Halloween screening of R.L. Stine's Haunting Hour: "Don't Think About it" & presentation by Academy Award-winning special effects master Greg Nicotero

In 2005, Steeltown Entertainment Project hosted a premiere of George A.Romero's "Land of the Dead" which sold out the Byham Theater and attracted an international crowd including famed filmmakers Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction") and Robert Rodriguez ("Spy Kids"). The premiere also brought back special effects wizard Greg Nicotero who had gotten his start in Pittsburgh working on George Romero films with the city's own special effects master Tom Savini ("Dawn of the Dead," "Friday the 13th"), and whose company KNB FX has worked on dozens of films including "Chronicles of Narnia" for which they won an Oscar, as well as "Kill Bill," "Sin City"," Boogie Nights", and" Land of The Dead."

While in L.A. filming his documentary about Pittsburgh entitled "A Tale of Two Cities," Steeltown Entertainment Project co-founder Carl Kurlander was invited to visit Greg's "creature shop" in the San Fernando Valley. There, Greg showed Carl a model for a monster he had been asked to make for an R.L. Stine project, the author of the "Goosebumps" series. Greg had heard that the Stine film was being budgeted in Canada; however, excited by the Steeltown Entertainment idea of encouraging projects in Pittsburgh, he arranged for Carl to meet with Margaret Loesch, CEO of the Hatchery, the company producing the project, and Dan Angel, the man who would ultimately co-write and produce the film. Margaret Loesch, who turned Fox Family into a leader of children's television, had also been President of Jim Henson's Television Group, and CEO of the Hallmark Channel. Just as Carl started touting the attributes of Pittsburgh and its potential for being a player in the entertainment industry, Margaret smiled, explaining that she did have some experience with the region as her father was from Meadville. Southwestern Pennsylvania connections are everywhere.

The Hatchery was focused on family entertainment which Pittsburgh had a rich tradition of creating due to "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" and family-oriented programs produced by WQED. With partial funding already in place from Universal Family Studios and Creata, the Hatchery was still looking for an equity investor which would allow them to "greenlight" the project. So Margaret and Dan came to Pittsburgh to explore the possibilities here. Thanks to the efforts of Steeltown's then executive director Ellen Kander and board members Anne Lewis, Stephanie Dangel, and others, funds were raised by people who believed this opportunity would be more than a good investment but also a means to create jobs and help build a sustainable industry in the region.

Working with Pittsburgh Film Office, Steeltown helped facilitate the project filming in Pittsburgh last year: creating 115 jobs and pouring an estimated $2,165,000 into the local economy as well. Greg Nicotero returned to his hometown to create the monster for "Don't Think About It" and direct the second unit for the movie.

On October 26th at 4p.m., Greg is coming back to Pittsburgh to do a special presentation with his longtime friend and mentor Tom Savini in the Cathedral of Learning in Room 324 where these two special effect legends will discuss their craft and showcase some of their amazing Hollywood creatures. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

This will be followed by a free Halloween screening of R.L Stine's "Don't Think About It" at 7 p.m. at the Frick Fine Arts Building (across from the Carnegie Library in Oakland.) Seating there is also on a first come, first serve basis.

These events are both co-sponsored by Steeltown Entertainment Project and Pitt In Hollywood. For more information, email cait@steeltown.org or call 412-622-1325.