And the $25,000 goes to...

March 27, 2010 (All day)

FILM FACTORY Announces Winners at
"NOW WHAT? 
READY, SET, PRODUCE!" workshop!

After 3 hours of simulated pre-production meetings, 45 minutes of judge deliberation, and five months of hard work, the Steeltown Film Factory Judges selected 
2 Finalists to produce their short films in SWPA in the summer of 2010.  

THE WORKSHOP
Three Finalists made presentations in simulated pre-production meetings on Saturday, March 27, 2010. They reviewed with the Panel issues such as locations, casting, budgets, licensing, technical issues & more. Listed alphabetically, the 3 finalists were:

"Anywhere But Here" 
 Ross Thomas

"Lightweight" 
 Randy Kovitz & Deborah Hosking

"Roll the Dice"  
Lawrence Phillis, Dave Fedor, 
John Feightner, & Joe Wichryk II 

Steeltown wishes to thank all of the Film Factory Judges, Sponsors and Panelists.  

The "Ready, Set, Produce!" Panel was led by moderator and Steeltown co-founder & University of Pittsburgh professor, Carl Kurlander
 ("St. Elmo's Fire," "My Tale of Two Cities"), and featured :  

  • Janine Michael, Casting Director, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"
  • Janet Smith, Producer, “My Tale of Two Cities”
  • Jeff Monahan, President, 72nd St. Films, LLC.
  • Lisa Smith, Co-Executive Producer, "The People Speak"
  • Joe Seamans, Producer, Writer and Cinematographer, "NOVA: Car of the Future,” “The Great Robot Race”


Thank you again for your donated time and valued experience!
 
JUDGING

"The process was so intense and a decision like this is never easy.  There were people fighting for each project every step of the way, which is just how it works with studios," said Steeltown Executive Director Jodi Klebick of the judging deliberation.  At 1:45pm, they were ready to announce their decision:

WINNERS
The $25,000 Production Prize was split between TWO finalists:

Ross Thomas for his short screenplay "Anywhere But Here" $12,500

AND

Lawrence Phillis, Dave Fedor, 
John Feightner, & Joe Wichryk II, from the popular comedy troupe "Hustlebot," for their short screenplay "Roll the Dice"
$12,500

Congratulations! 

Read the three short scripts online:
http://www.steeltownfilmfactory.org/filmscripts. 

Stay tuned for more Film Factory production news!

The final product will be an approximately 12:00 minute short film produced in the SWPA region by September 30, 2010.  Produced with the guidance and support of Steeltown Entertainment Project and its partners, "Anywhere But Here" and "Roll the Dice" will debut at the 2010 Three Rivers Film Festival in November, 2010.

"NOW WHAT? READY, SET, PRODUCE!" was sponsored by:
Point Park University
Cinema and Digital Arts
Thank you to Nelson Chipman, Fred Johnson, Catherine Gutowski, Jonathan Surmacz, Jeff Sherman, and Barbara Houston

Wow! What an exciting first year for FILM FACTORY! Thank you to all of you who submitted a script, and  those who attended FILM FACTORY workshops. We hope you enjoyed the process as much as we did.

Thank you again for your support. We'll see you at the movies!

Jodi S. Klebick               Cait Murray
Executive Director         Associate Producer