Dreamworks Studios and Walt Disney Pictures are shooting I am Number Four in Pittsburgh this spring and summer. The extras casting director in Pittsburgh is seeking local people to work on the film as background actors. They are specifically looking for young men and women 18 years and older, looking younger to be able to portray high school students.
If interested please submit a color snapshot, age, weight, phone number, and location via email:
numberfourextras@gmail.com
Monday, May 17, 2010
New Movie Organization In Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania Film Industry Association
There's a fairly new statewide organization, Pennsylvania Film Industry Association, that seems to serve two purposes - lobbying for the film industry and providing networking opportunities. They are planning an event for Pittsburgh in the not-too-distant future.
Movie-making is happening again in Western PA, after a few months of winter quiet. Could be another horror movie...
The early buzz on one of last year's local shoots, Love and Other Drugs, is very promising. I hope that turns out to be the case!
Movie-making is happening again in Western PA, after a few months of winter quiet. Could be another horror movie...
The early buzz on one of last year's local shoots, Love and Other Drugs, is very promising. I hope that turns out to be the case!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Steeltown Entertainment's Ready, Set, Produce
Steeltown Film Factory presented the culmination of its first-ever short film script competition by holding a workshop on production issues, evaluating the production information each of the script finalists had compiled. Previous workshops had included a seated reading of the 10 inital finalist scripts and a director's pitch workshop for the 5 semifinalists.
The judges could give the $25,00 film production pot to one finalist, or split it among multiple winners. The judges quizzed the finalists pretty closely, and clearly wanted as many specifics as they could glean.
I had a bias for "Lightweight" even since the initial reading. Sadly, the judges chose two winners and "Lightweight" was not one of them. They gave $12,500 each to the writers of "Roll the Die" and "Anywhere But Here." My preferences aside, much as I found "Roll the Die" a very amusing script, I just don't see how it could be produced for the budget it has (even given the fact that most short film makers cut their budgets every way they can).
But, I do look forward do seeing these movies. The short films are due to be shot early this summer, and are due to premiere at the Pittsburgh Film Festival in November.
The judges could give the $25,00 film production pot to one finalist, or split it among multiple winners. The judges quizzed the finalists pretty closely, and clearly wanted as many specifics as they could glean.
I had a bias for "Lightweight" even since the initial reading. Sadly, the judges chose two winners and "Lightweight" was not one of them. They gave $12,500 each to the writers of "Roll the Die" and "Anywhere But Here." My preferences aside, much as I found "Roll the Die" a very amusing script, I just don't see how it could be produced for the budget it has (even given the fact that most short film makers cut their budgets every way they can).
But, I do look forward do seeing these movies. The short films are due to be shot early this summer, and are due to premiere at the Pittsburgh Film Festival in November.
Monday, March 22, 2010
No Pittsburgh Accents in She's Out of My League?
I was in a forum lately where people were complaining about the lack of Pittsburgh accents in She's Out of My League.
The Pittsburgh accent is tricky. The only people on the "national stage" who have a strong Pittsburgh accent are Dan Marino and Bill Cowher (and anyone who doesn't follow sports probably has no idea who I'm talking about). It was, frankly, better that the professional actors didn't try, unless they were good with accents.
The script was originally set in Phoenix, and the screenwriters did a good job resetting locations in the script to show off Pittsburgh.
However, they never paid any attention to local slang, so none was included. Pittsburgh slang is kind of funny and it's usually easy to guess from context. Some could have been worked in, but it wasn't.
Example - at one point near the end of the Penguins hockey sequence, Molly (Alice Eve - the blonde) yelled at a hockey player "Fox, keep your stick up!" OK, that was in the script (more or less - Fox was also the last name of the assistant director). During filming, the director asked for people to ad-lib yelling at the hockey players at about that point.
Alice, being British, chose to ad-lib "You wanker!" at one of the hockey players.
After the director yelled "CUT," about half the extras yelled, "Have her say 'You jagoff!'" which is Pittsburghese for "You wanker!" Sadly, that didn't happen. Now that would have been funny.
The Pittsburgh accent is tricky. The only people on the "national stage" who have a strong Pittsburgh accent are Dan Marino and Bill Cowher (and anyone who doesn't follow sports probably has no idea who I'm talking about). It was, frankly, better that the professional actors didn't try, unless they were good with accents.
The script was originally set in Phoenix, and the screenwriters did a good job resetting locations in the script to show off Pittsburgh.
However, they never paid any attention to local slang, so none was included. Pittsburgh slang is kind of funny and it's usually easy to guess from context. Some could have been worked in, but it wasn't.
