Last October, the Steeltown Entertainment Project brought some of film and television's top producers, directors and writers back to their hometown for a summit. The subject: How to help the Pittsburgh area tap into the $130 billion industry that has become this nation's second-largest global export: entertainment.

Since that summit, many have asked: What's next? With the Academy Awards taking place tonight, I thought the time was right to explain the impact our efforts can have on economic development and retention of young people in this region.

Is it possible for Pittsburgh to become an outpost for the entertainment industry? There are many reasons to be optimistic.

Regionalism in the Entertainment Industry

A plaque across from Kaufmann's Downtown marks the spot where America's first motion picture theater was built. The Warner Brothers from Youngstown then opened their first exhibition house in New Castle. They left Pittsburgh for better weather in Los Angeles. But "bad weather" can no longer be blamed. The good news is that regionalism is a growing trend in this business.

To prove this, you need to look no further than across the state -- Philadelphia's native son M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Signs") produces all of his movies there. And in television, "Trading Spaces" comes out of the city's own Banyan Productions. Austin has been the home where Robert Rodriguez makes his "Spy Kids" films. And the film "Ice Age," co-written by Pittsburgh's Peter Ackerman, was made entirely in White Plains, N.Y.

Notice that in all of these cases, the creation of jobs begins with the creation of intellectual property.

Nurturing the development of ideas is a different concept than trying to attract productions looking for locations to shoot in the area, which is the worthy mission of the Pittsburgh Film Office and all film offices. Yes, production can bring in millions to a region, but Hollywood does not care whether pictures shoot in Pittsburgh or Prague. The big money is in the content -- the "software," if you will -- and those revenues go back to these L.A.-based studios and talent which lives there, which in turn has helped Los Angeles as a city. By developing a niche in this business, Pittsburgh can start getting a piece of that pie as it develops its own entertainment product.

Technology

You might have noticed that many of the above-mentioned projects, as well as last year's No. 1 film "Finding Nemo," are works of computer graphics imaging. This form of filmmaking simply requires computer workstations, as opposed to soundstages. Even "real life" movies are being changed because of how fast technology is being adapted to filmmaking. "Sky Captain: World of Tomorrow" with Gwyneth Paltrow was shot entirely on "blue screen," meaning inside a studio where sets were digitally produced in post-production.

Technology has also changed how nonanimated films and TV shows are made. Steven Soderbergh (who spent his junior high school years in Pittsburgh) produced his movie "Full Frontal" with the same equipment available today to many high school students.

"Reality-based" shows using digital cameras and "eyeglass cams" have now made it possible to create programs literally anywhere -- and at a fraction of the cost of previous shows. Just ask MTV and NBC producer Bob Kusbit, a Pittsburgh native who shoots his low-budget hit shows "Made" and "Boiling Points" all over the country.

Technology is one area in which Pittsburgh has been strong, but technology alone does not make an entertainment industry.

Talent and Resources

I believe that so many people have responded to the Steeltown Entertainment Project idea because there's so much here already. Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center is regularly shipping graduates to Pixar and Disney. Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, Point Park College and Pittsburgh Filmmakers helped train many of the 200-plus top entertainment professionals with Pittsburgh roots working in Hollywood. (See The Pittsburgh List at www.pittinhollywood.org.)

On the day he was nominated for an Oscar for directing "Chicago," Rob Marshall thanked Pittsburgh for the "incredible buffet of art" it served as he was growing up here -- "the symphony, opera, ballet, Public Theater, Civic Light Opera, great old movie houses." Then there is WQED, which nurtured Michael Keaton, "Lizzie Maguire" creator Terri Minsky, "Seinfield" director Tom Cherones and many others. Manchester Craftsman's Guild, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Mattress Factory, Quantum Theater, the work of The Sprout Fund in seeding new cultural projects, the list goes on and on -- I have never seen a city so rich in culture for its size.

The cultural institutions supported by the industrialists who built this city may be the key to its economic growth in the 21st century. A thriving entertainment industry would be their foundations' return on investment for years of backing the arts.

But what is needed to make this truly happen is a unified and directed approach to convert some of this artistic output into entertainment product. The city's government, business and educational institutions have already done this well in the fields of robotics and life sciences. An "Entertainment Greenhouse" might meet with similar success.

