Film : Development News

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont has given itself an ultimatum: Go Digital or Go Dark.

The title of its recently launched Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign is a serious one. Managing Director Chad Hunter says that there is no hard date set, but if the one-screen, 300-seat theater can't raise enough funds to transition to from 35mm film to a digital format, the Hollywood will close for good.

Hunter says it's increasingly difficult for independent cinemas to screen certain releases, with restrictions on use of DVD's, and the rarity of many film prints.

"The writing is on the wall," he says. "We can't operate effectively when these walls keep coming up from the studios."

The theater needs to raise $75,000 to make the film-to-digital conversion. The campaign began with $5,000 in seed money from last September's Pittsburgh Day of Giving.  The Indiegogo campaign has so far raised $6,622 as of press time, with 24 days to go.

The Hollywood Theater originally opened in 1933 and is one of few remaining single-screen movie houses in the Pittsburgh area. It has opened and closed several times in the past decade, but was reopened in May 2010 by the non-profit Friends of the Hollywood Theater (FOHT). The organization's long-term goal is to purchase the theater from its current owners.

And the Hollywood isn't alone in this scramble to transition. Theaters around the country are making the expensive switch—or closing up shop—including The Guthrie, in nearby Grove City, PA.

This Saturday, March 2nd, The Living Dead Festival will host a sold-out fundraiser at the Hollywood, featuring a meet-and-greet with cast members from the 1968 film by George A. Romero. The film will be screened in 35mm, with all proceeds going toward the Indiegogo campaign.

 
Writer: Andrew Moore
Source: Chad Hunter

A new film titled Progression, inspired by the Lawrenceville Urban Pioneers Society Dinner, will be filmed in the neighborhood beginning in March. 

Written and directed by Gab Cody and Sam Turich, the narrative film takes place over the course of an evening, and will focus on three different couples as they wander through the homes and streets of Lawrenceville.

Cody says the film will be driven by conversations and the behavior of people, not by special effects or action sequences.  “Rather a world of people at dinner tables having funny conversations,” she says.

Which is how Cody perceives the LUPS Progressive Dinner.  That event is in its 27th year and has grown from 12 participants to 150.

Cody and Turich moved to Lawrenceville from New York City four years ago.  Three months after moving in they participated in the progressive dinner, and were able to meet “so many great, quirky, weird, strange, funny, hilarious, smart people that we were delighted that we'd chosen to live in Lawrenceville,” Cody says.

“It’s a really magical night in which you are thrust into situations with strangers but often times in their homes,” Cody says.  That type of encounter can be unusual, she says, but is always filled with interesting social interactions and conversations, where friendships develop, and even romance can bloom.

Which is why Cody decided it would be a great setting for a movie of this kind.

Cody and Turich's previous short film, Mombies, was also set in Lawrenceville.  Pageboy Salon & Boutique owner Rachel Vallozzi, who starred in Mombies, will design costumes for Progression, and Cody is reaching out to restaurants and chefs in the Pittsburgh area to design the film's food. 

Filming is scheduled to take place between March and July, and Cody hopes to have a local premier as early as next fall.

Fat Beckett, a play written by Cody and directed by Turich, is currently in production by the Quantum Theatre, and runs through December 18th at the Old School House in Lawrenceville.

And a Kickstarter campaign has launched to help finance the film.  Visit that site here.


Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Gab Cody

As digital filmmaking ushers in a new cinematic order, some pieces of the old movie garde are too important to leave behind. When the Hollywood Theater, located at 1499 Potomac Avenue in Dormont, closed its doors last May, a determined group of volunteers called Friends of the Hollywood Theater (FOHT) vowed to keep alive this single-screen gem that dates back to 1933. The hard work of this 11 member board, and 25 member advisory board, has paid off.  The Hollywood Theater will reopen on May 4.

"We've been working with 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, they're a non-profit, and they're going to show The New Metropolis at the theater on May 4. It's a PBS documentary about the inner suburbs and the challenges they face in the 21st century," says John Maggio, board member of the non-profit FOHT.

After The New Metropolis screens, there will be a Hollywood Theater open house with free film showings on May 14-15. Part-time showings of paid-admission films will be shown the following week, and the theater will open full-time beginning in June.  FOHT plans to hire a permanent manager and two paid employees. The 48 Hour Film Festival has already signed on to use the venue, and FOHT intends to start showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as other classic and rare 35mm works. They will also use the theater as a community space for a wide variety of on and off screen events.

For nearly a year, the diverse volunteer FOHT board has been busy fundraising, working with Duquense law students to achieve 501c3 status, and collaborating with CMU students to develop a business plan. FOHT currently needs less than $10,000 to open the theater's doors, which they're confident will happen. While they will rent the building for now, Maggio believes they will be able to buy it in the near future.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to Friends of The Hollywood Theater at P.O. Box 7902 Pittsburgh, PA 15216.

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Writer: John Farley
Source: John Maggio, Friends of the Hollywood Theater

Photograph copyright John Farley

The North Side's just teeming with Warhols these days.

Warhola Video Productions has joined the Andy Warhol Museum as a neighborhood resident. The production company, which focuses on corporate videos, is owned by Jay Warhola, a second cousin of famed artist Andy.

Warhola Video Production, which previously had its 2,900-square-foot offices in Robinson, has moved into a 4,700-square-foot space in Deutschtown Center, a former bottling plant at 801 Vinial St. Kevin O'Leary with Warhola Video Productions says the company chose Deutschtown Center for its proximity to Downtown and its on-site parking.

The first-floor studio (which includes a large green screen) is about 1,000 square-feet, with an adjoining 700 square-feet for master control, equipment and makeup rooms. The second-floor offices occupy the remaining 3,000 square-feet.

"The change that is most exciting to us is to now have a functional studio that will allow us not only to accommodate our needs, but potentially other businesses' needs as well," says O'Leary. "We're opening up the studio to anyone who's interested in renting the space."

Warhola Video Productions, which was founded in October 2001, is staffed by four full-time employees and a team of freelancers. It offers editing, videotaping, duplication, CD and DVD services, and has produced award-winning training, promotional, commercial, broadcast and special interest videos for thousands of national, international and local companies, including Pittsburgh-based Black Box and the Steamfitters union.

Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Kevin O'Leary, sales/business development, Warhola Video Productions

Photograph courtesy Warhola Video Productions