Screening Room - Pittsburgh Film Office

Pitch-Burgh: The Virtual Screening

Pittsburgh Area University Film Students:

The Pittsburgh Film Office, Chatham University, Carnegie Mellon University, CCAC, Duquesne University, La Roche University, Point Park University, Robert Morris University, and the University of Pittsburgh are inviting you to participate in Pitch-Burgh: The Virtual Screening! Two minutes of your work will be showcased in this virtual event.

Everyone is invited to participate, but priority will be given to those that shared their projects with us live at the January Pitch-Burgh event.

To submit your project, please fill out this Google form: https://forms.gle/ShUrCwbYVp5LLtT9A

An unlisted YouTube video upload will be required.

The deadline for submissions is June 29

The final selection of work will be curated by a group of fellow students in an anonymous format.

If you have any questions about submissions or Pitch-Burgh: The Virtual Screening, please email Katie Fahringer at [email protected].

FREE “ANATOMY OF A MOVIE” CLASS

ANATOMY OF A MOVIE
“What was the screenwriter thinking?” a unique way to learn a unique craft
SPECIAL EDITION!!
SETUPS & PAYOFFS

Most of the screenwriting process takes place away from a keyboard and desk. The story, the situations, character introductions, subplots, story points, setups & payoffs, “gags,” transitions, edits, “slug lines”, etc. are all thought about long before the writer downloads screenwriting software onto their computer. Many times—if not most—the ending is known before the beginning is.

There are numerous things a writer of a screenplay must think about when building their story. Setups and Payoffs are one of the most important (think of an out-of-shape Rocky struggling up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (the Setup) and then flying up those steps later in fighting shape (the Payoff) .

We will be using technology to show you a video with clips from well known—and some not-so-well known—movies to give examples of Setups and Payoffs.

This is the first Anatomy of a Movie presentation using Zoom. It’s not the future—it’s the “now.”

There is nothing harder to write than a motion picture screenplay. The writer can’t use the First Person or the Third Person to explain what is going on. There is a limited range for the length. It is a format unique to itself.

But if you can “train your brain” to think the way a screenwriter (actually any writer) must, there will be ancillary benefits to your professional and personal lives, and you may be able to write books, articles, business plans, love letters, etc.

No charge. Discounts given to “Fade In” screenwriting software and the “Write Your Script” class.

DATE: SUNDAY MAY 3RD
TIME: HIGH NOON (also the title of a great movie)
VENUE: YOUR LIVING ROOM, DEN, BASEMENT, KITCHEN, PORCH…
(“Ctrl & Click the link below to register. Registration is limited)

https://us04web.zoom.us/meeting/register/upAvcu6uqTIvHNQYARLjV3MQ5T44U0T7sfMM

(shared by Ken Kaszak)

PITTSBURGH-FILMED FEATURES AND SERIES YOU CAN STREAM AT HOME!

Features and series filmed in Pittsburgh that you can watch for free with a streaming subscription:

Abduction (2011)
available with a Hulu subscription
“A thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website.”
starring Taylor Lautner

Adventureland (2009)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a ‘nowhere’ job at his local amusement park, only to find it’s the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.”
starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, and Ryan Reynolds

All the Right Moves (1983)
available on Hulu with a Cinemax extension
“A high school football player desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.”
starring Tom Cruise

Banshee (2013)
available on Hulu with a Cinemax extension
“An ex-con assumes the identity of a murdered sheriff in the small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania, where he has some unfinished business.”
starring Antony Starr, Ivana Milicevic, and Ulrich Thomsen

Concussion (2015)
available on Sony Crackle
“In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.”
starring Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, and Albert Brooks

Fathers and Daughters (2015)
available with a Hulu subscription
“A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.”
starring Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, and Aaron Paul

Flashdance (1983)
available on Hulu with the Showtime extension
“A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school.”
starring Jennifer Beals

Foxcatcher (2014)
available on Sony Crackle
“U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join “Team Foxcatcher”, led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John’s self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.”
starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo

I Am Not Okay With This (2020)
available with a Netflix subscription
“Sydney is a teenage girl navigating the trials and tribulations of high school while dealing with the complexities of her family, her budding sexuality, and mysterious superpowers just beginning to awaken deep within her.”
starring Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, and Sofia Bryant

