Bringing His Roots to Pittsburgh

Thomas Tull who was very important in bringing The Dark Knight Rises to Pittsburgh, has purchased a home in the city.  He has purchased a condominium and office space to be converted into a home of 8000 square feet.  He is also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he has been a fan of this team since he was a child.  Tull is not only a welcome new member of this city, he is one of the reasons Pittsburgh has been put on the map as a "new Hollywood".

Thomas Tull, the Legendary Pictures chairman and CEO who was instrumental in bringing "The Dark Knight Rises" to Pittsburgh, has talked a lot about his love for the city. Now he's showing it in a sizeable wayMr. Tull, a partner in the Steelers ownership group, last week completed the purchase of a $2.7 million condominium at Downtown's Three PNC Plaza, home to the Fairmont Hotel and the Reed Smith law firm.

He bought one entire floor and part of another in the 23-story office, residential and hotel tower on Fifth Avenue with the intent of combining them into one unit of nearly 8,000 square feet.

The buyer is officially listed as Lafayette Trust in Allegheny County real estate records, but the Post-Gazette has learned that Mr. Tull is actually behind the purchase.

It marks his second big outlay in Pittsburgh. Three years ago, Mr. Tull, a Steelers fan since childhood, made an undisclosed investment in the team to become part of its ownership group.

He's such a passionate fan that he flies in from Los Angeles for Steelers home games, where he usually can be seen in a Jack Lambert jersey. He'll be able to walk to Heinz Field from his new digs Downtown.

Mr. Tull, 42, decided to buy a condo here because, "He really loves the city. He considers it his adopted home and his second home to Los Angeles," said a source close to the CEO. "He's super devoted to it and he wanted to put down some roots there."

By the time he's finished building out the two-story unfinished unit, he is expecting the value to be nearly double the purchase price, the source said. Mr. Tull chose Three PNC Plaza in part because of its central location.

As executive director for "The Dark Knight Rises," Mr. Tull is credited with using his influence to encourage Warner Bros. to shoot a large part of the Batman movie here.

Legendary Pictures also was involved in "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and the earlier "Batman Begins."

Mr. Tull also is serving as executive director for the new Superman flick, "Man of Steel," to hit theaters next summer. Other Legendary films scheduled for release next year include "42," a biopic on baseball player Jackie Robinson, and "The Hangover Part III."

Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said that Mr. Tull helped to "put Pittsburgh on the map" in bringing "The Dark Knight Rises" here. The executive producer having a home in town can only be good news for the city, she said.

"Hopefully, it results in even more of his work coming here," she said. "We welcome him with open arms."

In addition to being part of the Steelers ownership group, Mr. Tull is a member of the Carnegie Mellon University board of trustees.

He and his wife, Alba, have three children.

Read more at the Post Gazette.

Win Tickets to the Jack Reacher Premiere

If you were not lucky enough to be on the crew for "Jack Reacher", you still have a chance to see Tom Cruise in person.  There will be a ticket lottery for the "Jack Reacher" premiere on December 15th. Keep reading to learn more.

 

Crank up the klieg lights. An email drawing to win tickets to the U.S. premiere of "Jack Reacher" filmed in Pittsburgh is now open.

To win a pair of seats for the 2 p.m. Dec. 15 event, which will come complete with Tom Cruise and a red carpet outside the SouthSide Works Cinema, send an email with your full name, age and home address to Pittsburgh@43kix.com.

That information also will be found in an advertisement in Thursday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where the small print stipulates, as always, that the theater could be overbooked to ensure a full house so winners need to arrive early since admission is not guaranteed.

No tickets will be sold.

No tickets will be needed to huddle outside the theater and watch arrivals -- expected to start at 11 a.m. that Saturday -- and try to win one of the prizes, including iPads, Xbox 360s, Steelers, Pirates and Penguins jerseys and tickets to the premiere.



Mr. Cruise, director-writer Christopher McQuarrie and others will join Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen about 12:30 p.m. in the square in front of the Cheesecake Factory for a ceremony with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl thanking the city.

In addition to Mr. Cruise, fellow actors Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo and Alexia Fast are expected along with novelist Lee Child, whose "One Shot" book is the basis for the movie.

The action thriller is about ex-military investigator Jack Reacher, a footloose and enigmatic loner who suspects a one-time military sniper did not kill five people, as police charge.

The movie opens nationwide Dec. 21.

In a first for Pittsburgh in recent decades, Paramount Pictures is renting all 10 screens and 1,659 seats for the premiere that will draw international outlets along with Pittsburgh area media.

In July 1994, Pittsburgh hosted the world premiere of "Angels in the Outfield" at Three Rivers Stadium.

The baseball fantasy was not filmed here but was inspired by the 1951 movie set at Forbes Field.

It attracted top Disney executives along with actors Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Milton Davis Jr., Taylor Negron and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the last of whom returned to Pittsburgh years later to film scenes for "The Dark Knight Rises."

For more information see the Post Gazette.

Movie Premiere in Pittsburgh

Jack Reacher was filmed in Pittsburgh this past summer with tons of support from the Pittsburgh area.  The movie has decided to come back to the area for a Hollywood premiere of the movie.  The SouthSide Works Cinema will host the event on December 15th with more than 1500 seats being used for the event.  No tickets will be sold, but there are opportunities to win tickets.

When Tom Cruise was in Pittsburgh filming "Jack Reacher" based on Lee Child's novel "One Shot" earlier this year, Paramount Pictures kept a very tight lid on production.

One scene involving Mr. Cruise was literally filmed at a parking lot across from the Post-Gazette, but on set visits were forbidden, even when the set came to us. That disappointment aside, Mr. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie made full use of the city's diverse and scenic charms -- from Sewickley to the Strip District -- extending Pittsburgh's reputation as a great place to make movies in yet another high-profile film.

The director, cast and crew had such a great time here that they're returning to Pittsburgh for "Jack Reacher's" U.S. premiere on Dec. 15 at the SouthSide Works Cinema. All 10 of the theater's screens and all 1,659 seats will be devoted to the film. An ad in the Dec. 6 Post-Gazette will provide details on how to win seats, but no tickets will be sold for the event.

Because "Jack Reacher" was filmed at many more places in the region than the "Dark Knight Rises," a higher ratio of recognizable places will make it to the big screen. That will be great for the region's ego, especially after the star turn the Pittsburgh skyline received in the jail escape drama "The Next Three Days."

Having a Hollywood-style premiere in Pittsburgh featuring Mr. Cruise, Robert Duvall and other members of the cast and crew of "Jack Reacher" is a real coup for the region and testifies to the hard work of the Pittsburgh Film Office under Dawn Keezer. Pittsburgh isn't Hollywood yet, but it is quickly becoming more than a city with a pretty face.

For more information see the Post Gazette.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Spend some time with your friends and family and remember everything in life that you are thankful for.

Columbia Pictures to Distribute Fox Catcher

 Foxcatcher has caught a lot of attention around the Western Pennsylvania area.  It has brought some big stars to the area.  Along with the big names, Channing Tatum has been successfully stalked by most Western PA women as he shoots the movie around the area. This film that has employed many locals, and it now has a distributor through Columbia Pictures.

 Columbia Pictures will distribute "Foxcatcher," the movie being shot in Western Pennsylvania with Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave and Anthony Michael Hall.

