Pittsburgh Film Office Casting Notices

Check out the current casting notices from the Pittsburgh Film Office!

Seeking Featured Extras (Couples) for Independent Short Film, "First Kiss"

Casting: 2-4 couples for a "kissing couples" montage - ages 18-25, 35-50, 60-80. Same sex and heterosexual couples will be considered.

Production Date: We'll be filming next Sunday, January 29th in the Oakland area. Each couple will be featured in one shot, a 1-2 hour commitment between 1:00pm-7:00pm.

Project: "First Kiss", a top-three finalist in the 2011 Steeltown Film Factory competition, explores the agonies of adolescence through the eyes of Adam Schoenberger, a fourteen year old romantic who finds out a pretty girl wants to kiss him at his best friend's Spin the Bottle party. Produced by film students at Carnegie Mellon University for an honors senior thesis project.

Please submit headshots and contact details (phone and e-mail) to Yulin Kuang (yulinkuang1@gmail.com) for consideration. We will accept individual actor submissions, but coupled submissions are preferred.

CMU Film Club is looking for profiles of actors who are interested in acting in their short films

Interested actors should visit our website at http://www.cmufilmclub.comand click the "Participate" link at the top of the page to create an actor profile, where they may submit their headshots, contact details and relevant experience. 

Casting for Anima, a black and white 16mm short film

Casting for Anima, a black and white 16mm short film about two men who have pulled off a botched robbery, one mortally wounded, who hole up in the home of a country veterinarian. Shooting this winter near Pittsburgh, PA.

Seeking—Lowell: male, 30s-40s, average build, a man who's spent his life in and out of prison, the "leader" of the two and is now responsible for his friend's state, at the end of his line and he knows it; Broadwater: male, 65+, thin to medium build, conservative, a mostly retired country doctor leading a simple life; David: male, early 20s, thin build, a troubled youth who has found himself on the wrong side of the law.

Email pix & résumés and contact information to animafilm1@gmail.com. Pay, plus copy, credit, meals and travel provided. Producer plans to apply for SAG Short Film Agreement.

Read more http://pghfilm.org/hotline.jsp?pageId=2161392240601287511677038

Snoop Dogg - Rapper AND Actor - Coming To Pittsburgh

You're probably already familiar with 'The Doggfather' himself and his quite successful rapping career... but an actor? 

That's right, Snoop Dogg has appeared in over 40 films and TV shows during his career some of which are:

-90210 (2011)

-Half Baked (1998)

-Starsky & Hutch (2004)

The list goes on and on...

Most notably, however, is his success in the music industry with over 10 very successful albums released since 1993 (Most recently being Doggumentary - 2011).

Snoop Dogg will be gracing the city of Pittsburgh with his presence this upcoming Monday, January 31st to perform at Altar Bar (Located in the Strip District). For more details, and to buy tickets to this event, click here!

Meet five local film professionals who keep “Hollywood on the Mon” rolling

Five of our local film industry workers got some great coverage in the February 2012 edition of Pittsburgh Magazine. Check it out!

The continued boom in locally developed film projects means more to our region than spotting celebrities in Market Square—it means that a talented, hardworking group of people will have decent jobs. The region has long been a breeding ground for world-class behind-the-camera talent; as the tax incentive repeatedly draws Hollywood crews to the area, that talent can now make their living close to home. Pittsburgh Magazine went to the experts at the Pittsburgh Film Office and put together a crew of locals to shine a spotlight on the wide-ranging impact of the city’s silver-screen takeover.

Location Manager: James Mahathey
James Mahathey is perched atop a tiny, slanted roof above the Smithfield Street Garage downtown, rapidly snapping pictures. He’s scampered up here to figure out how Batman might look from this angle. This is after he already led Christopher Nolan and his crew to the tiny, New York-esque alleys of Exchange Way and Strawberry Way, as well as a deserted section of Pittsburgh’s subway tunnels. But there are always new angles to discover.