I Am Number Four (2011)
available on Vudu
“Aliens and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list. This is his story.”
starring Alex Pettyfer

Innocent Blood (1992)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“Marie is a vampire with a thirst for bad guys. When she fails to properly dispose of one of her victims, a violent mob boss, she bites off more than she can chew and faces a new, immortal danger.”
starring Anne Parillaud, Anthony LaPaglia, and Robert Loggia

Inspector Gadget (1999)
available with a Disney+ subscription
“A security guard’s dreams come true when he is selected to be transformed into a cybernetic police officer.”
starring Matthew Broderick

Kingpin (1996)
available on Sony Crackle and Tubi
“A star bowler whose career was prematurely “cut off” hopes to ride a new prodigy to success and riches.”
starring Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, and Bill Murray

Last Flag Flying (2017)
available with Amazon Prime Video
“Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corpsman Larry “Doc” Shepherd re-unites with his old buddies, former Marines Sal Nealon and Reverend Richard Mueller, to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War.”
starring Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell

Lorenzo’s Oil (1992)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“A boy develops a disease so rare that nobody is working on a cure, so his father decides to learn all about it and tackle the problem himself.”
Starring Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, and Peter Ustinov

Manhunt: Deadly Games (2020)
available on Spectrum TV
“A new installment of the acclaimed series, this season will chronicle one of the largest and most complex manhunts on U.S. soil—the search for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park Bomber—and the media firestorm that consumed the life of Richard Jewell in its wake. With their legacies on the line and divisions within communities stoked, investigators must choose what is most important to defend—their reputations or the truth.”
starring Cameron Britton

Mindhunter (2017-2019)
available with a Netflix subscription
“Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve open cases.”
starring Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv

My Bloody Valentine (2009)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“Tom returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine’s night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame is the only one that believes he’s innocent.”
starring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
available on Tubi
“A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a bloodthirsty, flesh-eating breed of monsters who are ravaging the East Coast of the United States.”
starring Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman

Out of the Furnace (2013)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn’t follow through fast enough, his older brother, Russell, takes matters into his own hands to find justice.”
starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Zoe Saldana

Outsiders (2016-2017)
available with a Hulu subscription
“A story of struggle for power set in the rugged and mysterious hills of Appalachia.”
starring David Morse, Ryan Hurst, and Kyle Gallner

Promised Land (2012)
available on Hulu with the Starz extension
“A salesman for a natural gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources.”
starring Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, and John Krasinski

She’s Out of my League (2010)
available on Sony Crackle
“An average Joe meets the perfect woman, but his lack of confidence and the influence of his friends and family begin to pick away at the relationship.”
starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, and T.J. Miller

Smart People (2008)
available with a Netflix subscription
“Into the life of a widowed professor comes a new love and an unexpected visit from his adopted brother.”
starring Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, and Sarah Jessica Parker

Sorority Row (2009)
available on Tubi
“A group of sorority sisters try to cover up the death of their house-sister after a prank gone wrong, only to be stalked by a serial killer.”
starring Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis, and Carrie Fisher

Striking Distance (1993)
available on Sony Crackle
“Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted then to river duty, the killer taunts Tom.”
starring Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Dennis Farina

The Lifeguard (2013)
available on Sony Crackle and Tubi
“A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.”
starring Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, and Martin Starr

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
available on Sony Crackle
“A reporter is drawn to a small West Virginia town to investigate a series of strange events, including psychic visions and the appearance of bizarre entities.”
starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, and David Eigenberg

The Next Three Days (2010)
available with a Hulu subscription
“A married couple’s life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder.”
starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, and Liam Neeson

Unstoppable (2010)
available on Hulu with the Cinemax extension
“With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.”
starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, and Rosario Dawson

Warrior (2011)
available with a Hulu subscription
“The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he’s trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother”
starring Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, and Joel Edgerton

Where’d You Go Bernadette (2019)
available with a Hulu subscription
“A loving mom becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Her leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery.”
starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, and Emma Nelson

Wonder Boys (2000)
available on Sony Crackle
“An English Professor tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.”
starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Frances McDormand

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
available with a Netflix subscription
“Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.”
starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, and Craig Robinson

*This information is current as of 3/23/2020.

Pittsburgh-filmed features and series you can stream at home!

Features and series filmed in Pittsburgh that you can watch for free with a streaming subscription or service: