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  • What is the Steeltown Entertainment Project?
  • Our Brief History
  • Who We Are
  • What We've Accomplished
  • How We're Building Southwestern Pennsylvania's Entertainment Industry


What is the Steeltown Entertainment Project?

Steeltown began with the simple belief that Pittsburgh has the potential to have a thriving entertainment industry, which could also be one of the region's major economic engines. This belief was shared by leaders of educational, cultural, and artistic organizations in Pittsburgh as well as former Pittsburgh natives working in film and television. It was always believed that anything we accomplish would be socially meaningful and build upon the legacy of Fred Rogers.

The Steeltown Entertainment Project is working towards making this belief a reality by building an entertainment investment fund that would ultimately invest in projects relevant to the region and produce a return on investment through partnerships with studios, networks, and industry contacts. Steeltown also serves the community by building the necessary infrastructure to support an entertainment industry:
  • Establishing working relationships with local resources (i.e. Pittsburgh Film Office, Women in Film and Media, WQED Multimedia, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Screenwriters, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, etc.)
  • Building relationships with Pittsburgh-native TV and Film professionals (i.e. Pittsburgh Entertainment Summit)
  • Nurturing emerging talent (i.e. Steeltown Film Factory)
  • Educating the workforce (i.e. Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, Holy Family Institute)
With these initiatives, 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 will provide timely returns on investment.

Steeltown strongly believes in the strength and potential of a community uniting together to build an entertainment industry in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As a result, Steeltown's board of directors reflects people of foundations, organizations, and industries influential in the region. Steeltown's advisory board is also reflective of talented luminaries who have roots and ties to the Pittsburgh region. To see a more detailed list of the Pittsburghers working in the entertainment industry, click here.

Our 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 environments. Over time, this talent pool and their projects have left the region because Pittsburgh has lacked a commercially viable entertainment industry. In addition to talent and projects, revenue and profit earned from this "creative economy" has also been exported to other cities, states, and countries because of the absence of a stable entertainment industry.

The Steeltown Entertainment Project is a 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 2003 by Carl Kurlander (screenwriter "St. Elmo's Fire", writer/producer "Saved by the Bell"), Ellen Weiss Kander (a former Wall Street lawyer) and Maxine Lapiduss (writer/producer "Roseanne," "Ellen" ) as a way to tap into the talent and expertise of entertainment industry leaders who have strong ties to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Together, they recruited a prestigious board of directors, including Audrey Hillman Fisher, Kevin McMahon, Bill Strickland, David Lassman, Deborah L. Acklin, Scott Bergstein, Andrew Swensen 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.

Who We Are

Currently, the Steeltown Entertainment Project is operated by full-time staff members, part-time staff members, and intern support.

