The Rehabilitation of the Hill was designed as a community teaching film which gave those who live in the Hill District and surrounding communities as well Pitt students the opportunity to work alongside experience film professionals in telling a moving story about the challenges of community development.  Before the production, Demetrius and I co-hosted filmmaking workshops at The Hill House to identify those who may want to be part of this film, as well as help train people for when productions like Denzel Washington’s productions of Fences and Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom come to town.

For more, please read the articles below about the making of the film.

https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/in-rehabilitation-of-the-hill-filmmaking-is-a-community-project/

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2017/04/16/Pittsburgh-film-Hill-District-The-Rehabilitation-of-the-Hill-trains-new-actors-tradespeople-Demetrius-Wren/stories/201704160032

https://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/story/pitt-class-producing-feature-film-local-actors-hill-district

And watch this video with director Demetrius Wren discussing the idea of a community teaching film.

Watch this segment from The Reel Teens on the making of the movie:

Watch this documentary on the project which was produced by Pitt students in my Making The Documentary Class:

And visit the website for the film here.

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It was during this internship that Carl wrote the first draft of a screenplay and got “gazpacho, no croutons, no sour cream, and chopped egg on the side” for director Joel Schumacher.   A year  later, Kurlander would wind Joel’s assistant on the movie “D.C Cab” with Mr. T where Joel would make fun of Kurlander’s  notion that he had his own “generation” and assuring Carl that young people are always searching for identity, meaning, love, and success.

This dialogue led to the script they would both write months later about life after college.  In addition to the St. Elmo’s Fire subplot of unrequited love played out with Emilio Estevez and Andie McDowell, Schumacher and Kurlander drew from other friends and life experiences that were happening to Carl.   “St. Elmo’s Fire” is a nautical phenomenon that sailors would see at night that would let them know they would be okay.  But it also had a magical quality as the movie they wrote would get made within a year and become a film which remains in the culture, for better or worse, decades later.

On occasion, it is even said to capture a generation that came of age in the 1980s, but Carl has also learned to appreciate Joel’s wisdom, that young people continue to go through everything depicted in the movie which is why perhaps the movie still resonates with so many.

Read Carl’s reflections on St. Elmo’s Fire’s 35th anniversary:

‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ Hits 35; Co-Writer Carl Kurlander Recalls Joel Schumacher’s Quintessential ’80s Movie

And his tribute to director Joel Schumacher:

Joel Schumacher’s ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ Co-Writer Carl Kurlander On A Mentor’s Generosity & Influence

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