and some usually good actors gave surprisingly bad performances as a result.

This movie also made pretty good use of its Pittsburgh location, particularly nice use of the the incline.  Points for the many sports-related T-shirts and the Giant Eagle bread.  And, it was fun to see many people I've gotten to know from extra work playing teachers.  But...it just wasn't a good movie, and I can't give it more than a 5 on the IMDB scale.

Trailer Season - Perks/Won't Back Down/Promised Land/Jack Reacher

Over the next three months, four major movies made in Pittsburgh within the last 18 months will be released:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Emma Watson)
• Won't Back Down (Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal)
• Jack Reacher - One Shot (Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike)
• Promised Land (Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances MacDormand)

The first three trailers feature some great photography of Pittsburgh.  Promised Land was filmed northeast of Pittsburgh in the Apollo area, so you're treated to many shots of the countryside and small towns.

Perks is basically a teen flick, about growing up in suburban Pittsburgh in the early '90s.  The highlight for me will be watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show re-enactment, with many characters in full costume.  The son of a longtime friend is one of the re-enactors.

Won't Back Down is about a pair of mothers (one, a teacher) taking on a failing school.  It was mostly filmed just up the hill from the old Civic Arena, which has since been torn down.

Jack Reacher - One Shot seems to be very dark and gritty.  It was filmed last fall and it was cold and rainy much of the time.  Many shots of the Strip District, some of the South Side and a few quick trips across the 10th Street Bridge.

Promised Land pretty much follows the flow of the movie, and features some lovely shots of Armstrong county from the air.