As M. Night Shyamalan's Signs hit screens across the country this past summer Sharon Pinkenson was taking a breather. After all, she needed it. Pinkenson is the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, a role she's served since 1992 when then mayor Ed Rendell hired her as the director of the Philly film office. Her job? To bring filmmakers to the Philadelphia region to shoot their projects. So far Shyamalan has been good for the Philadelphia community. Sixth Sense has earned more than $660 million at the box office, earned 6 Academy Award nominations and was Disney's highest grossing live action film ever. Unbreakable didn't make the same bucks at the box office but it still managed to rake in $248 million in box office sales. And both films boosted the economy in Philly. In an interview with Reelwriter.net Pinkenson spoke about Philly's special relationship with the hot, young filmmaker.

Pinkenson on Shyamalan

Kelly McCarthy: Was Wide Awake the first film that M. Night Shyamalan shot in Philadelphia, and is that when you first became aware of him?

Sharon Pinkenson: Wide Awake is the first film that we worked on of his and it was also the first film that he shot in the region. But I first met Night right after he completed his very first film Praying with Anger, which he did right out of film school.

McCarthy: How did you meet him?

Pinkenson: He called me and introduced himself and told me about Praying with Anger and we met. We had a premiere for Praying with Anger, which was a benefit for the film office when we were first getting started. So I've known Night since 1992.

McCarthy: M. Night Shyamalan films all of his projects in Philadelphia. Like Woody Allen uses New York as his backdrop Shyamalan uses Philadelphia as almost a third character in his films. What do you think the advantage of that is to his audiences and for himself as an artist?

Pinkenson: I think it helps define his work. And I think it helps the rest of the world to brand his style of filmmaking. But it's always Philadelphiacentric as well as a certain genre of film that he does. That Philadelphiacentricness is very important - and your right - the same way that New York is to Woody Allen. But the other thing that it does is he's developed a relationship not just with this office but with a crew. He uses the same crew over and over again and that becomes a team that starts to work like a well-oiled machine. All of the experience that one gets in doing new projects with the same people and in the same place and the fact that he gets to live at home and doesn't disrupt his normal family life so much. I think that really means that he's going to be more comfortable in his experience and be able to concentrate on the filmmaking process.

McCarthy: What was your experience in providing star services to a heavyweight Signs cast that included Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and Cherry Jones?

Pinkenson: Absolutely delightful actors. There was nothing problematic there. And they were very outgoing and happy to say hello to strangers who wanted to say hello to them.

McCarthy: Was this your first time meeting Mel Gibson?

Pinkenson: I actually met him (Gibson) before he was working on the film. I met him when he was in Philadelphia for July 4th when we did the dramatic reading of The Declaration of Independence. So, I met him for the first time.

McCarthy: Now that Signs has been completed, and made another impressive showing for Shyamalan, what new projects are coming into Philadelphia?

Pinkenson: The television series Hack started shooting episode # 4 out of what will be 13. They'll be filming here up until December. And we've started Jersey Girl, which is a Miramax feature film directed by Kevin Smith and stars Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, George Carlin and Liv Tyler.

McCarthy: Philadelphia has become a real hotbed for filmmakers. What do you do for film projects that come into the city?

Pinkenson: We do just about everything. We're involved in helping to select the locations. We find locations that gives the director as many options as possible and then any assistance that we can give in securing those locations. We'll also put a message on our Web site for local crew and local actors to find out about opportunities to work on that film and every other film or TV show that comes to town.

Any filming that goes on whether its in the city or any of the area counties we help. We help secure the parking and the police services, and any other special services that may be needed by the production. We work on securing hotel rooms for the out-of-town crew that may come in and help with any labor negotiations that may be necessary.

We generally help with the sound stage especially if its going to be at the Civic Center or in the future it may be down at the new Navy Yard sound stage. We work on the premiere, we work on all the day to day activities in making sure that the neighborhoods are happy with the particular filming going on and we provide special star services that may be necessary, it goes on and on.

We provide total production services that are free to the production. And we provide more services than most [film commissions] do. Our best marketing tool is our reputation. And by attracting films and TV shows we are able to employ lots of local people and engage local businesses and stimulate an economic impact which is phenomenal and which has been over a half a billion dollars in the last ten years.

McCarthy: Thanks Sharon. Please keep us updated about Jersey Girl for a future issue of Reelwriter.net.

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