First Published, Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Writer, Melissa Rayworth, Pop City
After weeks of competition and revision, five screenwriters will present their work to film industry professionals this Saturday, hoping their pitches will grab the experts' attention. It's the culmination of the latest round of Steeltown Entertainment Project's FILM FACTORY competition.
Ten semifinalists had their scripts read by CMU drama school students in January, then received critiques from Pittsburgh-associated entertainment professionals. After submitting rewrites, the five who made the cut are: "Anywhere But Here" by Ross Thomas, "Lightweight" by Randy Kovitz and Deborah Hosking, "Making Arrangements" by Alyssa Herron, "Roll the Dice" by Lawrence Phillis, Dave Fedor, John Feightner, & Joe Wichryk II, and "The Losing End" by Ryan Krumm.
These five semifinalists will pitch their ideas to a fresh panel of industry pros, hoping to be one of three who will move to the next level: a workshop called "The Director's Pitch: Transforming Screenplays into Productions." This weekend's event, sponsored by the Pitt's Film Studies department and held at Alumni Hall (4227 Fifth Ave.) is open to the public (tix $10, $5 for students).
Steeltown Entertainment Project is an innovative nonprofit created in the wake of the Steeltown Summit in 2003, which brought together Pittsburgh-connected filmmakers and industry professionals to discuss growing a solid film economy in Pittsburgh,
"This competition has been the dream since 2003," says executive director Jodi Klebick, and she's thrilled with how it's coming together . "We got 110 submissions, which is really fabulous for a first-time competition."
One the competition is done, the winning short film script will receive funding for production, which must take place here in southwestern Pennsylvania. Once completed, it will be screened at the Three Rivers Film Festival. In addition to creating jobs during that production, the film will hopefully serve as a calling card for the director and may lead to a full-length production here in the Pittsburgh area.
