movies filmed in Pgh

[ls56]

I watched She's Out of My League, this past weekend at the cheap theater, and I am wondering if City of Pittsburgh paid to be in the film?

I mean, it was like it tried to be a tourist video for the city or something. Including a scene with a fake french restaurant in Regent Square Market Square and walking around it about four times without even

Comments

[je_dors]

In a way we paid for it when we instituted tax incentives for movies to film here. We want the exposure that a film can provide.

[littledeadgirl7]

How was it? Every movie I've seen filmed here has BEEN AWFUL except for Wonder Boys, which I love.

[_orz]

Groundhog Day and Kingpin were pretty funny, or do they not count since only they were only partly filmed in Pittsburgh?

[d_rosetta]

I found Screwed with Norm MacDonald to be pretty damn funny as well. If you like his particular brand of humor, you should like that movie.

[talldean]

Robocop used Monessen, which isn't too far from here.

And Night of the Living Dead has to count for something, Brownsville and Monroeville Mall win the zombie movies.

Or Kevin Smith's Dogma, that had dead nuns scattered over the streets of Oakland.

[beeporama]

To be fair, Regent Square does have a restaurant similar to a French bistro, and you almost never see a homeless person or pigeon in that neighborhood. (Honestly, I don't feel like there are a ton of homeless or pigeons anywhere, and I've rarely seen much of either outside downtown or maybe Oakland.)

Not that Pittsburgh (or any city) tends to be as nice in person as it is in the movies. I bet a lot of people came here after seeing Queer As Folk and were REALLY disappointed by the nightlife options available to them.

littledeadgirl7: I really liked The Lost Room, but the city was kind of incidental.

[ras2883]

I bet a lot of people came here after seeing Queer As Folk...

Totally.

[jacquez]

I bet a lot of people came here after seeing Queer As Folk

Hahaha. YES. Some friends of mine from out of town contacted me around the first season of that show all excited, wanting to do a road trip and go this that and the other place, and I was like "...er. it's. not like that? I mean. I could take you to Pegasus."

They were crushed. :/

[ls56]

Bah, I meant Market Square downtown.

[darkstorm_]

It's a trade off of giving tax incentives vs. the movie money being spent in the area and employing local people in the movie-making skills areas (gaffers, grips, craft services etc.), plus using local hotels, restaurants, etc.. Think that doesn't add up to much money going into our local economy? Take a look here at all the movies shot in and/or around Pittsburgh, especially since the 1980's. That's a lot of money spent here rather than California, Canada (both Vancouver and Toronto are major players in movie/TV production), or elsewhere. Canada heavily subsidizes TV/movie productions in order to attract them to their country.

Back in 2006, I asked Rob Owen, the P-G's TV editor, about Canadian vs. Local/PA/US subsidies here is a link to that question (the top one) and Dawn Keezer's (then director of the Pittsburgh Film Office) response.

[ls56]

there's a better article here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_660410.html

[rufushonkeriv]

Innocent Blood has a wonderful scene where they seem to take ten minutes crossing liberty bridge in a car.

Striking Distance's car chase is geographically impossible (Bigelow Blvd --> Armstrong tunnels --> Schenley park), I can only imaging how the folks in LA view the many car chases filmed there.