As location manager—a job he held during the filming of The Dark Knight Rises and many other locally made flicks—Mahathey has a multilayered role. He starts working before a movie crew even agrees to film in Pittsburgh, scouring the region for spots that the director might need. If the crew opts to visit, Mahathey will be there to show them the best looks western Pennsylvania has to offer.

And if the production is a go, he handles every aspect of the location—from obtaining filming permits to convincing neighbors to keep their yappy dogs inside during certain shots.

There’s a lot to think about. But Mahathey wouldn’t have it any other way.

“That’s one of the nice things about the job,” he says. “Every day is a little different. It’s challenging on so many levels.”

Mahathey, a Penn Hills native who currently resides in the North Hills, spent a lot of time at Pittsburgh Filmmakers while he majored in film studies at Point Park University. Eventually, he developed a reputation as a go-to guy for snapping pictures of potential shooting locations—and secured his first major gig two weeks after graduation, working on the Michael Keaton action flick Desperate Measures.
“My mom was really worried that I would never get a job,” he laughs.

Fifteen years later, Mahathey has spent so much time scoping out the scenery that he has a nearly photographic memory of the entire region. While scouting for The Mothman Prophecies, director Mark Pellington described the way he imagined his perfect setting would look; Mahathey instantly took him to a matching spot … in the middle of nowhere.

“I’ve traveled these roads so much that it’s just kind of ingrained in my head now,” he says.

Believe it or not, though, there are still places that Mahathey has never set foot—like that parking garage roof on Smithfield Street. And as he clicked his shutter, he felt himself starting to fall. Now, we all know that Batman is tasked with protecting the citizens of Gotham City. But a location manager tumbling off of a roof is unfortunately outside of the Caped Crusader’s realm; thus, Mahathey crashed down to the concrete below, tore up his knee and moved on.

“I continued to work the rest of that day,” he says, “and the next before I decided I finally needed to see a doctor about it.”

Resume: The Dark Knight Rises, Abduction, Super 8, Unstoppable, She’s Out of My League, The Mothman Prophecies, Wonder Boys, Inspector Gadget
Most Enjoyable ‘Burgh Project:  The Mothman Prophecies
Favorite Movies: Psycho, E.T.
Favorite Hollywood Type to Work With:  Robert Downey, Jr. “Just a great guy.”
Hottest Filming Location Around:  North Side. “All the perfect elements there.”
Future of Film in Pittsburgh:  “As long as the [tax] incentive stays, I think it will continue to grow. And that benefits so many people.”

Construction Coordinater: Buster Pile
Buster Pile’s introduction to the movie business is a perfect right place, right time story. After high school, he worked in the Jerome, Pa., coal mines up until the day they closed. Weeks later, his sister asked him for a ride to New Orleans. Her husband was there working on a movie, and Pile ended up hanging around the set for a few days. As it happened, Pile was nearby when a slacking worker was fired.

“The foreman was yelling at this guy, ‘I can get anybody to do your job!’ And he turned and pointed at me: ‘Do you want his job?’ And I said, ‘Yeah!’”

Nearly 25 years have passed since that production—the Mickey Rourke/Robert De Niro thriller Angel Heart—and Pile is more than passionate about the career that he found.

“[Outside of the film industry], construction is the same old thing every day—you build houses,” says Pile, who lives in Friedens, Pa., with his family. “We build everything: rocks, gravestones, planes, trains. Everything that you could imagine, we build.”

As construction coordinator, he oversees all the building aspects of a film—from hiring the crew to delivering (and repairing) the finished product. His team builds things in a way that meets all the requirements of filming, holds up under pressure and looks convincing to the camera.

In all those respects, they succeed. For example, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the beginning of I Am Number Four was shot on-location in the tropics. The film opens with a character being chased out of a bamboo hut, tearing through the jungle and ascending a giant tree. The crew must’ve flown to Indonesia for that, right?

Nope.

“That was all built in Pittsburgh,” Pile says. “We even built that tree. The woods he was running through, I think they were in North Park. Pittsburgh’s a good clone for anything.”

