New "Factory" in Pittsburgh to Educate Aspiring Filmmakers!
Pittsburgh, long known to the world as the home of the steel industry, is now hoping to become the home of a new production center: the entertainment industry. Steeltown Entertainment Project, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization founded in 2003, is hoping that their upcoming FILM FACTORY will be a catalyst in creating that industry here in our region.
The FILM FACTORY is a yearlong filmmaking competition, supported by a series of public workshops, panel discussions and staged readings, designed to engage aspiring filmmakers to create projects with Pittsburgh-inspired content. By bringing together local and expatriate resources in Southwestern Pennsylvania (SWPA), Steeltown hopes that the FILM FACTORY will help to transform this region's non-profit "Arts Sector" into a thriving "Entertainment Economy."
The competition kicks off at 10:30 AM on Saturday, November 7, 2009 with a filmmakers' brunch and panel discussion at the Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Avenue, Oakland, in conjunction with the opening weekend of the Three Rivers Film Festival presented by Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Tickets for Saturday's FILM FACTORY panel event are $10.00 adults, $5.00 for students with valid ID, and can be purchased at the door. FILM FACTORY is also sponsoring a VIP party at Concept Art Gallery in Regent Square on Friday, November 6, 2009 from 5:30 PM- 6:30 PM, and is a proud sponsor of the Melwood Screening Room during the run of this year's festival. For VIP event tickets, please contact the Three Rivers Film Festival at www.3rff.com.
Saturday morning's FILM FACTORY kickoff event is entitled, "Getting Started: Where Do Good Ideas, Great Scripts, and Talented Filmmakers Come From?" The distinguished panel, to be moderated by Steeltown's co-founder and local screenwriter Carl Kurlander (St. Elmo's Fire, Saved By the Bell, My Tale of Two Cities), will focus on the various stages of script development and filmmaking, a theme that will be carried on throughout the Steeltown Film Factory. Panelists for this event will include other Pittsburgh natives such as screenwriter Rob Lieber, who as written screenplays for Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema, Walden Media, MGM and is currently developing the screenplay of "Septimus Heap: Magyk" for Warner Brothers; "Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting" Academy Award winner Stephanie Lord; and Lauren Elmer, Sony Pictures Classics Acquisitions and Post-Production Supervisor for "Gracie."
In combination with the series of panel discussions throughout the winter and spring of 2010, the FILM FACTORY invites students (aged 16 and up) and amateur filmmakers to submit original film ideas for the competition. The FILM FACTORY will start accepting submissions on November 7th with the deadline closing on December 31, 2009. Submissions must include a 10-12-page script along with a logline, a one-page synopsis and an optional sample of prior work, and may be made via the FILM FACTORY website at www.SteeltownFilmFactory.org. A committee consisting of local and expatriate entertainment professionals serving as judges will choose the most promising screenplays, and the winning film or films will be developed into full-fledged productions during the summer of 2010 and screened at the 2010 Three Rivers Film Festival.
Esteemed judges/advisers both locally and nationally include: Lionsgate's John Dellaverson (producer, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman") "300" producer Bernie Goldmann, writer/producer David Hollander ("The Cleaner", "The Guardian"), Pitt screenwriting professor David Dellesandro ("Snakes On A Plane"), writer/director Melissa Martin ("The Bread, My Sweet"), and many others.The total prize package is worth $25,000. The prize of $25,000 is available to be used to produce the winning film or films. One to three short films wills be chosen and the funds will be divided and awarded at the discretion of the judges. For submission guidelines and more information, please visit www.SteeltownFilmFactory.org. The FILM FACTORY is made possible through the generous support of grants, sponsorships and in-kind donations from such organizations as the R.K. Mellon Foundation, the Colcom Foundation, the Laurel Foundation, Comcast, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Point Park University, and the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
Steeltown Entertainment Project is pleased to announce the addition of three panelists for the event on November 7th which will kick off the Film Factory!
Geoffrey Fletcher, the screenwriter of the film "Precious," one of the opening night films at the Three Rivers Film Festival, will be part of the panel on November 7th at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
Joining Geoffrey and others will be Independent Film Festival award winning screenwriter and Pittsburgh native Janyce Lapore ("10 Minutes from Paradise," "Screaming My Heart Out").
The panelists will be part of a discussion entitled "*Getting Started: Where Do Good Ideas, Great Scripts, and Talented Filmmakers Come From?*"
Also just announced is the addition of Asher Garfinkle, the founder of Readers Unlimited, as a sponsor of Film Factory. Asher has worked for over fifteen years in production and development for studios such as New Line Cinema and Paramount. Reader's Unlimited as agreed to sponsor the Film Factory Competition, offering free coverage for the five finalists' screenplays. Asher has also kindly donated copies of his new book "Screenplay Story Analysis" The Art and Business" for the Film Factory.