Answer: The Steeltown Entertainment Project ("Steeltown") is a Pennsylvania non-profit 501(c)3
organization. Our mission is to nurture promising talent and to incubate meaningful and commercially
viable entertainment projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We succeed in this mission by aiming to
accomplish several things: 1.) Connecting former Pittsburghers working in the entertainment industry
with resources in the region (people, businesses, universities, etc.), 2.) Educating emerging talent
through mentoring experiences, and 3.) Fostering economic development by nurturing and seeding
entertainment projects that will provide employment and investment opportunities.
Programmatic events such as the Steeltown Film Factory will identify emerging talent and potential
projects in the region, incubate them (what Hollywood calls "development"), and ultimately help
commercialize them so at least a part of the profits of such efforts come back to the region. 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.
Answer: Steeltown is not a studio or a production company, which are the places where scripts are
normally purchased and developed. With its limited resources, Steeltown strives to serve the region
through the Steeltown Film Factory, which will demystify this process and provide new contacts for
aspiring talent in the region. Hollywood in general can be a frustrating place to get a script read.
Established producers or studios often will not accept unsolicited material. Many established agents
will not read scripts unless they are from a writer with credits.
Some general advice is--
First make sure the screenplay is as good as it can be. Over 50,000 screenplays per year are
registered with the Writers Guild of America. And only a handful of that 50,000 get produced. It is
hard to write a good screenplay, but if you work at it, you can achieve what University of
Pittsburgh graduate student Stephanie Lord did - she won the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting amongst over 5,000 competitors. Stephanie honed her craft by re-writing scripts,
reading scripts she admired, taking classes and getting feedback. There are many screenplay contests
out there like the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting and Final Draft's Big Break. Studios like
Disney and Fox also sponsor competitions. But first you have to write a good script.
Do not just rely on friends' feedback -- get some good critics to give you feedback. Aspiring
screenwriters should look at the FAQ "writers" section of Pitt In Hollywood which provides
references to industry standard books like "Screenplay" by Syd Field, "Story" by Robert McKee, and
"Adventures in the Screen Trade" by William Goldmann. You can also go to the Writers Guild of
America website to read interviews with working screenwriters.
Once you have completed your screenplay, get some constructive critique. Some screenwriters have
found it quite useful to send their screenplays to Steeltown advisor Asher Garfinkel's company,
Readers Unlimited, for a "test run." Asher is the author of "Screenplay Story Analysis: The Art and
Business." His story analysts have years of experience reading for studios, agencies and major
production companies. For a reasonable fee, they provide objective, honest feedback to writers.
Asher has been a great resource for many here in Pittsburgh.
Aside from this service, there are many young people who have been nurtured by Pitt In Hollywood and
Steeltown, now working in Hollywood. To get in touch with them, you might try signing up on the Pitt
In Hollywood website and sending a general email to those who are now in Los Angeles or New York.
And now a word about television. Ideas for television shows are easy. Anyone can say I want to do a
screenplay about a group who hangs out at a bar, but that does not make it "Cheers." Anyone can say
I want to do a screenplay about doctors who socialize in hospitals, but that does not make it
"Scrubs" or "Grey's Anatomy." Money is not usually made in television unless a show goes into
syndication, so people who put up tens of millions of dollars are looking for a "showrunner." A
showrunner is someone who has a track record of writing successful shows to offset that risk.
Television shows do not hire entry-level writers. They hire based on "spec" scripts. Spec scripts
are scripts written on speculation and not paid for, which usually are sample episodes of TV shows
currently on the air. Agents generally want to see more than one sample. Sometimes two half-hour
sitcoms. Sometimes one hour dramas, depending on what the writer's aspiration are. Again, the
Writers Guild of America has more information and when the Steeltown Film Factory goes forward,
television writers will also come back to Pittsburgh to further clarify and provide access to this
world.
Answer: Please email info@steeltown.org or call 412-622-1325 to
let us know. Or, if you are someone on the list who would like to update your credits, please let us
know.
Answer: Steeltown was co-founded by Pittsburgh expatriates who wanted to give back to the region as
a whole. From its inception, Steeltown has strived to bring together the region's arts, educational,
and non-profit communities.
As mentioned earlier, our mission is to nurture promising talent and to incubate meaningful and
commercially viable entertainment projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania by connecting former
Pittsburghers who are working in the entertainment industry with the region's human, cultural,
educational and economic resources.
The Pittsburgh Film Office was started in 1990 to promote the greater southwestern Pennsylvania
region as a great location for movie, television and commercial productions. Once a production has
been financed, they bring their production to the region to help the local economy. Studies have
shown that for every $1 spent in the region directly on film production, up to $2 comes into the
region in related expenses such as crews staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, etc. Some of
Steeltown's advisors and programs can benefit the Film Office's mission. For example, in April 2007,
Steeltown brought New Castle native, Pitt alumnus, and Lions Gate producer John Dellaverson back to
Pittsburgh to speak to the community. At that time, John and the CFO of Lions Gate also met with
Governor Rendell to discuss film tax incentives. As a result, $70 million of tax incentive
legislation was passed in July 2007 and more productions were slated to be shot in Pennsylvania
later that year.
Pittsburgh Filmmakers is the nation's oldest and largest Independent Media Arts Center, and services
students at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and other educational
organizations. Many of the students who have interned on Steeltown projects have received training
from Filmmakers. Steeltown's goal of commercializing entertainment projects is something that
traditionally has not been part of Filmmaker's mission. However, Steeltown and Pittsburgh Filmmakers
have worked cooperatively to develop the Steeltown Film Factory and will launch the Steeltown Film
Factory at the Three Rivers Film Festival in 2009.
WQED Multimedia, the first community-sponsored public television station, shares much of Steeltown's
mission in terms of the development of socially meaningful content. Many of Steeltown's advisors
worked at or were inspired by this historic institution. Together, these expatriates, Steeltown and
WQED can build on the legacy of Mr. Fred Rogers, who made thousands of programs at the station while
at the same time challenging others to create entertainment that "makes good attractive." Since
January 2007, WQED has graciously provided office space to Steeltown, and these two organizations
are working together on several upcoming projects.
Answer: A recent Newsweek cover story displayed the 23-year-old inventor of "Facebook" who turned
down $1 billion from Yahoo because his advisors felt that the company was worth around $8 billion,
comparing the company to MTV. As evidenced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs' relationship with Disney, we
live in a world where entertainment and technology companies often intersect. More particularly to
Pittsburgh, in discussions with Don Marinelli at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center
and Lenore Blum, director of Carnegie Mellon's Project Olympus, it became apparent that these are
both fields which attract young people, require risk, but have the potential for delivering returns
on investments in a timely way. Too often Pittsburgh fragments its resources. In building
Southwestern Pennsylvania's entertainment sector, we must collaborate and bridge resources.
Answer: For most of its four year existence, Steeltown has survived on the volunteer efforts of many
passionate supporters, both in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. Please feel free to reach out to us if we
can be of service in promoting the growth of the entertainment industry in Pittsburgh, or if you
wish to make a contribution of goods, services, time, money or even a letter of support to the
organization. Steeltown is also looking for sponsorships and underwriting. To make an inquiry or
donation, or to become a volunteer participant at any level, please contact Jodi S. Klebick at
jodi@steeltown.org or call us at 412-622-1325.
