From the Beaver County Times
Originally Published: April 4, 2010
By: Scott Tady
We've also got two promising filmmakers in our midst.
They're Larry Phillis of Center Township and Joe Wichyrk II of Chippewa Township, who belong to the Pittsburgh comedy troupe Hustlebot, recent winners of a screenplay writing contest sponsored by Steeltown Film Factory.
Steeltown, run by Pittsburgh movie producer Carl Kurlander ("St. Elmo's Fire"), will award $12,500 to Hustlebot so the troupe can make a movie based on its winning script for a comedy called "Roll the Dice."
"We've been telling everyone we won 12.5 K because it sounds more impressive," joked Wichryk.
Sure, $12,500 wouldn't even buy bottled waters for the cast of "Avatar," but for a group of indie filmmakers from western Pennsylvania, it's like winning the lottery.
"We've been making films for the last four years with no budget and people seem to enjoy them, so we are excited to see what we can do when we actually have money," Wichryk said.
Shooting will begin in summer, with "Roll the Dice" to premiere at the Three Rivers Film Festival in the fall. Boosted by Kurlander's connections, the movie also will be submitted to film festivals coast-to-coast.
Steeltown's scriptwriting contest drew nearly 100 submissions. Hustlebot evenly split the $25,000 grand-prize with co-winner Ross Thomas, as decided by the contest's 40 judges, who included actor David Conrad ("The Ghost Whisperer"), TV writer/producer David Hollander ("The Guardian"), writer Rick Hawkins ("The Carol Burnett Show") and sitcom director Jamie Widdoes ("Two and a Half Men," and also renowned for his role as Hoover in "Animal House".)
Co-winning the contest could mean big things for Hustlebot, said Wichryk, who in his daytime job makes one of the Beaver Valley's best chicken wraps as a cook at Little Meleo's in Beaver.
"This is the perfect opportunity to prove to people that we are talented enough to make movies for a living," he said.
Wichryk, Phillis and the rest of Hustlebot also has produced a 7-minute-35-second film, "Shadows of the Shield," a witty spoof of reality-cop shows that's entered in the May 1 Harmony Ridge Film Festival in Harmony Township.
I'm one of the judges for that festival.
Having watched all 29 competing films, submitted from as far away as California and Spain, I must say Hustlebot's was among the best.
You can see some of Hustlebot's recent films, as well as their live skits, at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, when the group entertains at Pittsburgh's CLO Cabaret Theater at 655 Penn Ave., in the city's Cultural District. There is a $5 cover.
Scott Tady can be reached online at stady@timesonline.com.
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