One of Pile’s biggest challenges came at the request of the famously imaginative M. Night Shyamalan. When planning his mysterious suspense yarn The Village, the director wanted a wholly original setting. So, he picked a patch of land in rural Pennsylvania and called on Pile and company to do the impossible.

“We had about eight or nine weeks to build a whole village, full interiors and exteriors of all those buildings,” Pile says. “And we had to put a road in to get where we were—it was not easily accessed.”

He admits that the request gave him a moment of pause. Just one.

“To my knowledge, we haven’t been out-challenged yet.”

Given the recent boom in local projects, Pile is busier than ever. And making movies is becoming the family business: Two of Pile’s three children are young film professionals themselves.

Not bad for a guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Resume: One Shot, Super 8, Love and Other Drugs, Righteous Kill, Unbreakable, Dogma, Wonder Boys, Philadelphia
Most Enjoyable ’Burgh Project: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
Favorite Genre: Old-school Westerns
Favorite Hollywood Type to Work With: Writer/director John Sayles. “The nicest director I’ve ever met—and the nicest person.”
Pittsburgh’s Big Advantage: “I’ve traveled all over the country in this industry, and Pittsburgh is certainly one of the most picturesque cities.”

Key Grip: Bret Flaherty

The old joke is that at a certain point in a film’s credits, the normal viewer no longer has any idea what the job titles mean. Best boy? Key grip? To the average guy with a bucket of popcorn, it might as well be Greek.

So Bart Flaherty, who has held both of those titles, spends a lot of time clarifying his role.

“You just explain to people what you really do,” he says. “It’s all new to them. They can’t believe the amount of equipment used on a big feature.”

When you walk past a film set downtown and pass a seemingly endless parade of trucks and equipment, Flaherty is probably in there somewhere, gearing up for the next challenge. His crew is responsible for mounting all the lighting for a film, as well as the camera whenever it’s doing anything unusual.

“We’ve put cameras in so many different places,” he says. “We put ‘em on trains, on cars. Overhead cranes at steel mills. Rides at Kennywood. It’s one of the better parts of being a grip.”

And as much as the cameras travel, they’re nothing compared to the lights. A director can need just about anything lit a certain way—from a face to a bridge.

As a matter of fact, it’s a bridge that recently took Flaherty to new heights. This past October and November, you might’ve noticed that the 10th Street Bridge was a lot brighter than usual. The crew from Tom Cruise’s forthcoming One Shot filmed an action sequence there—and that meant a lot of light was required.

“We lit from McArdle Roadway all the way over the 10th Street Bridge and into the Armstrong Tunnel,” Flaherty says. “There was a lot of planning involved.”

You’d want to have everything carefully mapped out if you had to do his job; a number of lights were actually mounted on the top of the bridge. Flaherty estimates the workers were 105 feet above the bridge surface, which is another 50 feet above the water below. To put it mildly, there’s no room for error.

Flaherty, a North Side native who now lives in Baldwin, received a communications management degree from Robert Morris University. It was a one-off film production course that sparked his interest in film; just months after graduating, a friend told him that a movie crew needed some extra hands. This being Pittsburgh, it was, of course, a zombie movie (Flesh Eater). Flaherty signed on immediately.

“For the smaller projects, there are some very experienced people working on those jobs,” he says. “It’s a good way to learn—you’re not going to just do grip; you’re going to help.”

And to young film pros, Flaherty emphasizes that you don’t need to wait for a One Shot to come along.

“Just get your foot in the door wherever you can. Once you do, your attitude and hustle will keep you going in this business.”

Resume: One Shot, Super 8, Love and Other Drugs, She’s Out of My League, Wonder Boys, Dogma, Kingpin, Sudden Death
Favorite Movie: The Godfather
Best On-Set Environment: Kingpin. “You’re laughing all day long.”
Favorite Hollywood Type to Work With: Bill Murray. “We used to play basketball with him. Woody Harrelson would arrange the games.”
Best Part of Working in the ’Burgh: “The people. Most people who work on film are cool people, and you get really close to them.”
Costume Designer: Diane Collins
One might believe that the role of the costume department is remote—away from the action of the set. There’s an image of a cluttered-but-quiet costume studio, sewing machines running, distant from wherever the zombies are marching or the inmates are brawling.