Bennett Miller is directing a screenplay by Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye about a real-life chemical fortune heir who went to prison for killing an Olympic gold medalist and wrestler.
In January 1996, John du Pont shot and killed David Schultz, a 1984 gold medal winner who came to live and train at the state-of-the-art Foxcatcher National Training Center that Mr. du Pont had built on his 800-acre property in Newtown Square, Pa. The movie could be released in fall 2013.

Here is the official press release:

Columbia Pictures Acquires U.S Rights to Bennett Miller's FOXCATCHER

Culver City, CA (November 1, 2012) – Columbia Pictures has picked up the United States distribution rights to Bennett Miller's FOXCATCHER from Annapurna Pictures. In addition to the U.S. distribution rights, Columbia Pictures also joins the film as a co-financer. The deal reunites Miller with Columbia, having previously collaborated with the studio on last fall's release of the Academy Award®-nominated picture, MONEYBALL. Panorama Media is commencing International sales of the film at the upcoming American Film Market.

Starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave and Anthony Michael Hall, FOXCATCHER was written by Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye. Producing the film are Megan Ellison, Anthony Bregman, and Miller. The film is currently in production.

Columbia's Andrew Gumpert and Michael Marshall negotiated the deal with Panorama Media. Rights were acquired from Panorama Media, which is serving as the film's sales agent. SPE will aim to release the film in the fall of 2013.

For more information see Post Gazette.

American Horror Story Actress Coming to Pittsburgh

 Chloe Sevigny's character on American Horror Story does not have it easy.  However, after getting tortured and probed in the FX series, Chloe will be coming to Pittsburgh to shoot a new pilot.  "Those to Kill" is a new pilot being shot in Pittsburgh for the A&E Network.

Last week was a bad one for actress Chloe Sevigny's character, Shelley, on "American Horror Story." Sanitarium doc and possible Nazi Arthur Arden (James Cromwell, "Babe") amputated Shelley's legs -- for no good reason.

Shelley was committed to New England's Briarcliff Manor mental hospital in the 1960s by her husband. Diagnosed as a nymphomaniac, Shelley was trying to help other inmates escape when Arden captured her and shackled her in his operating room.

And it doesn't look as if it's getting any better for Shelley in tonight's "AHS" episode at 10 on FX.

"Well, I don't know how much more dialogue I have," Ms. Sevigny said in a teleconference with reporters last week. "There's lots of gurgling."

Ms. Sevigny, who's probably best known for her role in HBO's "Big Love," said her first reaction to Shelley's turn for the worse was regret.

"Honestly, I wanted to have more to do," she said. "I called my agent and I said, 'I wish my part was bigger.' That's honestly what happened. That was my first response, but then I kind of let go of my ego and kind of accepted what was going to happen to me and tried to find the joy in that and the mystery."

Ms. Sevigny will undoubtedly have more to do in A&E's upcoming pilot "Those Who Kill," an American remake of a Danish crime drama that begins production in Pittsburgh the first week in December.

Ms. Sevigny stars as Catherine Jensen, a police detective who's a workaholic without much of a life besides her work. She partners with Thomas Schaffer (played by James D'Arcy, "Cloud Atlas"), a forensic profiler, to track down serial killers.

Sometimes actors object to filming outside production centers such as Los Angeles or New York, but it doesn't sound as if that will be an issue for Ms. Sevigny, who has never been to Pittsburgh.

"I'm cool with the fact that it's an hour from New York, but yes, I'm excited to be there," Ms. Sevigny said. "I love being on location, especially in a town like that. I have some of the most fun times like working in Sarasota, Fla., or Shreveport, La., and things like that. So I think it will be cool to discover a new city like that."

If "Those Who Kill" is picked up to series, it's expected to return to Pittsburgh to film additional episodes.

Prior to "AHS," Ms. Sevigny starred in DirecTV's "Hit and Miss," a British co-production where she played a transgendered assassin. She confirmed that show was canceled.

But in the space of a year she will have played multiple distinct characters. Ms. Sevigny said it's not difficult to transition among characters.

"I find it pretty easy," she said. "I've already wrapped 'American Horror Story' a couple of months ago. I think they might have me come back for something else. I'm not sure. So I'll have plenty of time and then of course delving into the scripts and research and with playing Catherine there'll probably be some training involved also.

"While we were shooting 'American Horror Story,' I was also shooting 'Portlandia.' So I was going from one set to the next, and I'd never really done that before," Ms. Sevigny said. "And 'Portlandia' was so new for me because it's all improvisation and trying to be funny and all that. So it was quite difficult when you're shooting two at the same time."

For the time being, "AHS" viewers will have to contend with Shelley's evolution, which requires four hours of prosthetic makeup.

"You see her transformed into something -- something not so pleasant to look at," Ms. Sevigny said. 

"I think it might be kind of one of the heaviest things that I've ever done as far as where she winds up."

That doesn't sound good for poor Shelley.

For more information see Pittsburgh Film Office.

Fall Back This Weekend

Do not show up an hour early for class on Monday.  This Saturday night to Sunday make sure to set your clocks back an hour for fall back time.  Enjoy your extra hour of sleep this weekend.

It's time once again for the annual ritual of resetting our clocks for a return to standard time. In fall, we turn daylight saving* time off, which means moving clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, November 4, 2012. This return to "normal" time (Pacific Standard Time) moves sunset back an hour with the corresponding effect of an earlier sunrise.

Unless you plan on being awake and functional at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, set your clocks back one hour before retiring on Saturday night. You'll then be on time for Sunday activities and refreshed from getting an extra hour of sleep. 

For more information see About.com
Cast and Crew Housing

Eva Marie Saint and Ben Mankiewicz To Appear In Pittsburgh

 Actress Eva Marie Saint and Ben Mankiewicz will be in town in two weeks for a free showing of "On the Waterfront" at the Byham theater.  This showing is part of Turner Classic Movie's Road to Hollywood tour.  These two actors are famous for their work in movies that have won them various awards.

Actress Eva Marie Saint and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz are coming to Pittsburgh for a free showing of "On the Waterfront" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Byham Theater, Downtown.
It's being presented by TCM and Verizon as part of TCM's 10-city "Road to Hollywood" tour.

 

 Ms. Saint won a best supporting actress Oscar for her screen debut in the 1954 film. "On the Waterfront" also won Academy Awards for best picture, actor Marlon Brando, director Elia Kazan, writer Budd Schulberg and for art direction, cinematography and film editing.



 Brando played a former boxer who goes to work on the docks and stands up against a corrupt union. It's the movie with a famous taxicab scene in which Brando's character, whose brother made him take a dive in a boxing match, laments, "I coulda been a contender."

Free tickets, needed for entry, will be available through tcm.com/roadtohollywood beginning Oct. 29.

Read more at the Post Gazette.

New Movie Being Shot in Pittsburgh

  The streets of Washington, PA are being transformed into a Hollywood sound stage thanks to the movie "The Umbrella Man".   This movie, which was originally performed at The Pittsburgh Playhouse, is being produced with the help of Point Park University. Keep reading to find out more about this local play becoming a major film.

