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Whitehall native filmed TV pilot 'Munhall' in his own hometown [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette](Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 7--Anyone with a digital video camera can make a pilot episode of a proposed television series relatively inexpensively. But the odds are stacked against such an indie production ever making it onto a broadcast or cable network schedule. Then again, the odds for network-commissioned pilots making it on the air and surviving aren't high either. That brings us to "Munhall," the brainchild of Jason Coll, a Whitehall native who was associate artistic director at Pittsburgh CLO from 2004-08. The idea for the TV series, filmed locally over seven days in August, began with a CLO Late Night Cabaret production Mr. Coll did. There he created a few of the characters who would come to life in "Munhall," the story of a community theater and its boozy owner, Pat Gallagher (Tim Brady). As "Munhall" begins, Pat is at rock bottom, preparing to close his community theater and have his fingers cut off by a friend who works for a loan shark. But fate intervenes and gives Pat and the theater a second chance. George Wendt ("Cheers") is the biggest name in the cast as Pat's best friend. Mr. Wendt's wife, actress Bernadette Birkett, also makes a favorable comedic impression as the enabling mother of a thirtysomething loser. The show's tone and its backstage setting owe a debt to the Canadian show "Slings and Arrows," which was set at a lunacy-filled Shakespeare company. "It is an inspiration in terms of the backstage life of actors," Mr. Coll said. "But we're not a professional Shakespeare company. This is Munhall Dinner Theater, a whole other level of desperation." Mr. Coll understands the odds, and although there was a premiere for cast and crew Monday night at Dormont's Hollywood Theater, no public screenings are scheduled. "We're keeping it to ourselves," Mr. Coll said. "Our next step is to line up representation." He also hopes to meet with network executives in the coming months to sell them on the show, recognizing that they might want to scrap this $76,000 pilot, re-cast and start over, which is common industry practice. "We know what the odds are in putting a TV show up," he said. "We decided to film it and not just pitch it as a script." In addition to presenting potential networks with a finished pilot, Mr. Coll also has additional scripts to give execs a better sense of how the series would unfold. Mr. Coll, a 1993 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, said he chose Munhall as the setting and title because of "the sound of the town's name. "I love Munhall," he said. "It's a relatively quaint, insulated town, a little post-World War II community that's frozen in time where Munhall is the center of the universe." Although Mr. Coll grew up and shot much of "Munhall" in Whitehall, he said that town's name didn't sound as appropriate to the TV series he envisioned. The dinner theater exterior and interior stage is VFW Post 1810 in Brentwood. McGinnis Sisters was also used for filming in one scene, shot after the store closed. To watch a preview of "Munhall," visit Mr. Coll's website at www.frogprincetheatricals.com/commercial.html (warning: includes mild profanity and gives away a plot twist). TV editor Rob Owen: [email protected] or 412-263-1112. A longer version of this report was previously published in the Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook. To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |