Steeltown Entertainment Project // About the Steeltown Entertainment Project

Who We Are

Steeltown accomplishes its mission by educating emerging talent through specific mentoring experiences and fostering economic development by nurturing and seeding entertainment projects that will provide employment and investment opportunities.

By connecting these local resources and entertainment advisors, Steeltown will help to establish Southwestern Pennsylvania as an "entertainment greenhouse." Such a greenhouse will help to market the region in a unique and powerful way, retain and attract talent, especially young people drawn to this business, and help jump start a dynamic industry that, in success, provides timely returns on investment.

A Brief History

Pittsburgh has served as an "unconscious" incubator of entertainment talent and projects for decades, largely due to its vibrant philanthropic, cultural and university environment. Over the years, however, most of this talent and their projects have been exported along with the revenue associated with this "creative economy" due to the absence of a commercially viable entertainment industry within the region.

The Steeltown Entertainment Project is a 501©(3) organization that was founded in 2003 by Carl Kurlander (screenwriter, "St. Elmo's Fire"; TV writer/producer "Saved by the Bell"), Ellen Weiss Kander (a former Wall Street lawyer) and Maxine Lapiduss (TV writer/producer "Roseanne," "Ellen" ) as a way to tap into the talent and expertise of entertainment industry leaders who had strong ties to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Together, they recruited a prestigious board of directors, including Board President Anne Lewis (currently completing a two-year term), Audrey Hillman Fisher, Kevin McMahon, Bill Strickland, Richard Rauh, and Lisa Frankovitch. Their objective was to bring attention to this "incubation" phenomenon and to create an organization that would provide a return on the region's investment by helping to convert its creative capital into a regional entertainment industry that would allow it to retain its talent.

Accomplishments

In October 2003, Steeltown organized and produced the first ever Pittsburgh Entertainment Summit ("Summit"). Many of Steeltown's most prominent advisors participated in this weekend-long entertainment forum, meeting with local civic leaders and members of the cultural community to discuss how decisions are made in Hollywood and to identify strategies as to how this region could compete more effectively for national film and television productions. Entertainment expatriates who participated in the Summit included Chicago director Rob Marshall, Jim Carrey manager Eric Gold, director Jamie Widdoes ("8 Simple Rules"), producer/executive Bernie Goldmann ("300"), and "Lizzie McGuire" creator Terri Minsky. The Summit included public events at WQED and the Andy Warhol Museum that were attended by more than 500 people from a diverse cross section of the region.

Steeltown also worked with WQED to co-produce a Mid-Atlantic Emmy-nominated one-hour television special, which allowed a wider audience to witness the dialogue that occurred at the Summit.

For the Summit, Steeltown also produced a short promotional film, "Pittsburgh: Hollywood's Best Kept Secret," which explores the region's rich cultural history and includes interviews with Pittsburgh expatriates who attended the Summit and E.R. producer John Wells and actress Shirley Jones.

In preparation for and during the Summit weekend, and in producing the On Q special and the promotional film, Steeltown utilized and provided professional experience to over thirty local students and filmmakers.

In June 2005, with the help of advisers Bernie Goldmann and George Romero, Steeltown hosted a premiere of George Romero's "Land of the Dead," which sold out the Byham Theater and raised funds to benefit Steeltown's forthcoming filmmaking workshop and competition, the Steeltown Film Factory. The event attracted such prominent filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and was declared by the Post-Gazette to be "as close to a lovefest as Pittsburgh gets without sports being involved."

During 2006, with the help of Steeltown adviser and Hollywood special effects wizard Greg Nicotero, Steeltown helped facilitate the Hatchery, a Los Angeles based family entertainment company, to film R.L. Stine Presents: The Haunting Hours -- Don't Think About It" in Pittsburgh.

Since its formation in 2003, Steeltown has recruited 40 former Pittsburghers now successfully working in New York and Los Angeles to serve as Steeltown advisors. Steeltown has participated in dozens of conversations with advisors regarding film and television projects that they could bring to the Pittsburgh region and has, in collaboration with the student organization Pitt In Hollywood, presented over 30 speakers from the entertainment industry.

As it continues to connect expatriates with the Pittsburgh community, Steeltown hopes to launch the Steeltown Film Factory in 2007 which would ultimately lead to the creation of three short films about Pittsburgh to premiere during Pittsburgh 250th Anniversary in 2008 mentored by expatriates in collaboration with the finest of this region's emerging talent.