Access

As the Oscars demonstrate every year, the entertainment industry has its own culture and must be treated accordingly. As many of the Steeltown advisers have echoed, what this city needs most to become a player is one "hit" to put it on the map. "E.R." executive producer John Wells has said with its architecture, technology and film crews, Pittsburgh has the potential of becoming a production center that would stand in as a location for everything East of the Mississippi.

With targeted efforts and access and guidance from our advisers, Steeltown hopes to help this city find that "one thing" and reignite an industry here.

So, What Now
?

All these ingredients give a sense of what is possible. Here's what Steeltown is working on to help make this happen.

Feature Film Development Program. Imagine a cross between "Project Greenlight" and the Sundance Workshop Labs (where aspiring filmmakers go to develop material). With Steeltown's version of these programs, winners of a screenwriting competition would have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to top producers and filmmakers. Selected projects would be developed and mentored with an eye to making Pittsburgh-based commercially viable productions.

A Student Television Workshop. Having grown up here, many Steeltown advisers feel a special connection to nurturing young talent. Terri Minsky has said she used her experiences going to school in Mt. Lebanon in creating the characters in "Lizzie McGuire," which became a teen hit. Especially with the passing of Fred Rogers, many of these advisers feel a desire and moral obligation to give back to the youth of Pittsburgh. A series of educational workshops to demystify the creative process might let them do just that.

For instance, television director/producer Jamie Widdoes ("Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter"), writer/producer Sally Lapiduss ("The Nanny") and actor David Conrad ("Miss Match") have said they would like to give students a sense of what a week of making a television show is like. Television shows traditionally go on hiatus in June and that would be an ideal time to bring in writers, directors, and actors at a place like the new Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts building Downtown to help students shape material about their own lives into television form. Who knows? Perhaps a new show might even come out of it. The workshop process itself could be filmed as a pilot about young people and the creative process which might potentially be sold to such networks as the ABC Family Channel or MTV.

"The Steeltown Variety Show." After "Roseanne" and "Ellen" writer/producer and Steeltown co-founder Maxine Lapiduss hosted the Entertainment Summit at WQED, many suggested she should have her own show. Maxine in turn suggested a "Steeltown Variety Show," which would showcase the talents of both illustrious expatriates and up-and-coming local talent. Such a show might not only give a great sense of community pride, but potentially find a market on a network which would thus drive jobs and revenue back into the city.

Project Facilitation. A multitude of other projects have crossed Steeltown's threshold since the summit. Expatriates like Warner Brothers producer Bernie Goldmann, "Young and the Restless" co-executive producer Jack Smith, filmmaker Laura Davis and manager/producer Eric Gold (who with fellow Pittsburgher Jimmy Miller, represents Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Will Farrell) have suggested ways Pittsburgh might be able to direct projects which normally would shoot in L.A. or Canada back to this region.

Without the aggressive tax credits of other states, it is an uphill battle. But the clout and goodwill of our advisers might help the Film Office with its mission of getting more productions to shoot here by providing more direct influence with the studios which make these decisions.

Steeltown's mission is "to develop a thriving arts and entertainment industry in Pittsburgh by leveraging the talent, influence and vision of its extraordinary expatriates with the city's rich cultural, educational and business resources." At present, the organization is still in the formative stages, raising funds for the above-mentioned projects. We have to date been supported by a volunteer core of passionate and committed talent including Executive Director Ellen Weiss Kander, technology executive Lisa Frankovitch, Maxine Lapiduss (from L.A.), student interns and an ever-growing group of Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and New York based Steeltown advisers (see www.steeltownentertainment.org).

Our forefathers were innovative leaders in the industrial revolution and as a result, the region thrived. Ironically, we sit today with the access, talent, resources and technology to become a leader in yet another industry -- New Media and Entertainment.

Imagine the old steel mills transformed into state-of-the-art studios. Like it did with steel, Pittsburgh has the opportunity to once again ship product around the world from these Three Rivers. With the city currently in an underdog struggle, up against the ropes like Rocky, a thriving entertainment industry in Pittsburgh could provide the happy ending you usually only see in the movies.