Steeltown Film Factory Final Event

Today is the final event for the Steeltown Film Factory competition.  The three final scripts will be read by Carnegie Mellon University Acting Students at the Rauh theater at CMU.

Who will the winner (or winners) be of this $30,000 to make a movie here?

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to find out because I'll be in tech.

[Cue tired sigh now.]

I had to leave the last event early, too, so I really feel like I'm totally missing out - how can I get prepared to write my script for next year?!

Ever since the news that the next Batman movie will be filming here this summer, the blogosphere is all abuzz about how Pittsburgh is Hollywood's best kept secret.  Will it become the next Hollywood...Well, we can dream, can't we?

Check out this great video on the Film Factory site about the history of art, culture and film in da 'burgh, featuring Rob Marshall (Chicago), Shirley Jones and John Wells (executive producer of The West Wing and ER).

Know thy enemy

As I’ve posted before, I submitted a short script for the Film Factory competition, hosted by Steeltown Entertainment.  

They announced the finalists and unfortunately I didn't make the cut (hey, them's the breaks but there's always next year).

True to the Film Factory's aim of education, they've posted the scripts that were selected as finalists online.  This is great to learn about what others are writing but also to see what kinds of scripts the judges liked or didn't like.  They do range in style and story but the southwestern Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh region is central to all of them in some way.  

Read the competition here

On March 26, next Saturday, the semi-finalists selected out of this group will pitch their scripts (now rewritten based on feedback) to three Hollywood producers, right here in Pittsburgh at Point Park University downtown.  

Read more about that event here.

Reading and watching to see what others do well or not well is an education you shouldn't pass up.  It's a competitive market out there and although, its not accurate to think of your fellow writers as "enemies", you should know who is writing the same kind of stuff you are and then make your work even more unique.

Your script is a blueprint, not the building

In my earlier post, I mentioned the Film Factory competition and the fact that I entered my own short screenplay into the contest.  I also mentioned you can watch last year’s movies. (see below).

What’s really helpful is that you can also read the original scripts submitted, which, of course, I did, months ago. What was wonderful about the two scripts (actually, there are three finalists and you can read all three of them) is not that just the fact that they’re good scripts, but that each seems to have a unique point of view and a distinct voice. 

After the short films debuted at the Three Rivers Film Festival, they were available to watch online.  What's so great is to see what changes were made to the scripts before (or during) filming.  

Part of the Film Factory’s goal is to show the filmmaking process, and rarely does a script stay the same thing on the page as it goes through the development process.  There are issues like set locations, numbers of actors, and other logistics which can influence the type of movie you’re making (especially when it’s low budget).  

Of course, the main goal of rewriting is also to make the story more clear and compelling. 

This is why when I write a play, I never consider it “finished” until its gone into production.  A reading is helpful and workshops are fun, but there’s nothing like the process of a rehearsal period. There’s only one way to test if the play works in front of an audience—and that’s to put it out there on stage . 

A play is a blueprint, a code for instructing actors how to tell this particular story in a particular space.  Theater happens on stage, not on the page.

For an exercise, try this: read a script then watch it.  This is easier with movies (or with Shakespeare because God knows someone in your town is probably destroying his words right this very minute).

Another fun exercise to try is to watch a movie and while watching, try to write down in script format what’s happening.

Both of these exercises are excellent ways of training your mind to think in three dimensions, so that when you’re writing your script, you’re imagining what will happen after the words leave the page.

Roll The Dice from Film Factory on Vimeo.

Anywhere But Here from Film Factory on Vimeo.

Pittsburgh is the new hollywood?

Well, not quite...

Despite Pittsburgh magazine's article this month (which is where that fun pic comes from), the sad truth is that only Hollywood is Hollywood.  

Let's face it, you do have a much higher chance of working in the movie biz if you live in L.A., just as if you really wanted to work as a country singer-songwriter, you go to Nashville.  

Or as I like to think of it, its hard to be an Alaskan crab fisherman in Utah. 

BUT...

It doesn't mean there aren't any opportunities outside of L.A.  In fact, there are many.  

I do believe that talent is rare and if they want you, really want you, it won't matter what zip code you call home.  Everyone in Hollywood is clamoring for a great script, so write a great script (assuming you can do that, which is probably one of the hardest things you really can do).

But speaking of opportunities...I was happy to discover that Pittsburgh has a growing film industry, due in no small part to the incentives instated a few years ago.  Last year, 2010, I think six major movies were shot in the area and in 2009, there were at least three shot here.  

There are also organizations that help promote Pittsburgh as a place to live and work in film and TV. Steeltown Entertainment Project exists to promote the film and media industry in Western PA, and there is also Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

(FYI, one really cool thing at the Steeltown site is their "list" which shows all the entertainment folks who came out of da burgh, including the well known Jeff Goldblum and Michael Keaton but also others ranging from Gene Kelly to Christina Aguilera.  I didn't know theatre performer Sutton Foster, or composer Stephen Flaherty were from here...take a look and be surprised.)

Last year, Steeltown started its Film Factory competition, where they offered $25,000 for a short screenplay that could be shot in Western PA. The deadline for the 2011 Film Factory Competition is tomorrow.  This time they're offering $30,000 to the winning 12 minute script.  There are a bunch of other events happening, as well, including workshops and panels with professionals in the industry.

For more info, check out this video:


Win Up To $30,000 To Make Your Short Film from Film Factory on Vimeo.


In December, I finished up my short screenplay and sent it off right before the end of the year.  I hadn't written anything for film in over a year, so I felt a little rusty, but after a few rewrites, the story and script seemed to come together.

What's really great is you can watch the short movies that were made last year.  They split the award between two films, one a comedy named Roll the Dice by Hustlebot and the other a dramatic piece called Anywhere but Here by Ross Thomas.  

The movies are definitely showing the city and people of the region in two totally different types of stories, which I'll write more about next time.