Home-grown Appeal: Area resident’s film earns accolades
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An independent movie filmed last year in Altoona has won Sinking Valley resident Steve Shaffer several movie festival awards, including "best short film" at the 2023 Dreamz Catcher International Film Festival and "best dark comedy" at the 2024 Cleveland Arthouse Film Awards.
Shaffer, a religious man with an interest in philosophy and theology, in 1995 wrote a play titled "Judgment" and received over 30 productions in the '90s.
Everyone who was going to produce the play did, according to Shaffer, who -- when considering ways to revive the story -- decided to produce a movie that he directed.
"Once it played itself out, it sat on my computer for more than 20 years waiting for me to revive it. In 2022, I started to look into producing a live touring run of the play and quickly found out how difficult and expensive that was going to be," Shaffer said.
Producing a movie was the most reasonable option financially, and since his thoughts on spirituality had evolved over the two decades since he wrote the play, he thought of a new name for the story.
The spiritual and psychological film titled, "Appealing: A dark comedy about a serious subject," is about a young attorney, portrayed by actor Kelly Warren of York, on the brink of death after being shot in a diner.
The attorney finds herself at the gates of heaven and hell. While standing there, she is sentenced to hell and demands an appeal, Shaffer said.
"She has this sort of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance sequence that she goes through while she is discussing issues of theology, life and death with God," he said, adding the movie was influenced by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief.
After Shaffer produced an annotated copy of the script, he turned to local actors and venues to help him with his project, which also features involvement from members of his family.
His daughter, Colleen, was the script supervisor and continuity checker and his wife, Valerie, was the art director and scene designer for the film since she loves to paint, Shaffer said.
Shaffer said his daughter's contribution to the film was a "very important role in the show" because she made sure the actors weren't standing in the wrong spot for a scene after shooting multiple takes. She also sang the movie's ending credit song, he said.
"She was great with that," he said. "She just stepped in and did that for me, really without much preparation. She just asked to help and she did."
Casting call
Shaffer reached out to Altoona Community Theater Executive Director Tara Enedy, who sent out an email to the theater's actors about a casting call at ArtsAltoona. Michael Manfred, who performs at the theater, said he received an audition and was later slated to co-star as "the father" -- a God-like character -- in the movie. Former Hollidaysburg resident Jess DeLozier also co-starred in the film as "the son" -- a character resembling Jesus Christ.
Manfred said the filming experience was "pretty fun" because it was shot like a play, which allowed the actors to perfect their performances with different takes.
He said he didn't meet any of his co-stars until the day they shot their scenes at ArtsAltoona, but they practiced their lines together over Zoom, which made it easier for them to memorize their lines.
Manfred, who needs prescription glasses to see clearly, said visual aids wouldn't have helped him anyway, since God doesn't wear glasses.
"Even if they had teleprompters or cards or anything, I wouldn't have been able to use those," he said with a laugh.
On March 10 and 11, 2023, Shaffer filmed the majority of the scenes at the ArtsAltoona Center along Sixth Avenue. They filmed the shooting scene at Tom and Joe's Diner along 13th Avenue on June 3.
George Batrus, owner of Tom and Joe's, said other films have recorded scenes in his diner after regular business hours, but Shaffer and his crew had more people to help fill the space and make the scenes look realistic.
He said it "was neat to see" them filming in his diner.
"I thought it was pretty cool," Batrus said. "I know that the movie itself, that's the bigger picture here, but for me to be part of that backdrop is kind of cool."
DeLozier, who is dating Shaffer's daughter, said since he didn't have any prior movie credits to his name, seeing the premiere in mid-August with his friends and family at ArtsAltoona was the most rewarding part of the experience.
"I think most of the actors there have pretty extensive film history so it was a little intimidating in that respect," DeLozier said, adding he has done a lot of theater work in the past.
ArtsAltoona President Donna Gority said most of the movie's scenes were filmed in the ArtsAltoona Center's sanctuary.
Gority is also an extra in an early scene filmed at Tom & Joe's. Viewers can see the back of Gority's head in the scene, if they have a keen attention to detail, as she was sitting in a booth facing the door out to City Hall while the action was filming behind her.
"You can kind of catch a glimpse of me over the top of somebody else's head. But you'd have to know it was me to know it was me," Gority said, adding the movie is a "very interesting perspective" on Christianity and personal choice versus fatalism.
A 'crazy idea'
Shaffer said he rented the ArtsAltoona Center for most of the week to create the sets before filming. But he quickly realized most of the ideas he had for the set were unworkable, including animated neon signs for heaven and hell and using curtains on doorways in a drafty old church, which were impossible to control, he said.
"Even in a relatively small space, you need a lot of knicknacks to keep a shot from looking empty," he said, adding he and his wife shopped all over Blair County for props they could use. "This was a big surprise -- laminate floors are really slippery when you run stage fog over them."
The shooting was on a tight schedule due to the cost of the actors and crew, Shaffer said.
Although several people told him he was insane for thinking the entire film could be shot in two days, filming wrapped up early both days, he said.
Two months later Shaffer said he had a "crazy idea" and decided to call most of the cast and crew back to film an introductory scene at Tom and Joe's Diner.
"My idea was to recreate the final scene from 'The Sopranos,' which was a huge deal when it aired. We filmed the entire eight-minute scene, and I later cut almost all of it," he said.
There were several months of editing the film, according to Shaffer, who said he and Director of Photography Jason Bohn had to reduce 20 hours of film down to 40 minutes to make it a short film.
Together, they sliced the best angles and sound "to get everything just right," Shaffer said.
He said the entire movie was filmed with a single camera, which required them to film three takes of every shot -- one straight on and one over the shoulder of each cast member in the scene.
"In addition to that, there were special effects to add," he said, adding the acoustics at the set weren't ideal for the film. "We had to cut out sounds of passing motorcycles and the periodic train."
Inspirations, influences
When he was a teenager, Shaffer saw the play, "Steambath," written by author Bruce Jay Friedman. "I think that it started to make me realize that you could use theater for dealing with heavier subjects," he said. For his film, he also took inspiration from Darren Aronofsky as a director, of whom Shaffer is "a big fan."
In addition to writing and directing as a hobby, Shaffer used to act, but his most recent performance was over 20 years ago, he said. He has written other plays, but none of them have received more than one production, he said.
Shaffer is currently working on an audio drama called "The Ultimate Question," which is based upon his screenplay of the same name. "The screenplay has received some positive feedback," he said, adding the project should be available on Audible and Spotify when it is completed.
Shaffer studied philosophy at Temple University before switching his major to computer science. After graduating in 1986, he also earned his master's in computer science in 1990 at Villanova University, Montgomery County. In 2006, he earned his doctorate at Penn State University, where he teaches computer science.
In his studies, Shaffer read allegorical stories and classical fiction, like "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan and the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. Both stories have influenced his writing, he said.
Although the film is an adaptation of his play, Shaffer said the story he wrote is "really a culmination of my entire lifetime of study into the nature of religion and philosophy."
To purchase, stream or view the movie's trailer, visit https://appealingfilm.com/. The film is not rated, but does contain adult themes and strong language, according to the website.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.