t was “lights, camera, action!” as Hollywood came to Absolute Value Academy in the Galleria. Filmmaker Michael Fimognari brought his expertise to a five-day master class, Filmmaking: From Script to Screen.
Fimognari, a resident of Mt. Lebanon for the past nine years, is known for his work on The Haunting of Hill House, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and a number of other big-name projects.
How does a Hollywood filmmaker end up putting down roots in Mt. Lebanon? After living in Los Angeles, Fimognari and his family were looking for a city that had good schools and all the things that big cities have, “but without the big city headaches,” he said.
On one of his trips to eastern Ohio to visit his parents, he got off at the Mt. Lebanon exit and came to realize, as he put it, “that drive was special.” Having spent a lot of time at the library in Pasadena, he knew if he was going to move somewhere, the library had to be something special. The first place he visited that day was Mt. Lebanon Public Library. “And, when the time came to make our decision to leave L.A., we chose Pittsburgh and we chose Mt. Lebanon,” he said.
Fimognari treated the 12 students to a deep dive into the process of filmmaking and all its intricacies. “It’s the communication that matters the most,” Fimognari told the class, which included a couple of high schoolers, several college students and a few others, including 82-year-old Greenhurst Drive resident Margie Cohen.
Cohen is no stranger to the theater. She studied at the Pittsburgh Playhouse as a teenager, did summer stock at Little Lake Theatre and took part in other productions in the Pittsburgh area. “I walked into the Galleria and I saw the sign and I thought, oh wow, you know, I did stage but I’ve never been on a film set. And, I thought, wouldn’t that be interesting, so I signed right up for it,” she said.
Michaelene Palermo and Maggie Frey, two seniors at Point Park University, got the opportunity to be assistants and help set up lights and cameras for Fimognari. “It’s an opportunity to take a class that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to take,” Palermo said.
“It’s been nice to actually have an opportunity like this,” Frey added.
That’s something Fimognari values.
“I do believe deeply in sharing what I’ve learned and what my experiences are. I had teachers and mentors along the way who gave their time to me and made a difference in my career,”
he said.
Heather and Tom Earley, Pinoak Road, started Absolute Value in 2016 to help young adults navigate SAT testing, mathematics, language and literature, and emerging technologies and software. It has since evolved into an educational facility with a variety of courses.
Fimognari’s kids are veterans of Absolute Value, which has since relocated to Fort Couch Road in Bethel Park. “I’ve seen firsthand the way they handled their workshops for kids and how they’re doing a special thing in the community and I wanted to be a part of it,” he said.