Movies, Reviews and Returns

This is a shout out with props for Dawn Keezer at the Pittsburgh Film Office on the occasion of a critically successful launch of the movie “Out of the Furnace”.  The movie has been, in the parlance of the industry, generally well received.  The reviews are good and Woody Harrelson’s performance is being mentioned as Oscar material, which should generate more press for it in 2014.

Reviews from the Pittsburgh media all mention that the setting presented is far from the current Pittsburgh of gleaming buildings, strong economics and shiny new people.  That’s true and since all of that is the “real world”, there are plenty of opportunities for the news media to report on that reality.  Hollywood’s world of entertainment make-believe serves Pittsburgh with a different purpose: to further the area’s economic strength.

There are fewer visionary risk-takers in Hollywood than popular culture might assume.  Entertainment industry executives, as in most fields, see a winner and happily follow behind on the safe path to profits.  My point here is basic and a strict numbers game: the more winners filmed in Pittsburgh, the more movies will come to be filmed in the city and the more money will be spent.  I think it should be clear by now that the work of the Pittsburgh Film Office with Dawn Keezer out in LA is producing those results.  Make no mistake about the fact that the State of Pennsylvania’s movie tax credits do play a starring role in getting movie producers and financiers to consider western Pennsylvania in the first place.  But that’s the way the game is played.  Play it well, provide the right physical resources, develop the talent pool of supporting industry professionals, and the returns will surpass anything hoped for.

Congrats to Ms. Keezer, Pittsburgh, Braddock and those involved in Out of the Furnace for helping provide another boost to Pittsburgh’s economic revival.