Of course—like most conceptions of the movie business—this vision is way off.

When the criminals from Arkham Asylum broke out to tangle with Gotham’s finest during the filming of The Dark Knight Rises, Diane Collins was also in Oakland, standing nearby on a very long work day.

“You have to be on the set, standing and waiting for them to do the scene—and as soon as they’re done, you have to restore the costumes to the way they were at the beginning,” she explains. “You have to be in pretty good shape, and you have to be able to run around the set. You have to be good at being aware and noticing differences.”

The costume department can shrink and expand dramatically based on the size of the production. So, while a large crew on films like The Dark Knight Rises allows individuals to focus on specific tasks, a smaller-scale production means someone like Collins needs to have a broad view. And, of course, she’ll need to plan ahead.

“Being a great second-guesser and planner are some of the most important traits you need in this business,” she says. Referring to the Kennywood-set flick Adventureland, where filming was spread throughout the park, “Your wardrobe truck is in one area, your extra holding area is in another. Your extras wardrobe area is in another. So if you need to get something back at your truck, and you’re on the other side of the park—the pure amount of space is a challenge.”

And forgetting anything can lead to some unusual situations: While Collins was still a grad student, she was working on the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead.

“My nanny at the time always joked about the day I called and said, ‘I left the recipe for blood at home—could you go in the dining room and look it up? See what the ingredients are?’”

Collins, who grew up in the Steel Valley, designed costumes for dance and theater in Baltimore for 15 years. She eventually returned to town to pursue a master’s in costume design at Carnegie Mellon University; as Pittsburgh-based film projects increased, she discovered that she didn’t need to leave again. Her roles have varied—from designing all of a film’s costumes to performing fittings on hundreds of extras—but it’s that quality that keeps things fresh.

“Maybe that’s the attraction to me,” she says. “Every movie has a different set of circumstances and a different set of challenges, rewards, whatever. I enjoy the idea of trying to assess a new project.”

Resume: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Dark Knight Rises, Warrior, The Mothman Prophecies, Wonder Boys, Dogma, Sudden Death, Bob Roberts
Favorite ’Burgh-Made Flick: Wonder Boys
Favorite Movies: It’s a Wonderful Life, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Best Hollywood Type to Work With: Laura Linney. “She is just a wonderful person.”
Pittsburgh’s Signature Shot: Tom Hardy running along the PJ McArdle Roadway in Warrior. “It really struck home about where the city has been and that it can move.”

Production Masters, Inc.: Evie DeSarno
Picture yourself at a trade show. A huge convention center lined with booths. Every 10 feet, a company postures from a flat-screen that’s hanging from a curtain. Pamphlets, buttons, logo pens. The usual. And then, you spy some kind of tunnel. Like Noah’s Ark at Kennywood. You wander in and the video happens around you, from all angles, 360 degrees of sensory engagement.

That’s what separates Pittsburgh’s Production Masters Inc. (PMI) from other studios. The company can do anything, rising to challenges presented to them from Madison Avenue, Sunset Boulevard and everywhere in between. And Evie DeSarno knows that her team can do these things because of the talent here in Pittsburgh.

“I want potential clients to meet our people,” she says. “Once they do, they see the enthusiasm and skill level they have. Once they meet our people, my job becomes really easy.”

The role of a versatile production studio like PMI is a forgotten one when considering the film industry. DeSarno has to be ready for any request on a daily basis, and PMI has to be ready to jump into action on a moment’s notice. They’ll spend a few weeks putting together game-launch demos for Nintendo, then shift gears and create an audiovisual representation of Cirque du Soleil performers … that can interact with the cast live onstage.

Last year, PMI designed a 3-D video for the Pittsburgh Film Office’s “Lights! Glamour! Action!” Oscar party. And part of the locally shot flick Wonder Boys was made in and around PMI’s offices. The company even does pro bono work for March of Dimes, Children’s Hospital and many other organizations.

“We do everything,” says DeSarno, who grew up in Penn Hills. “Anything in the video and interactive world. There’s never a dull moment here.”

Then there’s the audio post-production side of PMI. After crews finish shooting a film, there are times when lines of dialogue need to be re-recorded. That means the actors need to find a studio that can quickly (and expertly) handle that kind of work. Fortunately, PMI steps in, having recorded performances by Laura Linney, Elizabeth Banks, Walter Cronkite, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sharon Stone, Jeff Goldblum, Phil Hartman, Dianna Argon and dozens of others.

DeSarno became a member of the hardworking PMI team after answering a newspaper ad. The Robert Morris University alumna was coming from an education company and thought that landing a job at PMI was a one-in-a-million shot. But, evidently, they liked her. “I remember giggling a lot during my interview,” she laughs. “I don’t know if that was the selling point.”

Fast-forward 18 years, and she’s a shareholder with the company. DeSarno sees firsthand that the future of her industry has a lot of Pittsburgh in it. And she knows why.

“I wish more people in the outside world would meet the Pittsburgh people who work on films and in the related industries,” she says. “And [that will happen as] more and more people talk to those that have been here—they’ll talk to the Christopher Nolans and say, ‘Wow, the community did all this for you?’”

Favorite ’Burgh-Made Flick: Dogma
Favorite Movie: Gone With the Wind
Favorite Hollywood Types to Work With: Tom Hardy, Dianna Argon and Jeff Goldblum
Dream Job: “I’ve made it very clear to the Film Office: If George Clooney even comes near Pittsburgh, I am the tour guide.”
What Pittsburgh Needs to Stay in the Game: Permanent adoption of the tax credit. “We have found a way to generate revenue for our region—how can you stop it?” 

Read more http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/February-2012/Reel-Talent/  

Auditions in Pittsburgh win praise from 'American Idol' executives

“One of the best cities” American Idol has ever had? That would be Pittsburgh!

Last July 13, contestants got ready to enter Heinz Field to register for "American Idol" auditions after being in line all night.

Fox's "American Idol" staged its first Pittsburgh auditions in July and September, and Fox alternative entertainment president Mike Darnell had high praise for those who tried out.

"The Pittsburgh production went great," he said. "It was actually one of the best cities we've ever had."

Maybe he says that about other cities, too, but executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz also had high praise for the Pittsburgh audition episode, which is slated to air Jan. 19, the second episode of the show's 11th season.

"We had some really good people there, both boys and girls," she said. "The whole episode is good people pretty much, 90 percent of it."

"Idol" watchers know that's not always the case with some auditions full of duds. So might the "Idol" team return to Pittsburgh?

"Maybe," Ms. Frot-Coutaz said. "We've had a history of going back to some places. It was the first time for us, and it really delivered."

"Idol" may need more help than usual this year because of increased competition from other singing series demanding viewer attention, including "The Voice" on NBC and even "X Factor" on Fox. Will viewers still be willing to commit to "Idol"?

In their press conference Sunday, the "Idol" team gleefully skewered their rivals, both "X Factor" and "The Voice."

"Simon [Cowell] and Paula [Abdul] are dear friends of ours, but I think 'Idol' is still the best TV show," said "Idol" judge Randy Jackson. "We're the original, we invented this game, and everybody is now copying. Simon has done well with his show, probably not the expectations that he wanted, but we wish him well, but we've gone on with this and done well."

Mr. Darnell, who has to love both of his children, said "X Factor" by its nature is "more over the top, more variety. It can't go louder." He called "Idol" a more intimate show.

" 'American Idol' is the gold standard of this stuff whether you are talking about any of the other shows," he said. "We've had several waves of competitors over the last 10 years and this show has stood up extraordinarily tall, and last year we sat here and people were suspicious we couldn't come back with this television show, and we came roaring back."

Executive producer Ken Warwick tweaked "X Factor," noting Leona Lewis was a star for 21/2 minutes," before adding, "None of these other shows are producing the stars we are."

Mr. Jackson then went after "The Voice," noting its winner previously had a deal with a record company.