Example - at one point near the end of the Penguins hockey sequence, Molly (Alice Eve - the blonde) yelled at a hockey player "Fox, keep your stick up!" OK, that was in the script (more or less - Fox was also the last name of the assistant director). During filming, the director asked for people to ad-lib yelling at the hockey players at about that point.
Alice, being British, chose to ad-lib "You wanker!" at one of the hockey players.
After the director yelled "CUT," about half the extras yelled, "Have her say 'You jagoff!'" which is Pittsburghese for "You wanker!" Sadly, that didn't happen. Now that would have been funny.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
My Tale of Two Cities - SouthSide Works Cinema - March 19-25
My Tale of Two Cities is Carl Kurlander's charming Valentine to Pittsburgh. It's a project he worked on for years in the mid-00s, and while it played a few festivals and came out on DVD, it never had the release it deserved.
This week, you'll have the chance to see My Tale of Two Cities at the SouthSide Works Cinema from Friday, March 19-Thursday, March 26. It's a fun look at Pittsburgh, with excellent photography.
This week, you'll have the chance to see My Tale of Two Cities at the SouthSide Works Cinema from Friday, March 19-Thursday, March 26. It's a fun look at Pittsburgh, with excellent photography.
Friday, March 12, 2010
She's Out of My League Has Opened
During the "crazy time" in movie-making in Pittsburgh, winter-spring 2008, no fewer than three different movies were being made simultaneously:
She's Out of My League
Shelter
The Road
I was looking for some work, had always wanted to be involved in a movie. After signing up with the various extra agencies, I was called into be an extra for She's Out of My League. It was a lot of standing around and hurry-up-and-wait, but I really enjoyed it. And, there's always the danger that despite your ability to follow directions and be in the right place at the right time, that you never show up in the movie.
I'm happy to say I did get my two seconds of fame when I showed up in the hockey crowd scene. It was filmed during my two days of shooting in the arena. I then shot another six days in the airport, in various crowd scenes. Or, to look at it another way, I made about $800 for 2 seconds of screen time. ;->
League is a fun, raunchy comedy. Jay Baruchel, who is better looking in person, plays the awkward Kirk. Alice Eve, an English actress with a perfect American accent, plays the woman who becomes interested in him. Alice Eve's parents in the movie are played by her real-life parents, both well-known English actors with equally flawless American accents.
One common feature of the movies shot in Pittsburgh - the better the photography is of Pittsburgh, the worse the movie is. Inspector Gadget - a horrible, horrible movie with some of the best Pittsburgh photography ever. Smart People - a surprisingly bad movie with very good Pittsburgh photography.
By contrast, The Wonder Boys - a terrific movie that celebrates Pittsburgh architecture, but you'd have no clue you were in Pittsburgh except that the characters talk about being in Pittsburgh. The Road - shot mostly outside of Pittsburgh, has one or two neighborhood shots that makes the city, very appropriately, look like a post-apocalyptic mess.
Oh, the one exception to this, up until now, has been Carl Kurlander's My Tale of Two Cities, a charming documentary about Pittsburgh with great photography of the city. This is finally getting a formal theatrical release in Pittsburgh at the end of March - go see it!
She's Out of My League has great Pittsburgh photography and some excellent shots of the city from Mt. Washington. And they managed to keep the homeless people and drug addicts out of Market Square for a couple of days. Market Square actually looks like a place where adults would want to hang out after dark, proof that you can Hollywoodize almost anything.
This is not a brilliant script, but it is funny enough, especially the first half. As is usual with such movies, the male characters are a little better drawn than the female characters, who are generally cyphers. Nate Torrance is a particular stand-out as the only married guy of the bunch. For most of the movie, the writers seemed to be writing about sexuality and attraction as very horny virgins, but the characters were supposed to be in their 20s and at least somewhat sexually experienced. I supposed that's because the target audience is clearly teenagers. So the angst level is ratcheted up beyond all reason in places.
Still, even if you're not generally fan of the 20-something sex comedy or of movies that make Pittsburgh look like a great place to live (which, of course it is but people outside of town often don't know that), there might be enough silly jokes in this movie to make it a worthwhile diversion.
She's Out of My League
Shelter
The Road
I was looking for some work, had always wanted to be involved in a movie. After signing up with the various extra agencies, I was called into be an extra for She's Out of My League. It was a lot of standing around and hurry-up-and-wait, but I really enjoyed it. And, there's always the danger that despite your ability to follow directions and be in the right place at the right time, that you never show up in the movie.