 

 

The streets of downtown Washington will look like a scene out of a Hollywood screenplay when work on a feature film begins shooting this week.
“The Umbrella Man” is the story of Pete Brennan, a father who becomes engrossed with conspiracy theories after the death of his 8-year-old son. While trying to find out more about the person who ran over his child, Brendon stumbles onto the story of the umbrella man – a suspected shooter in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

“It’s the story of a couple who loses their young son,” said Michael Grasso, co-writer and co-director of the film. “The father goes deep into the Kennedy assassination as an escape.”
Set in 1983, “Umbrella Man” is the film adaptation of a play by the same name written by brothers Michael and Joseph Grasso. A successful advertising director, Michael Grasso is trying his hand at narrative filmmaking.

 
The play was originally performed at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, which is operated by Point Park University in Pittsburgh. When campus officials learned the play was being made into a screenplay, they thought it was a perfect way to get students enrolled in their cinematography program involved. 

“Point Park is really visionary,” Grasso said. “They want to be known as a university that’s a home to original work. Not only can they say that they staged it as an original play, but helped make it into a feature film.”

Grasso said the marriage worked perfectly. The Pittsburgh region’s recent emergence as a movie-making destination made it an ideal place to shoot. Point Park students and alumni offered talent and professional help. Although the movie takes place in the Southwest, buildings in this region provide ideal set locations.

“Washington is going to double as New Orleans,” said Cory Stoken, recent Point Park graduate and production office coordinator for the film. “We’re shooting at the George Washington Hotel for a number of days. The architecture of the hotel is from the same time period and has similar features as something you would find in New Orleans.

“This area gives a different feel than you can find in the downtown areas of Pittsburgh and feels a lot more Southern as opposed to other parts of Western Pennsylvania,” Stoken said.

In addition to using Washington’s buildings, producers hope to incorporate area residents into the filming of the movie. Organizers are looking for about 30 extras each day to work on the set during shooting at the hotel Oct. 22 through 25. Tuesday, a large conspiracy convention scene will be shot, requiring as many as 60 extras. Filming also will take place in various locations throughout Washington County Thursday through Oct. 23.

Although the independent film doesn’t have the budget to pay extras, Stoken said volunteers would be entered into drawings to win an iPad, Apple TV, Kindle Fire and other prizes.

Those interested in becoming extras should send a recent picture and contact information to UmbrellaManExtras@gmail.com.

Grasso said writing the screenplay gave him an opportunity to explore the Kennedy assassination, and he hopes the movie will be ready for the 50th anniversary of the president’s death next year.

“I’ve always been really interested in Kennedy’s assassination, while also intrigued with the men and women who spent lifetimes investigating conspiracy theories,” Grasso said. “We realized it would make a very interesting feature film to tell the bigger story of the assassination while using it as vehicle to tell the timeless story of two grieving parents who have been through the loss of a child. It 
explores their journey, both together and separately, through the trauma.” 

For more information see Observer Reporter.

Extra Opportunity

If you missed fighting with batman or dancing the night away with Emma Watson, then here is your next chance to be an extra in a movie.

Although it's not identified, what is being called "Foxcatcher" or the Untitled Fair Hill Project will hold an open casting call from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the DoubleTree hotel in Green Tree at 500 Mansfield Ave.

The movie is the real-life story of a chemical fortune heir who went to prison for killing an Olympic gold medalist and wrestler.

Directed by Oscar nominee Bennett Miller, who made "Capote" and "Moneyball," the movie is about John du Pont, great-great-grandson of E.I. du Pont, the industrialist who founded the chemical company.

The movie is expected to star Steve Carell as Mr. du Pont, Mark Ruffalo as the slain wrestler and Sienna Miller as his wife along with Channing Tatum as David's brother and a champion wrestler in his own right.

In January 1996, he shot and killed David Schultz, a 1984 gold medal winner who came to live and train at the state-of-the-art Foxcatcher National Training Center that Mr. du Pont had built on his 800-acre property in Newtown Square, Pa.

The production, which will shoot in the Pittsburgh area in November and December, is looking for people to play police officers, wrestling mainstays such as coaches, trainers, refs and wrestlers, business men and women, politicos, photographers, owners of 1975-1998 cars, and wrestling match spectators.

Bring a recent photo and a pen to the call on Saturday. You must be 18 or older to qualify.

For more information see the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Ten Ways to Declutter Your Technological Life

Technology can clutter up your life and make organization complicated.  Here are ten tips to organize your technological life before it over takes your home or office.



1. Add Velcro To It!: It's such a simple idea, but just adding some velcro can be a most satisfying (and affordable) organization upgrade for nearly any corded appliance or device with a long cord.


2. It's Time to Take Shortcuts: Whether you're a Windows user or prefer OS X, keyboard shortcut proficiency is what separates the everyday user from the professional. Using shortcuts also save a lot of time in the long run, so get acquainted with Mac-only Command/⌘ key or the Control key for Windows. There's even a CheatSheet if you need one, so consider this a "must" upgrade to your mind's operating system.

3. So Simple, Yet So Darn Useful!: Sarah Rae was right, adding a second AC adaptor into the mix and adding an extension cord under the sofa can be time savers in the long run. I'm always going back and forth between docking my laptop to a monitor and traveling (or working from bed), so having an extra AC adaptor allows me to keep my docked setup intact, while a second unit is ready for mobile use, proving to both be convenient and preventing misplacing one of the most important accessories in the household.


4. Improve Your Home Theater System Sound In 5 Steps: There's a good chance you might be watching a movie, sporting event, or TV show today, so why not enjoy it with the best sound possible? It just takes 5 steps to calibrate your home theater setup for optimal sound and create your own "money seat". The problem could be solved with a simple tweak to your sound levels.


5. The Coolest Tech Accessory Might Be Inside Your Oven: It may officially be the end of summer, but heck, that sure doesn't mean it's really any cooler. Hot weather is the enemy of most every home electronic device, whether it be your laptop, the internet router, or a video console. Here's an affordable solution for keeping your hottest tech devices at safe operational temperatures with an item amusingly may be sitting inside your oven.


6. Learn How to Trim Coax Cable: How many of us call the cable guy to trim and connect cables? Too many. In reality, trimming your cable/internet coax cable is easier than lacing new shoes with just a few affordable tools. "Why should I learn how to do this?", you ask? Rearranging a home office or the perhaps changing the placement of your home theater often means rerouting coax cable for cable TV or internet access. You may need to shorten or lengthen the cable coming into your home and to their respective devices. Now you won't have to rely upon the reliably always-late cable guy!


7. Take 5 Minutes To Improve Your HDTV 100%: I'm not exaggerating when I promise that all it takes is 5 minutes and your HDTV's remote control to noticeably improve your set's picture like a pro. The secret isn't a calibration service or even a calibration disc...it's a website which lists pre-formulated/tested recommended settings according to the brand you watch. Worked for my HDTV set and also the one I purchased for my dear ole mom.


8. Upgrade Your Home Storage System to the 21st Century: I remember years ago Martha Stewart recommended sticking a photo printout of the contents of storage boxes on the outside. It's a great idea, but one that can be upgraded for the smartphone era. Snap a photo, upload the image to an image hosting site/Facebook/Dropbox, connect a QR code to the image's URL, and finally print out the QR code to affix to the appropriate boxes. This way you can point your smartphone's QR reader at any box and get the 411 of its contents, including multiple photos of the layers inside each box.


9. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Biggest Home Appliance: There are three simple tips for maximizing energy efficiency when it comes to the largest home appliance in the home, the refrigerator: 1. make sure there's at least 2" distance between the fridge and the wall, 2. regularly clean the coils in the back, and 3. if you're living the model lifestyle with only a bottle of Perrier and to-go leftovers inside your fridge, add a couple of gallon milk jugs filled with water, as recommended by one of our readers.

10. Declutter Your Tech Box Collection: You've got one...don't deny it. It's probably lurking in a storage closet. Or maybe it's hiding in your garage...a collection of empty boxes you've had for years all kept under the premise of "maybe I'll need it later". It's more likely than not you do not need the box for that 19" RCA CRT television or the 1999 microwave oven that last nuked a Hungry Man dinner back in college. Tech devices and home appliances are the biggest culprits of storage box bulge, so it's time for an audit to determine what to chuck out/recycle/donate and what to keep for the sake of resale value.



For more information see Apartment Therapy.

Being a Wallflower has its Perks

 Stephen Chbosky is a native of Pittsburgh.  He grew up in Upper St. Clair, and made sure to include his love of his hometown in the movie.  The actors stayed in Bethel Park and had nights at the movies and at Eat N Park.  They experienced what it is like to be a teen in Pittsburgh.  Stephen Chbosky is the writer and director of Perks of Being A Wallflower, something that only a few people in history have had the chance to do.

  If Stephen Chbosky is feeling infinite these days, who can blame him?

Blessed arrivals are all around him. His wife, Liz, gave birth to their darling daughter in August, and he has spent the past couple of weeks crisscrossing the continent to promote "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

In the rarest of triple plays, he wrote the novel and then adapted it and directed the movie version in his hometown of Pittsburgh, where the story is set.

Chbosky making appearances

If you want to meet Stephen Chbosky or have him sign your copy of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," you are in luck. The novelist, screenwriter and director is scheduled for multiple appearances:
Friday: Mr. Chbosky will take questions after the 7 and 8 p.m. shows (movie will be on multiple screens) at AMC-Loews at the Waterfront. He also will do a book signing and meet-and-greet at 10:15 p.m. and introduce a 10:45 p.m. screening there.
Saturday: Mr. Chbosky will do a book signing and meet-and-greet at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Manor Theater, Squirrel Hill. He will field questions after the 7 p.m. show and introduce a 9:50 p.m. screening.
He also will introduce "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at Dormont's Hollywood Theater at 10:30 p.m. See www.showclix.com/event/RockyHorrorAtTheHollywood for advance tickets, $7.
Sunday: Mr. Chbosky will take questions after the 2 p.m. show at the Manor in Squirrel Hill.

He assembled a cast, led by Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, that is hip, hot and highly talented. If someone comes to see Hermione graduate to a new role or revisit the stars of "We Need to Talk About Kevin" or "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," all the better.
"Emma has been a great advocate of the movie, she's wonderful in it, but what I discovered is the people who go, it's a pretty even split between Emma's fans and the book's fans, and Ezra certainly has a lot of people who love him and Logan has his fan base.

"Look, whatever gets people into the theater, then they can judge for themselves, I'm all for it," the 42-year-old said during the Toronto International Film Festival. For someone who had arrived three hours earlier and is the father of an infant, he looked remarkably well rested or maybe just happy.
Entertainment Weekly has called "Perks" a "graceful and beguiling drama." Teens everywhere are making plans to squeeze it in between homecoming and the SAT, and Pittsburghers finally will get a look at the homegrown movie Friday when it opens at AMC-Loews at the Waterfront and the Manor in Squirrel Hill.

(The movie debuted at four locations in New York and Los Angeles five days ago, averaging an astonishing $61,000 per location, or almost 10 times what "The Master" raked in per venue.)
"Perks" is about the traumatic and triumphant freshman year of Charlie, a precocious student and social wallflower who is taken under the wing of two free-spirited seniors and stepsiblings. He shares, through letters or narration, first-time emotions and experiences, perceptive observations about the people around him and, eventually, heartrending memories that belatedly surface.

In advance of the "Perks" world premiere here, Summit Entertainment set up camp on the 23rd floor of the luxurious Trump hotel to arrange interviews in 9- or 15-minute increments (in most cases) with Mr. Chbosky and the cast.

The Upper St. Clair native recently had been in Seattle where he shared a stage with his mentor Stewart Stern, screenwriter of "Rebel Without a Cause" and inspiration for the model English teacher played by Paul Rudd in the film.

A seminar led by Mr. Stern at the University of Southern California convinced the Pittsburgh teen to enroll in the filmic writing program there. When the famous scribe suffered a major heart attack not long after, Mr. Chbosky wrote him an anonymous letter, much like Charlie does in the book, to say, "Thank you, you changed my life."

The 90-year-old and his wife attended an advance screening of "Perks" earlier this month, and he loved it. "Loved it-loved it," Mr. Chbosky reported.

"When the screenwriter of 'Rebel Without a Cause' gives you any compliment it means something, but he had already read the script, so he knew the script," but didn't know how Mr. Chbosky would translate it. "He said the tone, it's perfect. It's exactly what youth is, and it meant the world to me."

Paying respect to elders closer to home, Mr. Chbosky cast his parents in a "Perks" scene filmed in Bethel Presbyterian Church, dressed as a Catholic church, complete with twin Communion lines. He paired Lea and Fred Chbosky with actors Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott, who play mom and dad to Mr. Lerman's character.

He purposely mirrored his fiction family with his real family, but not everyone got equal screen time.
Talking about his retired dad, he said, "Because it was better to open the scene with Dylan McDermott in a close-up, he's only in the very tail end of the wider shot. So he's bummed. But my mom is right there, and she does a great job." His sister, Stacy Chbosky, also turns up as a young mother.

Most of what Mr. Chbosky shot is in the movie, but some scenes with Charlie's suicidal friend, Michael, and a subplot involving Charlie's sister didn't make the final cut. The individual scenes and sequences are beautiful and the acting by Owen Campbell and Nina Dobrev fantastic, he said, but they proved to be too much.

"One more thing, I think, would have tipped it," he said of the movie's delicate emotional balance. The inclusion also might have robbed the power from other wrenching moments.

Mr. Chbosky's affection for his hometown, evident in the way he uses the city and its suburbs, is boundless. "I love Pittsburgh so much, I have everyone drinking the Kool-Aid," including the cast who stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bethel Park in spring and summer 2011.

Like real-life teens who rewatch Harry Potter movies instead of starring in them, the actors spent evenings playing music, talking, being silly, going to Eat'n Park or occasionally slipping away to the mall and movie theater across the street.

In a nod to the movie's signature scene, the filmmaker has offered to take visitors through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, music blaring, seat belts firmly in place. Although if the passengers twist around, they might see the vantage point on display early in the film.

"You know when you're a kid and look out the rear window? It's child-like, it's very almost hypnotic, there's something calming about it."

Mr. Chbosky, who is writing a book he calls a loving tribute to Stephen King, is that rare director who doesn't dream of more time or money to tweak his project. He finished the sound mix on the film in April, and the distance has given him the chance to see the project through fresh eyes once more.

