• 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

• 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)

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.