Staff Bios

Carl Kurlander, Executive Producer
Carl grew up in Pittsburgh but moved to Los Angeles in 1982 after winning the MCA-Universal Studios Scholar Award while attending Duke University. For two decades, Carl worked as a screenwriter ("St. Elmo's Fire") and television writer/producer ("Saved By The Bell") writing screenplays under contract for Columbia, Paramount, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Orion, and Disney Studios, in addition to writing and producing over 150 episodes of television for NBC, Fox, and CBS. In 2001, Carl returned to Pittsburgh, began teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, and in 2003, co-founded the Steeltown Entertainment Project. Carl has remained in Pittsburgh and in his free time, enjoys spending time with his supportive wife, Natalie, and daughter, Campbell.
Stephanie Dangel
Stephanie met Carl at a graduate screenwriting class and became involved in the Steeltown Entertainment Project as the research coordinator for the short film "Pittsburgh: Hollywood's Best Kept Secret". Though too modest to mention it, Stephanie is a graduate of Yale Law School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and is also a Rhodes Scholar, who most notably clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court. Stephanie produced both of 1905 Productions' films, "The Shot Felt 'Round the World" and "My Tale of Two Cities", and enjoys spending free time with her family, K&L Gates Attorney Tom Reiter, and her three children, Teresa, Fritz, and Dominic.
Lisa Smith, Film Factory Producer
Lisa is Co-Executive Producer of The People Speak and has spent the last ten years working in reality and documentary television in Los Angeles, including the Emmy nominated Project Greenlight, and just wrapped on the feature film, Abduction. She is also a producer with the Pollie Award winning First Tuesday Media. Prior to that, she was on staff at Pittsburgh Public Theater and City Theater where she worked with noted artists such as August Wilson, Marsha Mason, Keith Reddin and Spalding Gray. She is a native of Dormont and a graduate of Gannon University.
Rachel Shepherd, Project Coordinator
Rachel joined Steeltown in the Fall of 2010 as the Project Coordinator for the "Take a Shot at Changing the World: Viral Video Contest." Rachel graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 with a B.A. in Film Studies and Creative Writing. She previously worked as the Festival Administrator for Silk Screen Asian Arts & Culture Organization. After vagabonding across New Zealand for the better part of 2010, Rachel returned to Pittsburgh, which she considers her adopted home.
Chelsea L. Danley, Film Factory Production Coordinator
Chelsea is a recent honors graduate of Allegheny College and a proud Pittsburgh native. Her love for the entertainment industry started with on camera work while home on college breaks, and later fueled her decision to turn this crazy hobby into a career. Since then she has worked on the crew and played various roles in many films, TV shows, and commercials that have graced the Pittsburgh scene. Chelsea happily joined the Steeltown team as production coordinator of the Film Factory in November 2010. In addition, she is also a writer for Pittsburgh's Maniac Magazine. She also continues acting in Pittsburgh films, which is what started it all long ago, making her jobs a perfect balance and fit.
Jason Leu
Jason joined Steeltown in June 2009 with a degree from the University of Pittsburgh and has been instrumental in organizing the Youth and Media program since his arrival. Jason has previously managed a restaurant and worked for Pittsbrugh Filmmakers in post-production.
Erika Knox
Erika attends the Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in Communications Media and minors in Theater and English. Erika will graduate in August 2010. As an intern, Erika focuses on video production and editing as well as graphic design. Although she loves creative films and animation, Erika hopes to get more involved in television and film in the future.
Tom Pike
Tom joined Steeltown while also pursuing an undergraduate degree in creative writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Tom has been instrumental in video editing for the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild program. In his free time, Tom enjoys wearing leather coats and writing screenplays.
Taylor Durham
 