"Look, to be a first-time studio director and to finish a movie and to look at the screen and say, if they gave me $20 million and another year to reshoot anything I wanted -- or gave me almost like a magic wand -- I wouldn't touch a frame of the movie.

"I wouldn't change a cast member, I wouldn't change a song and I'm really grateful to be able to say that, and I'm proud to be able to say that. I'm not saying it's a perfect movie, by any stretch, but even the mistakes became part of what I think is charming about it.

"I think it's an authentic celebration of what it means to be young, and it's everything I wanted the movie to be."


Read more at the Post Gazette.

Dark Knight Rises is the 10th Highest Grossing Movie of All Time

Dark Knight Rises is now in the top ten highest grossing pictures of all time.  The movie has passed the $600 million mark. The success of the movie continues globally where it has earned $1.041 billion.  All these figures make this movie the 10th highest grossing movie of all time. 

A quick ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ box office update for ya! The Wrap bring word that the exhilarating conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga has passed the hefty $600 million mark at the international box office, having earned $603 million – well ahead of the $469.7 million international haul of ’The Dark Knight.’ 

As of Sunday, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ has earned $437.8 million at the US box office for a worldwide box office total of $1.041 billion. The two previous Dark Knight instalments, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight,’ ended their theatrical runs at $372,710,015 and $1,001,921,825 global totals, respectively. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is currently the 10th highest grossing movie of all time at the worldwide box office, just behind the $1,043.9 billion that ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides′ made in 2011. It has also become the 8th highest grossing movie of all time in the US, trailing the $441,2 million haul of ‘Shrek 2.’

The Dark Knight Rises’ sees Christian Bale returning to the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman alongside series regulars Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), and Alfred (Michael Caine). Newcomers to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy include Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake, Marion Cotillard’s Miranda Tate, Matthew Modine’s Foley, Ben Mendelsohn’s Daggett, and Tom Hardy’s dastardly, physically imposing and oddly charismatic villain, Bane.  The story for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is set eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face’s crimes in ‘The Dark Knight.’ It sees the Caped Crusader resurface to protect a city that brands him an enemy as a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest.


Judging by films stunning trailers, its marketing campaign, the first-rate cast, and most importantly; the two previous installments in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight saga, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight,’ I always expected something rather special from ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’ Thankfully, for me, it delivered – big time! 

For more information see Flicks and Bits.

One Week Until Perks!

We have one week to wait until we get to learn about what the Perks of Being A Wallflower are?  The premiere happened in Los Angeles a few days ago, and the stars danced the night away after seeing their work.

 

For the young cast of "Perks of Being a Wallflower," fringe benefits were plenty Monday night in Los Angeles, where a red carpet and screening was held at the Cinerama Dome.



 Nestled in front of the Arclight Hollywood, star Emma Watson stunned with slicked-back hair and a nude Armani gown — a nice nod to her own evolution from 'Harry Potter" darling to grown-up star.

A little, shall we say, more liberated in his look: the scene-stealing Ezra Miller rocking wild hair, drawstring pajama pants and an oversized khaki blazer.

Both young stars were without their lead, Logan Lerman, busy supporting the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, but represented him in spirit by dragging a cardboard cutout of Lerman down the red carpet.

After the screening, nightspot Lure opened its doors to Watson, Miller and several ensemble members like Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons and Mae Whitman. 

Two notable young Hollywood stars attended the festivities but seemed much more taken with Ezra than the coming-of-age drama: Shailene Woodley and Rumer Willis.

Shailene, of last year's awards hit "The Descendents," rolled into the party with a faded Jansport backpack on her shoulder (perhaps a nod to the high-school-set film?) and chatted up Miller with enthusiasm, even coaxing him to dance at one point.

Later on Rumer, in a floor-length dress with a lace detail, enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Miller at a dinner table. 

Not to be outdone, the film's adults presented a united front: Dylan McDermott and Kate Walsh, who play Lerman's on-screen parents, sat at adjoining tables and chatted with cast and crew close to midnight.

For more information see the La Times.

Wrestlers Needed for Movie

  A new movie being filmed in Pittsburgh is in need of extras who are familiar with the sport of wrestling.  This includes coaches, athletes, referees, score keepers, and others.  There will be a casting call September 15th at Canon McMillian High School. Keep reading for more information.

Wrestlers are needed for a movie filming in the Pittsburgh area.
Bennett Miller, Oscar-nominated director of "Capote," will be in town casting a movie about Olympic Gold medal wrestlers Dave and Mark Schultz.
According to a notice on the Pittsburgh Film Office website, Miller, who directed "Moneyball," wants to ensure authenticity by casting real wrestlers, coaches, referees, trainers and scorekeepers.

A Sept. 15 casting call will take place at Canon McMillan High School in Canonsburg. The casting session will be for extras and some speaking roles. Advance registration is required by e-mailing WrestlingExtras@gmail.com. Casting opportunities also are available for general extras, and wrestling fans, ages 12 to 65, for filming to take place October through January 2013. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Internet Movie Data Base reports the movie is tentatively titled "Foxcatcher" and will star Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell.

Wrestling choreography and consulting for the film will be provided by John Giura, a two-time World Cup Champion, and Jesse Jantzen, a Collegiate National Champion and four-time state champion.

For more information see Pittsburgh Film Office.

Perks of Being A Wallflower Live Interview

Perks of Being A Wallflower comes out in about a month, and everyone wants to know about the cast experience shooting this movie.  The cast became friends over the course of a summer, much like the characters in the book.  The director of the movie is originally from Pittsburgh, and is also the author of the book.  Learn about the cast and director in this video interview conducted right after the trailer was released.

For more information see the Official Website.

A Dream Come True

Outcasts from Pittsburgh coming together to become a close group of friends over the course of a summer.  This book is one that means everything to a generation that became teenagers after 1999.  The director and author of the book grew up in the South Hills, where they shot the movie last year. He talks about how important it was to shoot the movie here and really capture the essence of Pittsburgh from the novel in the book.  Perks of Being a Wallflower comes out in Pittsburgh on October 5th.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that means a great deal to an entire generation of people who came of age after 1999, and now, it's a movie starring Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, and Ezra Miller. It's quite the jump and when the movie production hit Pittsburgh, author/screenwriter/director Stephen Chbosky must have been overjoyed. In fact, we know he was overjoyed, because Hollywood.com stopped by the set to talk to him about bringing his 1999 book to life in his hometown. And he had quite a lot to say.

Q: Can you tell us about adapting the book for the movie?
Chbosky: It really is, as cliché as it sounds, a dream come true. I’ve wanted to make this movie—I first thought of the title of the movie twenty years ago this fall. The title of the book and movie. And so, I always felt it would probably be both. And so, it is a dream come true.

So you had intended for it to become a movie when you were writing the book?
I had hoped that it would, yes.

Do you have plans to write another book?
I have some plans. Then again, I would have to love it as much as I loved the first one. Just like I knew with the movie, I would have to love the movie as much as I loved the book in order to do it. So, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I certainly have some ideas.

Can you talk about shifting the format of the book, which was [told through] letters, to a narrative screenplay? And what changes you had to make?
I didn’t have to make many changes. I just had to be very specific about the execution. You’ll have to see it. It’s hard to describe intellectually. You’d have to just see it. I wrote the book as a series of letters because I wanted the reader to feel very intimately connected to Charlie. So, it was finding a point of view from the film that would lead to the same connection. And luckily, with Logan Lerman, it’s not very difficult to get that sense of connection.

Is Charlie narrating the movie?
You see him write letters. It’s not a straight narration, it’s more of…it’s part of his character. Just like he would write letters in real life in the book, you see him do it.

But the letters are going to be a big part of the film too?
Yeah, it’ll be a part of the film, absolutely.

When you were picking places for filming locations…you’re from here. So, were there any places that were very particularly meaningful to you?
Yeah, quite a few. The place where we shot Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, that’s the very first place where I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show. And the first place I saw the floor show. And so, going back there, twenty-five years later, was incredibly meaningful. I loved it. I love filming here at Peters Township. I love filming at Kings, where my parents eat breakfast three times a week. Where else? There’s a little field right down the street from here, about five minutes away, where I shot the one movie I made right out of college. It’s this little short film. I had this shot planned for eighteen, seventeen years. And I’ve always wanted to duplicate it because I love the shot so much. And I was like, “Someday I’ll make the Perks movie, and I’m going to put my kids in that shot.” And we’re going to do it. I believe Thursday. So, yeah, there are a lot of very meaningful locations to me.

How did you know that you cast the right people for the roles?
I had a philosophy, we all had a philosophy: don’t just cast actors, cast people. And so, what happened was, everybody basically auditioned. What you’d look for is, not just the individual performances, but how you thought they would fit together. One of the great joys has been watching this fictional group of friends, over the summer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, become a really tight family of friends. All of them. Emma [Watson], Ezra [Miller], Logan [Lerman], Nina [Dobrev]. Really across the board. So, yeah. It was just an instinctive thing, how we felt people would fit together. And we have an amazing cast. I mean, across the board, there is not a weak link. Not a single one.

Why did you want Emma for Sam?
I wanted Emma for Sam because I think that she has this amazing…she’s luminous, but she’s also incredibly approachable. She’s very down to Earth. She’s very fragile. But in this very beautiful way. To me, that’s all the qualities I always saw in Sam. Plus, she can dance. The girl can dance.

Are you aiming for a PG-13?
Yeah. I would very much love a PG-13 because, considering some of the issues that the book tackles, it would break my heart if some fourteen year-old girl that was struggling with something couldn’t see it. So that’s a very important thing to me.

The film sort of relies on this era of mix-tapes, and actual phone calls, and actual face time. For kids who are maybe going to experience it for the first time, in this era of Facebook and texting, what do you think are those elements that are going to bring them into this era they are unfamiliar with?
The elements that will bring them in is [that it’s] a love story, and a story about a family of friends, and families that are relatable to them—not these fictitious families where parents are complete idiots, which, let’s face it, really isn’t true. It’s fun in movies, but it’s not true. I think what will bring them in is recognizing themselves and their friends, regardless of whatever device is in their hand, or however they choose to communicate.

For more information see Hollywood.com

Emma Watson and Her Perks of a Wallflower Experience

Emma Watson will always be known as Hermione Granger to Harry Potter fans around the world.  However, the day she flew through the Fort Pitt Tunnel on the back of a truck she knew she had left that part of her life behind.  Stephen Chbosky must have known this would be a transitional movie for Watson. He claimed during their first meeting that this would be the most important role she would play, and that she would also spend a summer with her best friends.  It was quite an extreme claim for a director, but little did Watson know, that is exactly what would happen.

 The Perks of Being a Wallflower marks Emma Watson’s first major post-Harry Potter role. She remembers meeting with Stephen Chbosky (who not only wrote the 1999 novel but wrote the screenplay and directed the movie, too) who persuaded her to take on the part of Sam, a rebellious and popular high school girl. “At our initial meeting, he said, ‘Okay, not  only is this going to be one of the most important parts you play, you’re also going to have the summer of your life and meet some of your best friends.’ I thought, ‘That’s quite a claim. Who is this guy?” Watson says with a laugh. “Everything he said came true.”

The cast — which includes Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller —  all bonded while living in the same hotel in Pittsburgh, which Watson now calls one of her  favorite places. It was there that Watson can point to one particular scene — when Sam stands up in the back of a pickup truck driving through a tunnel — as the moment she was able to truly graduate from Hogwarts. “I started as Emma with some Hermione still left in my system,” she says. “I went through the tunnel and I came out ready to start something new.”

Check the video below and you’ll the scene she’s talking about! And for more on Emma Watson (including how she mastered an American accent) and 97 other fall movies, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands August 10.

For more information please see Entertainment Weekly.

Pittsburgh is Now the New Hollywood

Pittsburgh is well known for sports and the industry that made us the city we are today.  However, Pittsburgh is starting to become known more for Hollywood than anything else.  Sometimes called the Hollywood of the East, over 24 films have been shot in our city in the last three years.

Once known for its steel mills and smog, Pittsburgh is fast becoming the Tinseltown of the East. A generous film tax credit, coupled with the region's diverse landscape and skilled labor unions, have made the city a hot destination for recent productions -- and the firms that cater to them.

In the last three years alone, 24 movies have filmed in Western Pennsylvania, including "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Promised Land," which stars Matt Damon and will be released next year. These films have infused the region's economy with $300 million since 2009 and helped small businesses to thrive, according to Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn KeezerSince 2004, Pennsylvania has offered a 25 percent tax credit for films that spend at least 60 percent of their total production budget in Pennsylvania. Krista Salera, an accountant with the McQuillan Group who works on film production expenditures, said film companies used to have trouble hitting the 60 percent mark. Now, she said, in-state expenses regularly top 80 percent.
"There are a lot more businesses that support the film industry here than there were four years ago, so they can utilize those resources instead of having to bring them in from elsewhere," 

Salera said.One of those local resources is 31st Street Studios, a sound stage and production company located on the site of a former steel mill in Pittsburgh's Strip District. Founded in 2011 by investment banker and native Pittsburgher Chris Breakwell, the facility is 300,000 square feet, making it the largest production facility outside of New York or Los Angeles

.In March, the company upped Pittsburgh's appeal by announcing a partnership with entertainment powerhouses Paramount On Location and Knight Vision. The deal gives Paramount a permanent regional base for the lights, rigging and equipment necessary for movie shoots and brings Knight Vision's motion-capture technology, used in the blockbuster movie "Avatar," to the region.

"We're trying to change the game by having some of these ancillary services here," Breakwell said.

While all of Pennsylvania has seen filming increase due to the tax credit, the Pittsburgh area is particularly unique in its labor situation. Both Keezer and Breakwell cited the skilled and inexpensive local unions as being an important part of the recent boom.And when location scouts are looking for their next space, they'd be hard-pressed to find more diverse offerings.

"There was an excellent opportunity to do film here because of the talent, the infrastructure and the diversity of the landscape. You can shoot a farm in Ireland 15 minutes south of here or you can shoot a scene in New York City. And everything is less expensive," said Mike Dolan, who founded Smithfield Street Productions with partners Benjamin Barton and Brian Hartman in 2007.