I'm happy to say I did get my two seconds of fame when I showed up in the hockey crowd scene. It was filmed during my two days of shooting in the arena. I then shot another six days in the airport, in various crowd scenes. Or, to look at it another way, I made about $800 for 2 seconds of screen time. ;->League is a fun, raunchy comedy. Jay Baruchel, who is better looking in person, plays the awkward Kirk. Alice Eve, an English actress with a perfect American accent, plays the woman who becomes interested in him. Alice Eve's parents in the movie are played by her real-life parents, both well-known English actors with equally flawless American accents.
One common feature of the movies shot in Pittsburgh - the better the photography is of Pittsburgh, the worse the movie is. Inspector Gadget - a horrible, horrible movie with some of the best Pittsburgh photography ever. Smart People - a surprisingly bad movie with very good Pittsburgh photography.
By contrast, The Wonder Boys - a terrific movie that celebrates Pittsburgh architecture, but you'd have no clue you were in Pittsburgh except that the characters talk about being in Pittsburgh. The Road - shot mostly outside of Pittsburgh, has one or two neighborhood shots that makes the city, very appropriately, look like a post-apocalyptic mess.
Oh, the one exception to this, up until now, has been Carl Kurlander's My Tale of Two Cities, a charming documentary about Pittsburgh with great photography of the city. This is finally getting a formal theatrical release in Pittsburgh at the end of March - go see it!
She's Out of My League has great Pittsburgh photography and some excellent shots of the city from Mt. Washington. And they managed to keep the homeless people and drug addicts out of Market Square for a couple of days. Market Square actually looks like a place where adults would want to hang out after dark, proof that you can Hollywoodize almost anything.
This is not a brilliant script, but it is funny enough, especially the first half. As is usual with such movies, the male characters are a little better drawn than the female characters, who are generally cyphers. Nate Torrance is a particular stand-out as the only married guy of the bunch. For most of the movie, the writers seemed to be writing about sexuality and attraction as very horny virgins, but the characters were supposed to be in their 20s and at least somewhat sexually experienced. I supposed that's because the target audience is clearly teenagers. So the angst level is ratcheted up beyond all reason in places.
Still, even if you're not generally fan of the 20-something sex comedy or of movies that make Pittsburgh look like a great place to live (which, of course it is but people outside of town often don't know that), there might be enough silly jokes in this movie to make it a worthwhile diversion.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Steeltown Film Factory: The Director's Pitch
I wrote three weeks ago about how much I enjoyed going to the table reading of the 10 short film scripts judged qualifiers for the next round of the Steeltown Film Factory's script contest. Today, I went to the Director's Pitch seminar, which brought back the script finalists. Two of scripts I thought were particularly good were among the five finalists:
"Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"
The other three finalists were "The Losing End," "Making Arrangements" and "Anywhere but Here."
Each of the finalists had 20 minutes to pitch their projects to Pittsburgh natives active in the film/TV business: Jamie Widdoes (director 2 1/2 Men), Heide Waldbaum (technical production for Spiderman 2/3, Avatar) and Lisa Smith (The People Speak, Project Greenlight). These industry professionals would then evaluate the project and the pitch and choose three semi-finalists for the next part of the competition.
Going into the pitch, Carl Kurlander, who moderated the event, stressed the importance of using the pitch to sell yourself and your passion for the project as much as the project itself. This turned out to be very true: of the five presentations, the two strongest "sellers" became finalists. However, I have to add that the two strongest sellers also had the best scripts. Some of the other finalists seemed to wander a bit.
After the pitches and some initial feedback by the evaluators, they retired to discuss the projects in more detail, and returned later to name the winners:
"Anywhere But Here," "Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"
At the end of March, there will be a third "competition" among these scripts, and Steeltown will select whether to help fund one, two or all three projects.
"Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"
The other three finalists were "The Losing End," "Making Arrangements" and "Anywhere but Here."
Each of the finalists had 20 minutes to pitch their projects to Pittsburgh natives active in the film/TV business: Jamie Widdoes (director 2 1/2 Men), Heide Waldbaum (technical production for Spiderman 2/3, Avatar) and Lisa Smith (The People Speak, Project Greenlight). These industry professionals would then evaluate the project and the pitch and choose three semi-finalists for the next part of the competition.
Going into the pitch, Carl Kurlander, who moderated the event, stressed the importance of using the pitch to sell yourself and your passion for the project as much as the project itself. This turned out to be very true: of the five presentations, the two strongest "sellers" became finalists. However, I have to add that the two strongest sellers also had the best scripts. Some of the other finalists seemed to wander a bit.