"It was almost like a show for second chance people, not a new artist," he said, before later adding, "We will never rip off 'Star Trek' the way 'The Voice' did with spinning chairs."

Mr. Darnell said he's not bothered by "Idol" star Kelly Clarkson agreeing to be a mentor on "The Voice" in that show's new season.

"I think it's a compliment to 'Idol.' This show has created superstars, and other shows want to use superstars in those shows," he said. "We're not hiring a lot of people from 'The Voice' to be on our show."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12010/1202436-67.stm#ixzz1jBmerBMP

On the Menu: A humming dining scene gave Pittsburghers lots of great new tastes in 2011

Check out what’s been happening this past year on the Pittsburgh restaurant scene!

Zachary Winghart works the grill at Winghart's Burger & Whiskey Bar in Market Square.

More than 30 newsworthy restaurants opened (or reopened) in the Pittsburgh area this year, too many to list here. Some of the most talked-about openings include Meat & Potatoes, NOLA, Winghart's Burger & Whiskey Bar and Las Velas, Downtown; The Porch at Schenley and Legume Bistro in Oakland; Root 174 in Regent Square; Park Bruges in Highland Park; Smoke Barbecue Taqueria in Homestead; Verde Mexican Kitchen and Cantina in Garfield; and Brix on the North Side.

There were closings as well, but surprisingly few. The most notable include Le Pommier on the South Side, which was closed by a fire in January; Typhoon in Shadyside, which closed in April; and Tusca Mediterranean Tapas at the SouthSide Works, which closed in June, after county Health Department violations. Owner Don Mervis closed Woodside's Grille in Franklin Park, previously known as the Stone Mansion, in May after 17 years of business. A number of other businesses both closed and reopened, either after making changes or moving to a new space, including Vivo, La Cucina Flegrea and Dozen Bakeshop.

The restaurant business is a hard one, and some establishments are undoubtedly struggling. But for many Pittsburgh restaurants, this year was characterized by new energy, creativity and professionalism. Chefs connected with their customers and each other on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. Pittsburgh bartenders formed a local chapter of the United States Bartenders' Guild. Pittsburgh's chefs and restaurants received praise from Hollywood celebrities, national news sources and a growing number of local food bloggers.

As our restaurant scene continues to develop, here are the top trends that emerged in 2011, which are likely to continue to influence Pittsburgh restaurants in 2012:

Burgers, tacos and barbecue

Affordable restaurants serving creative food continued to dominate the field. Tacos increased their hold on the dining public, especially the much-praised offerings of Las Palmas in Brookline. Smoke Barbecue Taqueria in Homestead was possibly the most universally beloved new restaurant of 2011. With Union Pig and Chicken on track for a February opening in East Liberty, early signs suggest that what burgers were to 2010 and 2011, barbecue may be to 2012.

Burger spots, meanwhile, expanded and multiplied, including a Burgatory in Consol Energy Center. (We can only hope that better stadium food will be another trend of 2012.)

Suburban dining

Particularly in the North and South, dining options have continued to expand in the suburbs.

While some locations are still a challenge, restaurateurs are beginning to realize that people like interesting food options, no matter where they live. Openings include Vivo Kitchen and B Gourmet (opening any day now) in Sewickley, BRGR in Cranberry, Arlecchino in Peters, Arpino Trattoria in Scott, Juniper Grill in McMurray and Bite Bistro in Bellevue.

Downtown

The most surprising new hot spot of 2011 had to be the Golden Triangle. The success of many new Downtown restaurants has attracted considerable interest. With a few exceptions, such as Meat & Potatoes in the Cultural District and a new location of Penn Avenue Fish Company on Forbes, this activity has been centered around Market Square, which has been utterly transformed in just a couple of years.

New restaurants include Winghart's, NOLA, The Diamond Market Bar and Grille and La Cucina Flegrea, previously in Squirrel Hill. A number of restaurants are already on track to open near the Square in 2012, such as Bluebird Kitchen on Forbes and a Valozzi's on Fifth Avenue.

Lawrenceville to 'Sliberty

Much of the restaurant chatter in the East End has focused on an urban restaurant zone that extends loosely along Penn Avenue from Lawrenceville to East Liberty. Verde Mexican Kitchen and Cantina opened in Garfield with a splash, while some of the most hotly anticipated openings for 2012 include Justin Severino's first restaurant, Cure, in Upper Lawrenceville, and Union Pig and Chicken from Salt of the Earth's Kevin Sousa.

David Racicot has announced plans to move notion from Oakmont to East Liberty next spring, and Richard DeShantz, chef/owner of Meat & Potatoes and Nine on Nine, both Downtown, has been scouting East Liberty and Lawrenceville for yet another restaurant space.

Dining deals

Happy hour and early bird specials are so old-hat. These days, it's all about Bring Your Own Discount in the form of a Groupon, a Living Social deal or other more obscure coupons. While plenty of diners have been excited by the steep discounts, and plenty of restaurants have offered them, it's not yet clear what effect these deals have had on local restaurants. But at the very least, they've gotten people talking -- and visiting restaurants.

Eat Pittsburgh

Eating local was once touted primarily for the environmental and economic benefits. Today, restaurants are looking to local sources to create a Pittsburgh-centric cuisine. As restaurants and diners focus on foods that say Pittsburgh, they've created a stronger community of farmers, restaurants and diners.

Latin American inroads

An impressive number of Latin American restaurants opened this year, including Verde Mexican Kitchen and Cantina, Aji Picante in Squirrel Hill and Alma-Pan Latin Kitchen in Regent Square. The success of these restaurants suggests there is room in the Pittsburgh restaurant scene for a much wider variety of cuisines, both from Latin America and from other parts of the world.

Veggie-friendly spots flourish

One thing that some of the busiest restaurants in town have in common? They treat vegetables with the same kind of passion as proteins. From well-established restaurants such as Eleven Contemporary Kitchen to newer spots such as Salt of the Earth and Root 174, offering dishes to suit vegans, vegetarians and ardent carnivores makes not only for more satisfied customers, but also for a more diverse, interesting menu.

Bartenders mix it up

Pittsburgh may still be thought of as a "shot and a beer" town, but local bartenders and other drink professionals are forcing that stereotype into retirement. Many more restaurants have begun to think about what kinds of beverages pair well with their food, hence the extensive tequila selection at Verde Mexican Kitchen and Cantina, the creative cocktails and beer list at Meat & Potatoes and the classic Latin American cocktails at Alma Pan-Latin Kitchen and Cantina. The local chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, formed by several dozen Pittsburgh bartenders this year, will offer drink professionals increased opportunities for education and national exposure.

Meanwhile, local brewing and distilling are slowly but steadily gaining ground. In December, the Meyer-Grelli family officially opened Wigle Whiskey, the first whiskey distillery in Pittsburgh in nearly a century, according to PG spirits writer Bill Toland.

Reaching out to families

Despite all the hubbub about banning kids, a number of upscale restaurants in Pittsburgh has started bringing back the kids menu and encouraging family dining. Legume Bistro in Oakland is even holding a Bring Your Kid to Legume Night on Jan. 16, "where parents can enjoy a meal together while the kids are off in a safe place with other kids having fun."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11359/1198780-46.stm#ixzz1iiHtzd8G

Pittsburgh is a move star!

Batman in Oakland? Snow in August? Emma Watson at Eat'n Park? Anne Hathaway at the Manor Theater? Viola Davis in the Hill District? Tom Cruise at Soergel Orchards?

Nothing was surprising in 2011, the most remarkable year the city has ever experienced for film and television production.

Although smaller, notable movies, TV shows and Web series regularly shoot here, this past year literally brought out the big guns with "The Dark Knight Rises" and "One Shot" unleashing explosions or sniper fire, and other projects importing A-listers, Hollywood hopefuls and Dance Moms who could give any stage mother a run for her money and media exposure.

Here is a larger version of the detailed chart of film shoots that came our way in 2011.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12001/1200072-60.stm#ixzz1igrFIKML