Recognizing the need for indoor filming space, the trio launched Island Studios, a professional soundstage, in 2008. Scenes from "She's Out of My League" were shot there.It's not just sound studios and production companies that thrive. Their success trickles down to ancillary businesses as well: 

Coffee companies, transportation firms and souvenir shops have all seen a major uptick because of the film industry.Peak Security, which provides security services to film productions like "The Dark Knight Rises" and stars like Katherine Heigl, receives 25 percent of its revenue from the film industry and has doubled its full-time staff in the last five years.

During the two months that "Dark Knight" filmed, Tyler Mountain Water & Coffee, based in a Pittsburgh suburb, kept the cast and crew hydrated by supplying beverage cases and water bottles twice a week. In the last three years, the company has supplied water to more than a dozen film sets, including
 
"Out of the Furnace," starring Christian Bale, and "Promised Land," with Matt Damon.Keezer said it's all evidence that the film tax credit works."The film tax credit has proven that if you build the right incentive program you can get the work, and the work means more jobs for local Pennsylvanians," she said.

For more information please see 10 News.

Pittsburgh Books Turned into Movies

Perks of Being A Wallflower is not the only book turned into movie that is from Pittsburgh.  Authors from Pittsburgh have had major successes turning their stories into film over the past 50 years.  Everything from Judy Moody to Robopocalypse have roots in Pittsburgh, and they are starting to come to life through actors and film.   Pittsburgh's film industry is booming and we are likely to see more of these Pittsburgh novels come to life soon.

If Jesse Andrews' novel "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" makes it to the big screen, it would be just the latest of many books turned into movies that were written by authors with Pittsburgh connections. A sampling includes:

"Perks of Being a Wallflower," filmed here by novelist turned writer-director Stephen Chbosky, a native of Upper St. Clair, is expected to open in theaters in September. It stars Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller.

"Robopocalypse," a movie based on a novel by Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Daniel H. Wilson, is expected to be released in April 2014. Steven Spielberg is directing. It's about a robot that starts a war in an effort to destroy mankind and a young photojournalist who tries to tell the tale.

"Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer," released in 2011, was written by popular "Judy Moody" children's series author Megan McDonald, who grew up in Ross.

"Wonder Boys" (2000) and "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" (2008) were written by Michael Chabon, who attended Carnegie Mellon University in 1980-81 and graduated from University of Pittsburgh in 1984.

Of course way before that, East Pittsburgh native Joseph Wambaugh had his many novels about police work turned into movies: "The Choir Boys" (1977), "The Onion Field" (1979), "The Black Marble" (1980), plus a slew of TV movies and TV series.

"The Valley of Decision" is a 1945 film based on Marcia Davenport's historical novel about an Irish immigrant who accepts a job as a live-in maid at the home of a steel mill owner. It's a multigeneration tale examining social classes, love, a violent strike and more starring Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore and others.

While not a movie, filming is under way in Toronto of a 13-episode Netflix streaming series "Hemlock Grove," based on a gothic horror novel by Brian McGreevy, who grew up in Charleroi. It is being produced by Gaumont International Television. The novel and TV series centers around solving the gruesome deaths of several young women in a fictional Western Pennsylvania steel town, Hemlock Grove.

For more information go to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The Film Tax Credit Boosts Pittsburgh's Economy

The filming of "Dark Knight Rises", "Perks of Being a A Wallflower", and "Love and Other Drugs" not only brought recognition to Pittsburgh, but it also provided a boost in the economy. The Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit is boosting our economy thanks to the cast and crew of these movies using and contributing to local businesses.

The Pittsburgh region has many so many attributes to offer. From the meeting point of three major rivers, to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods, to the characteristic architecture offered throughout the city, we have gained the status of being a very scenic place to live and a destination to visit.
Add to that the reputation of a hard working class of citizens and the reasonable cost of living, Pittsburgh has truly become a film friendly environment which will continue to have a positive and promising impact for the state of Pennsylvania. 

Much excitement has led up to the release of Christopher Nolan’s final film in the Batman trilogy, 

“The Dark Knight Rises.” The first two installments—“Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008)—have earned over $1.3 billion worldwide and the trilogy has become one of the most successful reboots of the Batman franchise. This series has real implications for our area because two of the three movies were partly filmed in the Pittsburgh region thanks to a tax credit Pennsylvania offers. 

Act 55 of 2007 established a film tax credit which offers directors and producers who film 60 percent of their production within Pennsylvania a 25 percent credit in taxes. For the first fiscal year this credit was available (2007-08), $75 million was allocated for the tax credit. 

Over the years, due to tightening in spending and conflicts during budget negotiations, the tax credit has often been a point of contention between some Republicans and Democrats and sometimes seen as an area to reduce funding to or complete elimination. As a result, only $42 million was allocated for the credit in FY 2009-10, but rose again in 2010-11 and has remained at $60 million, including for FY 2012-13. 

At first glance, the tax credit may be seen as another incentive for the large film industry which already has millions to spend. However, upon further examination one will see that local economies are often the ones who benefit the most from such a credit because the money is directly returned to our state in other ways. 

When film productions come to Pennsylvania, our state becomes the temporary home for all involved. The Commonwealth’s various industries often supply the production company and individuals with necessities thus triggering the trickledown effect.  Many supplies and food are purchased in the state, car and truck rentals increase, hotel rooms are booked in the dozens, electricians are needed to help produce the backdrops and special effects, extra police are hired for security and the list goes on and on. A boost in work also means more and busier union members. What this tax credit essentially does is create and attain jobs. 

The benefits don’t stop when the filming ends. Many businesses continue to sell goods relating to a movie and people will visit Pennsylvania looking to see what we have to offer from all of the media coverage. 

Perhaps the biggest economic impact is often felt for the various movie theaters located in Pennsylvania.  Many individuals who do not have an interest in the Batman trilogy may be interested in viewing the film to see Pittsburgh and our city’s architecture and diversity play out on the big screens. Movie theaters across the state have prepared for the Batman opening by ordering extra food supplies as well as making sure they have enough staff to meet the demands.  Furthermore, when people spend money, tax revenues continue to rise. 

The numbers say it all. For the $242.5 million the state has awarded in film tax credits, $1.4 billion in local economic activity has been spurred as well as the creation and attainment of nearly 14,500 jobs since the program’s inception. At the local level, the impact has been equally as impressive. For fiscal year 2010-11 alone, Pittsburgh saw the creation of nearly 3,000 jobs attributed to films produced by companies that applied for and were approved for tax credits during that year. 

The film tax credit has been the stimulus for the film industry to discover the amenities Pittsburgh and the entire state has to offer. An example of the success the tax credit has achieved is the more than 70 pictures that have been filmed in Pennsylvania since 2007. In addition, the popularity of the program continues with nearly three-quarters of applicants being left with no incentive. 

As more and more states implement programs similar to Pennsylvania’s, we need to make sure the Commonwealth continues to offer this incentive and in fact increase the allocation. The tax credits have proven to be instrumental in ensuring continual growth in our region by attracting major film and television shows for many years to come. I voted in favor of Act 55 of 2007 and will remain an advocate for the film tax credit because I understand the implication it has for a city like Pittsburgh and the people who live in and on the outskirts of our region. 

In closing, the movies should never be a place where people risk losing their life, rather somewhere individuals can go to relax, escape from the real world and be entertained. The event that took place in Aurora, CO, over the weekend was truly tragic and my sympathy goes out to all of the innocent victims and their families and friends.

For more information go to the Dormont Patch.

The Day is Finally Here!

60,000 advance tickets sold at AMC Theaters for the Dark Knight Rises.  That is one impressive number that has broke multiple records already and the movie is not set to be released until 12:01am tonight.  Tonight at midnight our city will come into the limelight as The Dark Knight Rises is shown to thousands of people with tickets for the midnight showing. 


Jessica Kapsha won't be in the audience when "The Dark Knight Rises" premieres just after midnight Friday at the AMC-Loews at the Waterfront.

She was satisfied with her purchase today of two tickets to the Sunday matinee.

"We don't want to get too in the crowd," said Ms. Kapsha, 28, of Elizabeth.

Few may know what fate awaits Batman and villain Bane in the final film of the Christopher Nolan trilogy, but one outcome is certain -- plenty of people will be crowding into theaters this weekend to find out.

"The excitement and enthusiasm that we are hearing from guests online or at the theater level has just been phenomenal," said Ryan Noonan, a spokesman for AMC Theatres. Just after midnight Friday, the movie will be shown on 13 screens at The Waterfront.

Nationally, the company has sold more than 60,000 advance tickets to see a marathon event -- all three Batman films Thursday night into Friday morning -- that has sold double the number of tickets sold for The Ultimate Marvel movie marathon in May, when "The Avengers" was released.

This weekend, the whole country will sink into Batmania, but in Pittsburgh -- where several scenes were filmed last summer -- the frenzy feels especially intense. Tickets for a midnight showing of the film at the Carnegie Science Center on the North Side sold out the same day they went on sale last month, said spokeswoman Kim Bonenberger.

The Batman trilogy marathon is nearly sold out at the SouthSide Works Cinema, and sales for the midnight showing have broken records set by "Harry Potter" and "Twilight," said David Huffman, director of marketing at Cleveland and Pittsburgh Cinemas, which owns the SouthSide Works location.

"The added fact that the film was shot in Pittsburgh has only added to the excitement for what was already one of the most anticipated films of the year," Mr. Huffman said.

The movie's Pittsburgh premiere was Tuesday night at the Byham Theater, Downtown, with people including Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and former Steeler Hines Ward in attendance.

They saw Christian Bale as Batman, Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and they may have seen Tony Amen as a prisoner.

The 70-year-old with a "Soprano look" from Penn Hills worked as an extra, and when one of the film's trailers was released, Mr. Amen spotted himself.

He'll probably buy a ticket to see it this weekend, but he's in no rush.

The trailer alone, he said, was "quite a thrill."

For more information about The Dark Knight Rises see the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Sewickley Area Gets Some Hollywood Exposure

Kristen Bell has been seen wondering around the streets of Sewickley and Leetsdale.  However, she is not visiting, she is shooting a new movie called the "Lifeguard".  The movie started shooting Monday morning.  These movies are giving great exposure to the Pittsburgh suburbs, and showing what the areas have for visitors and residents.


Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" film isn't even in movie theaters yet and it's already old news for the Sewickley Valley.

That's because Sewickley and its neighboring communities of Leetsdale, Edgeworth and Aleppo will at least be the partial backdrop for a new film - "Lifeguards," starring Kristen Bell.

The "Veronica Mars" star was spotted on Beaver Street Tuesday morning filming.

Filming began in Monday at the Sewickley Cemetery. On Tuesday, film crews were spotted near the Sewickley Herald office at Wolcott Park.

"It gives a nice exposure to Sewickley," borough Manager Kevin Flannery said.

On July 21 and July 22, film crews are expected to record night scenes near Beaver and Chestnut streets, Flannery said.

Cochran Hose Fire Company trucks could be used July 22 to help with a rain scene that is expected to be filmed at night, Flannery said.

Leetsdale also could find itself as the backdrop of the film as a crew member contacted the borough office inquiring about the need for permits, secretary Liz Petalino said.

"We don't require any permits for that type of industry," Petalino said.

The buzz could be a boon to the region, officials said.

"It's a great thing that the area is in the movies," Leetsdale council President Joe McGurk said. "For Leetsdale, in particular, it is very great to possibly be able to show off what we have here and be part of a movie."

Flannery wondered if this and last year's Tom Cruise flick "Jack Reacher" could be the start of more movies considering the region.

"Maybe someday an Academy Award-winning movie will be shot in Sewickley," Flannery said. 

"Maybe we could become the Hollywood of the east."

For more information go to the TribLive.

The Evolution of Pittsburgh Becoming Gotham.

Two years ago a dinosaur was turned into Batman to honor that Pittsburgh was chosen as the place to shoot the Dark Knight Rises.  The movie not only changed Pittsburgh's landscape for a few months, but it also changed Pittsburgh's future in the film industry.  The transition of Pittsburgh to Gotham started nearly 7 months before a camera was even placed in the city.

There’s a lot more to making a movie than pointing a camera at whatever’s exploding. The Caped Crusader’s journey through Pittsburgh began two years ago. We recently chatted with Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn Keezer for a look at Batman’s ’Burgh history, just in time for the release of The Dark Knight Rises.

Dec 3, 2010
The Dark Knight Rises producers contact the Pittsburgh Film Office for the first time, to ask about the possibility of shutting down a bridge for filming. “We shut a bridge for 30 days for Inspector Gadget,” Keezer explains. “And there’s no other city in the country that can shut a bridge for that length of time.”

Jan-Mar 2011
Warner Bros. execs and film producers make three scouting trips to Pittsburgh — two with director Christopher Nolan in tow. Rumors that Pittsburgh’s on the list of filming sites start to spread (after Art Institute students snap photos of Nolan outside Smallman Street hot-dog joint Wiener World).

Apr 5, 2011
The Pittsburgh Film Office formally announces that Pittsburgh will be a key filming site for The Dark Knight Rises. Pre-production begins immediately. “They were working for six months before they rolled any film, and that was crucial,” Keezer says.

Jul 27-28, 2011
The Bat-Signal illuminates Fifth Avenue Place, courtesy of Washington, Pa.-based laser mavericks Lightwave.

Jul 29, 2011
Crews begin filming. Keezer is quick to point out that, due to the number of extras employed by the production, “unemploy-ment in Pittsburgh dropped one full percentage point” for the month of August.

Jul 30, 2011
Filming begins in Oakland. Christian Bale and Tom Hardy as new villain Bane are seen dueling on the Carnegie Mellon campus.

Aug 6-7, 2011
Filming takes place at Heinz Field. Despite the high temperatures, thousands of extras bundle up, as events in the film occur during winter.

Aug 10, 2011
Downtown shooting begins. The crew takes Mondays and Tuesdays off to try to keep downtown activity flowing (fairly) normally.

Aug 21, 2011
The last day of shooting in Pittsburgh, along Seventh Avenue near William Penn Place downtown.

Apr 2012
As part of the film’s viral marketing campaign, scrawled Batman logos pop up around the world; a handful turn up in Pittsburgh. Bats are spotted at Heinz Field, The Andy Warhol Museum, the Pittsburgh Film Office’s downtown home and elsewhere.

Jul 20, 2012
Nearly four years after The Dark Knight made box-office history, The Dark Knight Rises will be released nationwide.








For more information on The Dark Knight Rises and Pittsburgh please see Pittsburgh Magazine.