Carnegie church gets second life as film set
The sanctuary of St. Ignatius Church in Carnegie was filled with people Jan. 20, but not to celebrate Sunday Mass. The church, which is now unoccupied and affiliated with the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, was transformed into a movie set for a film called “Escape from St. Quentin’s.”
The film, which will be a short – at about 15 minutes – was co-written by Scott Peters and Tony Poremski of Mt. Washington, who grew up together in the North Hills. The friends attended elementary and high school together and came up with the idea to write a script based on their school experiences. The film won third place at the 2012 Steeltown Film Factory Screenwriting Competition.
“Escape from St. Quentin’s” is about a 10-year-old “mischievous genius” and his attempts to escape from St. Quentin’s Church during Sunday Mass to play football with his friends. Peters and Poremski are also producing the film and have a production company called Broken Borders Productions.
“Tony and I wrote a TV series based on our experience in Catholic elementary school,” Peters said during a break from directing the film on Jan. 20. Peters added that he was “never that brave” to try cutting out of Mass in order to play football.
Peters said one of his goals with the film is to “use this as a pilot to get a TV series made.” The movie is the largest-scale short film he has done so far. He made short films in college and also creates corporate videos for his job at American Eagle Outfitters.
Doree Simon, who also grew up with Peters and Poremski, also serves as a producer on the movie. In total, the film will take about six days to film with Jan. 20 being their next-to-last day of filming. She added that since they’re working with kids, they work eight-hour days instead of longer ones. The film is costing about $11,500 to make, raised by fundraising and donations.
“We have a lot of really dedicated crew,” Simon said. The crew includes Ted Schaefer, the film’s director of photography; Jamil Munoz, first assistant cameraman; Jared McLaughlin, second assistant cameraman; and Coalin Smith, first assistant director.
Nick Staso is playing the title character of Danny, and featured extras include Troy Bogdan of Bridgeville and Pat Conner of Morgantown, W.Va. Simon said while many of the extras are from the Pittsburgh area, some drove from parts of Ohio and West Virginia to be in the film.
Jean Ball came from Meadville to be an extra in the movie, and she has many ties to St. Ignatius Church.
“It was my home parish,” Ball said, adding she grew up a couple of blocks from the church in Carnegie. “I was baptized here, went to school here and was married here.” She added that her family bought the baptismal font in the church.
“I’m loving every minute of it,” Ball said. “It’s such fun.” She is one of the parishioners and was on set for two days of filming.
Troy Bogdan of Bridgeville said “Escape from St. Quentin’s” is his ninth film. “It’s very nice. I like small, independent productions,” he said. Bogdan is a featured extra in the film and portrays a church goer.
Simon said they’ve loved filming at St. Ignatius. “It’s a little bit of a blast from the past,” she said. She added that they booked St. Ignatius for filming at the last minute, after having looked at other churches.
The Rev. Dave Poecking, pastor at the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, which owns the property, said St. Ignatius is for sale. He said he was happy to help the crew since the church is closed and was available.
“It’s not something I’ve done before,” Poecking said of having a movie set at a church. “I hope they are successful.”
“We hit the jackpot with a non-functioning church,” Peters said and called Poecking their “guardian angel.”
Peters said he hopes to show the film at festivals once it’s completed. Further information on the film can be found at www.facebook.com/EscapeFromStQuentins.