A location scout’s role in a film production is to seek out vantage points and views that create a sense of place for the director to tell a story. It means having a depth of knowledge about the surrounding communities and landscape so that whether it’s a cornfield or barbershop, and extravagant mansion or a quiet country home, they can deliver the location that fits the scene.
For over two decades I plied this craft, largely cornered in southeastern part of the state. I've worked on a host of projects big and small, like Beloved, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Italian Job, along with Hustle most recently, and the soon to be released Brave the Dark, set in Lancaster County. I traveled the same roads so often that I could tell you street by street and house by house what was contained therein.
But new roads, and towns unseen: those were always where I wanted to go, discovering new ways to look at old places most days, and uncovering a hidden gem unexpectedly on the best days. I discovered long ago that there are no roadside pie stands and locals only diners on the turnpike and I always wanted to be where the pie and the people were.
By way of introduction to my new position, as a Field Services Specialist for the PA Downtown Center, I was charged with visiting as many of our communities as a could in my first 90 days.
Beginning in November 2021 with a visit to State College, where the Office of Tourism has brilliantly rebranded as the “Office of Adventure”, boded well for the journey ahead. What I had always thought of as only a college town revealed a thriving creative community with film festivals, galleries and a collective of artists (Three Dots), that exist in parallel to the throngs of transient students, creating a unique identity in the Happy Valley. It was here in a back alley that a Ted Lasso-inspired message in graffiti read simply, “Be curious, not judgmental. This would become my mantra as I explored the nooks and crannies of our Commonwealth.
I could write pages just listing the names of towns and wonderful managers, board members and regular folks I have encountered along the way, but it was the little discoveries about these places that made them special, in their pasts, presents and futures that were most memorable.
Most of us know that Pittsburgh was Mr. Rogers neighborhood, but not that the Commonwealth is also the birthplace of Mr. Peanut & HBO (Wilkes-Barre) and home of Mrs T’s Pierogis and the Dorsey Brothers (Shenandoah). We all know about Hershey’s and Yuengling, but also that Bethlehem is where marshmallow Peeps are hatched, that the banana split was first concocted in Latrobe, the modern pretzel as we know it came to be in Lititz and that Pittston is Quality Tomato Capital of the World (because it wouldn’t do to be just the average tomato capital).
Our communities have quirks aplenty with community theatres under pizza shops in Bedford, micro-cinema/arcades in converted garages in Erie and luchador wrestlers in old churches in Hazelton. As a movie scout (and one-time projectionist), I was heartened to find that when the big chains are going dark, so many small movie theatres in towns like Hamburg, Bedford, Bradford, Clearfield (where a real live alligator lives under the theatre), Boyertown, Waynesboro, State College, Ephrata, Lewisburg are still bringing cinema magic to their downtowns. These hometown theatres are beacons to communities like Oxford, Lansdowne, and Mt Lebanon, that have projects on the way to invest in entertainment, arts and experiences for their residents. I truly believe that lively arts are the straw that stirs the drink of economic revitalization (just ask Phoenixville where they would be without the Colonial Theatre & its world famous Blobfest).
Did you know that high in the Poconos, Honesdale is the origin of holiday classic Winter Wonderland and the perennial elementary school favorite Highlights for Children, or that world famous Zippo lighters are PA forged in fire in Bradford, and Nazareth is where Martin Guitars make music or that Oil City was the nation’s nexus of the industry for a generation? There are Bears in every corner of Boyertown, ghosts in Gettysburg, and that Danville has an actual time machine called Beiter’s, a Five & Dime where you can pick up anything from Cub Scout uniforms to plungers to fabric notions and yarn to an erector set. There is a 400lb chocolate turtle the resides in Sharon, and local lore says the nation’s first Christmas tree was decorated in Easton (not to mention their 106-foot Peace Candle that shines through the holidays to bring light and hope to the dark winter nights). There are so many potato chip factories along the Route 30 corridor it shouldn’t be the Lincoln Highway, but Snack Street. It’s true every Main Street would love to have a new brewery, indy coffee shop and bookstore (who wouldn’t), but celebrating what makes each town special and what is already present is so much more. Our communities are forever innovating new and clever ways to promote themselves, whether it’s the ‘Boro Burro’ in Waynesboro, or the Bed Races in Bedford, or the highly anticipated Running of the Wools next year in Washington, we are constantly raising the bar to bring something unique to our communities. After all, Anywhere, USA can be a great place to ‘live, shop & play’, but only Lebanon can drop a bologna on New Years’ Eve.
One of my favorite questions to ask when talking to managers is where/who is your weird and wonderful, and everyone has an answer. It might be a prolific public prophet that makes incendiary signs and stands out on the Main Street in cutoff jeans and cowboy boots, or it might be a guy that dresses like Dracula and brings messages of the doom and gloom, or a conspiracy theory spouting city councilperson. No matter what the town, there are colorful characters who we both endure and endear us. I oft say, when dealing with the local hoi polloi and their drama, to remember to see the comedy, to remember to laugh when you want to scream into that pillow, because our jobs are meant to be fun, and to bring positivity, and laughing allows us to lean into the wave rather than be knocked down by it.
On my first unofficial visit, the new Main Street manager in Bellefonte captured the feelings of nearly all of her colleagues that I would meet in the trips to follow. Despite variants of backgrounds, experience and geography, they share same traits: beaming with enthusiasm about their community, full of ideas, big and small (and could do them all with just a little more funding) tempered with challenges of local politics and modicum of apprehension about the road ahead. But most importantly,\ they see themselves as the conduits of change. Our job is to curate events, get funding for murals and anchor buildings, and keep the neighborhoods looking good, but also, in communities like Erie, Hazelton & Wilkes-Barre, we are tackling social needs like homelessness, diversity and justice. It was this hopeful exuberance that I found time and again in the women and men of Main Streets & Elm Streets that were up to the challenge of real revitalization of not just real estate but in lifting the spirit of their home towns.
Officially my role is to develop our network and offer technical support, but personally for me, it’s really about continuing our conversations, making sure that folks that are miles apart feel close to their colleagues in the Capital and throughout the state so that they can fully experience the commonwealth of connection.
Remember to be curious, not judgmental.
(Oh, and don’t forget the pie.)