After the pitches and some initial feedback by the evaluators, they retired to discuss the projects in more detail, and returned later to name the winners:
"Anywhere But Here," "Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"
At the end of March, there will be a third "competition" among these scripts, and Steeltown will select whether to help fund one, two or all three projects.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A Report on the Steeltown Film Factory Script Contest and Reading
I went to Steeltown Film Factory's Script Contest and Reading today. I think Carl, Jodi, Kris and the rest of the Steeltown team have done many interesting things related to promoting filmmaking in Pittsburgh over the last few years. While I did not have anything entered in the contest, I was curious to hear other people's short scripts be read and evaluated. The contest, which ran in November and December of last year, attracted 110 entries and announced 10 semi-finalists. Based on today's judging, there will be five finalists who'll be given a week to revise their scripts based on judges' comments (and, one hopes, the audience's reactions).
Drama students from CMU table-read the scripts. Final script judges were Asher Garfinkel, President of Readers Unlimited, Author, Screenplay Analysis: The Art and the Business, Bernie Goldman, Producer, 300, Land of the Dead, Minette Seate, Senior Producer, WQED Multimedia, and Laura Harkcon who co-wrote The Lost Room. It was very interesting to hear the judge's reactions to the scripts.
I wasn't a judge, and I liked all 10 of the semi-finalist scripts presented. But, in my opinion, these were the four best scripts of the day:
The contest judges will select five finalists, and I'll link to the list when they're announced.
I plan to go to the next Steeltown reading, which will be February 20th at Pitt, and see to how the five finalists revised their scripts. Steeltown will have information on that upcoming event soon!
Drama students from CMU table-read the scripts. Final script judges were Asher Garfinkel, President of Readers Unlimited, Author, Screenplay Analysis: The Art and the Business, Bernie Goldman, Producer, 300, Land of the Dead, Minette Seate, Senior Producer, WQED Multimedia, and Laura Harkcon who co-wrote The Lost Room. It was very interesting to hear the judge's reactions to the scripts.
I wasn't a judge, and I liked all 10 of the semi-finalist scripts presented. But, in my opinion, these were the four best scripts of the day:
- "N'At" by Adriana Ramires. The strongest script of the semifinalists, with the riskiest theme - when is a rape a rape? And how does the rapist deal with it? Very good characterizations, good sense of place.
- "Jed the Humanoid" by Nate Minier. A fantasy about a robot who lands in 1996 and tries to adjust. Very funny; think of it as The Terminator turned inside out. The two stoners Jed winds up with were right out of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." You can even friend Jed on Facebook!
- "Roll the Dice" by Lawrence Phillips, Dave Fedor, Joe Wincgryk, II and John Freightner (AKA the comedy team Hustlebot). A script by four guys submitted to a contest about four guys who won a script contest and took their winnings to a casino to try to win more...Hysterical in places, and self-referential in a Charlie Kaufman kind of way.
- "Lightweight" by Randy Kovitz & Deborah Hosking. A young woman returns to Pittsburgh after her father dies, and sees the clash between classic Yinzers and the rest of the world. Nice touch of magical realism, many good jokes about South Siders.
The contest judges will select five finalists, and I'll link to the list when they're announced.
I plan to go to the next Steeltown reading, which will be February 20th at Pitt, and see to how the five finalists revised their scripts. Steeltown will have information on that upcoming event soon!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Trailer for She's Out of My League Is Out - Movie Due Out 3/12/10
The trailer for She's Out of My League, that was shot here in Pittsburgh in spring 2008, has been released.
League trailer.
The trailer looks reasonably sharp, and Pittsburgh looks great!
However, IMDB also had an early poster up, and, sorry to say it, the poster looks awful.
Were you one of the thousands of extras to work on League? Want to have a premiere party when the movie's out? Leave a comment on this post, let's see what we can work out.
League trailer.
The trailer looks reasonably sharp, and Pittsburgh looks great!
However, IMDB also had an early poster up, and, sorry to say it, the poster looks awful.
Were you one of the thousands of extras to work on League? Want to have a premiere party when the movie's out? Leave a comment on this post, let's see what we can work out.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Next Three Days Wraps Up Local Shooting
Paul Haggis's thriller The Next Three Days has finished up local shooting. They shot all over the county and above the county (the memorable
helicopter blitz of downtown in early November). The Next Three Days stars Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson.
helicopter blitz of downtown in early November). The Next Three Days stars Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson.
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