Forum: Pittsburgh's next industrial revolution: Entertainment

Culture we got. Connections, too. Let's leverage our strengths and give the entertainment industry an outpost here

By Carl Kurlander

Question: What product does Pittsburgh export that generates billions of dollars of revenue? The answer: entertainment.

Sure, Pittsburghers know about Michael Keaton, Jeff Goldblum and Dennis Miller being from the city. David Hollander's "The Guardian," a bona fide hit for CBS, is giving the city a national platform. The success of "Wonder Boys," based on Michael Chabon's novel set in Pittsburgh, boosted the city's profile and brought more attention to Chabon; he's writing the screenplay for the "Spider-Man" sequel.

But the list of people with Pittsburgh roots working in the entertainment industry is far longer. It includes the head writer of "Late Night with David Letterman" and creator of NBC's "Ed" (Jon Beckerman), the creator of "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue" (Steven Bochco), the president of MTV Networks (Mark Rosenthal), the producer of "Mission: Impossible" (Paula Wagner), the director of "Training Day" (Antoine Fuqua), a writer of "Ice Age" (Peter Ackerman), the executive in charge of "The Matrix" and "Ocean's 11" (Bernie Goldmann), the producer of "E.R." and "The West Wing" (John Wells). And I have barely scratched the surface.

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