Interns

Daria Bojko
Daria (yes, like the show) Bojko, is quite different from Daria the character in almost every way. She is loud, does not speak in monotone, enjoys people and being social, and most of all, Daria loves TV and film. As a Business Major, minoring in Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, Daria felt that an internship with Steeltown Entertainment Project was the perfect place for her to get my first taste of the Entertainment Industry. Ultimately, she hopes to work for Pixar Animation Studios so that she can make kids as happy as Pixar has made her. The only Pixar film that she has not seen in theaters is UP, and that is because she was out of the country.
Loren Schriefer
Loren is from Maine and is currently a junior Film Studies major at the University of Pittsburgh. She is interning at Steeltown aiding in both editing and research. As an inspiring filmmaker, Loren spends much time talking about films, watching films, writing films, and creating films; she would eat, sleep, and breathe films as well, if that were actually possible.
Toro Adeyemi
Toro (like 'Bull') Adeyemi, was a Cancer, and apparently is now a Gemini. She enjoys talking to people, getting things done, theatre, and film, so the Entertainment industry just seemed like the perfect fit. Toro is interested in Directing, Producing, Cast Directing, and being a super-Agent. Ari Gold will be interested in all of her clients in the next 7 years. Currently, she is working on maintaining and updating past and present internship records.
Melissa Knox
Melissa Knox is a Grant Writing Intern who recently graduated with an MA in English Literature from Slippery Rock University. Her current project is to research possible funding opportunities for Steeltown. Melissa's daughter took this picture of one night while she was doing undergrad homework, and this has been her image for over eight years - always a book and pen in hand. The book is from her Environmental Geology class. If you see Melissa at SEP you will notice that she always wears her glasses on her head since she only needs them to clarify what she is seeing in the distance. The thing that people say they admire the most about Melissa ? "That I am not judgmental."
Fei Li
Fei Li is from Beijing. She enjoys reading, going to the cinema, drawing, having a nice conversation, trying good food, baking and shopping, and she loves animation. Everything about it. Film, TV and video games are also of interest to her. Currently, Fei Li is working on updating Youth & Media websites.
Hilaree Caldwell
Fun-loving southern girl that's ready to rock the Hollywood scene. I'm working on Steeltown Film Factory. I'm doing the marketing, some coverage, and promoting the events associated with the contest.
Brennan Centi
Brennan Centi is a production intern here at Steeltown. He has a wide variety of interests in music and movies, from Chopin to Slayer, and from Casablanca to The Thing. Brennan loves Pittsburgh sports, and is excited to be involved in the local film making scene. Currently, he is helping the production team with editing and shooting for the MCG and HFI projects.
Yang Yang
Yang Yang (Yes, her first name and family name are the same), is Chinese and a graduate student in Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Industry Management Program. She is interested in marketing, distribution, branding and business development in entertainment industry. Yang hopes that someday, she can become the bridge between the American and Chinese entertainment industries. Currently Yang is working on the marketing group for "The Shot Felt 'Round the World" team.
Jonny Paterson
Jonny Paterson is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland and moved to the States during the summer of 2010 to join the Master of Entertainment Industry Management Program at Carnegie Mellon. He has an Undergraduate degree in English Literature and History from the University of Leeds in England and hopes it will come in handy when working out in LA. Jonny has aspirations to work in the film industry, although not sure in exactly what field yet. At the moment Jonny is a marketing intern and divides his time between the Film Factory project and the 'Take a Shot at Changing the World' video contest.
Olivia Tant
Olivia Tant is a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School. She enjoys good music, film, acting, drawing, and dancing (basically anything that is not math). Olivia hopes to attend New York University next year to major in film and go on to live an adventurous and creative life. She feels very blessed to be able to intern at Steeltown and must thank Carl Kurlander for providing her with this wonderful opportunity.
David Pelech
David Pelech is a student at Carnegie Mellon's Master of Entertainment Industry Management. He attended the University of Toronto where he majored in English and minored in Writing, Rhetoric, and Critical Analysis and Russian Language and Literature. He also completed Screenwriting I and II at University of Toronto. At Steeltown he helps out with the Film Factory and he reads all incoming scripts and provides coverage for the scripts.
Rachel Hardie
Rachel Hardie is a recent Pitt graduate where she studied English Writing because she's a bookworm and aspiring writer. She began working at Steeltown in January to hopefully prepare herself for an exciting career in public relations, and who knows, maybe the entertainment business. Rachel is a proud Pittsburgh native and would love to see her hometown become the next Tinseltown. Rachel is currently working on the "Take A Shot at Changing the World" viral video contest and the Film Factory.
Audra Congress
Audra is currently working towards her Masters in Entertainment Industry Management at Carnegie Mellon and recently completed her bachelor's in Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College. She hopes to pursue a career in animation or video games. She blames her love of animation on too many Saturday morning and Japanese cartoons. In her spare time enjoys theater, karate, reading, exploring, cooking, shopping and occasionally dragon hunting.

What We've Accomplished

2003 - Steeltown produced the first ever Pittsburgh Entertainment Summit, which was held at WQED Multimedia and the Andy Warhol Museum. Steeltown's advisors met with local civic leaders and the cultural community to discuss Hollywood's decision making processes in order to identify strategies that would make this region more competitive in attracting film and television productions. Entertainment expatriates who participated in the Summit included director Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), manager Eric Gold (Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres), director Jamie Widdoes ("8 Simple Rules"), producer Bernie Goldmann ("300"), and television series creator Terri Minsky ("Lizzie McGuire"). The Summit included public events that were attended by more than 500 people from a diverse cross-section of the region. Steeltown also worked with WQED/OnQ to co-produce a Mid-Atlantic Emmy-nominated one-hour television special, "Pittsburgh: Hollywood's Best Kept Secret," which allowed a wider audience to witness the dialogue that occurred at the Summit. It explored the region's rich cultural history and included interviews with the Summit's expatriate attendees, including producer John Wells ("E.R.") and actress Shirley Jones ("Oklahoma", "Carousel"). The Summit and the television special utilized the volunteer efforts of over thirty film students and local filmmakers.

2005 - With the help of producers Bernie Goldmann and George Romero, Steeltown hosted a premiere of Romero's "Land of the Dead," which sold out the Byham Theater and raised funds for the Steeltown Film Factory. The event attracted such prominent filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction", "Kill Bill") and Robert Rodriguez ("Sin City", "Spy Kids"), and was declared by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to be "as close to a love-fest as Pittsburgh gets without sports being involved."

2006 - Supported by special effects wizard and Steeltown advisor, Greg Nicotero ("Land of the Dead"), Steeltown attracted The Hatchery, a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, to Pittsburgh to film R.L. Stine's "Don't Think About It." Steeltown raised over $900,000 for this project with one-third equity interest. The production, available on DVD, aired on Cartoon Network, resulted in over $2.16 million of spending in SWPA, employment of 115 local residents, and usage of support services such as catering, wardrobe, equipment rentals, hotels, and restaurants. To date, Steeltown has earned back over $250,000 from its partnership with Universal Studios and The Hatchery, making this a model of non-profit sustainability.

2007 - Steeltown brought New Castle native John Dellaverson, Chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment, to Pennsylvania to meet with film students, government officials, foundations, and potential investors. Through Cinegate and Lions Gate ("Crash," "American Psycho"), Dellaverson helped increase tax incentives for film productions in Canada and New Mexico. Most notably, New Mexico's impact from tax credit legislation has increased cumulative production expenses from $29 million to $498 million over a four year period within the state. By bringing Dellaverson to Pittsburgh, he was able to convince Governor Rendell to pass similar tax incentive legislation in Pennsylvania. Since July 2007, new legislation has increased film related spending in Southwestern Pennsylvania to over $78 million and has contributed to growth in jobs and ancillary services.

2008 - Steeltown partnered with Visit Pittsburgh & 1905 Productions for the premiere of "My Tale of Two Cities" produced and directed by Steeltown's Carl Kurlander at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival. The Pittsburgh premiere at the Byham Theater sold out and raised much-needed funds for Steeltown's soon-to-launch Youth and Media program. Steeltown also organized a fundraiser for the Pittsburgh premiere of "Bottle Shock" produced by Pittsburgh native Marc Lhormer, and partnered with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to celebrate "Pittsburgh 250."

2009 - The Steeltown Entertainment Project and Pittsburgh Filmmakers partnered together to launch the Steeltown Film Factory. As part of this collaboration, Pittsburgh Filmmakers will provide Steeltown with editing facilities, office space, library access, personnel, and screening rooms to support the Film Factory. The Film Factory will launch on November 7th, 2009 in conjunction with the Three Rivers Film Festival and will serve as Pittsburgh's first international filmmaking competition.

How We're Building Southwestern Pennsylvania's Entertainment Industry

Since 2003, Steeltown has focused on building people, projects, and industry relationships, especially with arts organizations, governments, foundations, universities, and private businesses. The last six years have been eclectic in nature but have been important in working towards our goals.

With the Youth & Media program, we have been able to teach creative and technical skills to at-risk youth, in addition to building relationships with the Grable Foundation, Holy Family Institute, and Manchester Craftmen's Guild.

Steeltown is proud to say that it was instrumental in connecting John Dellaverson and Governor Rendell in an effort to pass tax incentive legislation to make Pennsylvania more competitive. Steeltown is excited to be part of bringing government and private entities together for mutual benefit.

The launch of the Film Factory is another step Steeltown is taking to engage and enrich the lives of aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers. With a small fee, participants will gain access to industry professionals in addition to workshopping sessions and panel discussions all focused on developing filmmakers' skills, talent, and abilities.

The last six years show what we can accomplish in the Pittsburgh region. We welcome your support and look forward to making a larger impact in 2010.

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Copyright © 2003-2011 Steeltown Entertainment Project. Site Design by Jonathan Wayne. For more info, please contact us at info@steeltown.org.