The Road To Discovery Begins At '30'

By Ted Scheid
cbs3.com Film Festival Coverage
PHILADELPHIA

The open road has beckoned storytellers for centuries with its seemingly endless opportunity for discovery. First-time filmmaker Curtis Pollock heeds the call in his new film 30, which premieres as a work in progress at the 16th Philadelphia Film Festival.

Writers and filmmakers alike, from Jack Kerouac to David Lynch, have been enamored with the idea of cutting loose and taking to the highways and byways of the United States.

Pennsylvania-native Curtis Pollock, 30, showcases one man’s fictional coast to coast journey in his first feature film 30.

“It’s about a 30 year old who wakes up on his 30th birthday and gets dumped by his girlfriend, has a bad night at the bar and decides to take his luck to Atlantic City,” Pollock said. “When he wins a little money, he finds a car, buys a car, sees Route 30 and takes it west.

“Each city that he goes to as he’s going west sort of propels him further and further into his little adventure, all the way to the west coast. It goes from Jersey to Oregon.”

Pollock, who currently lives in Austin, Texas, was well acquainted with the two lane wide highway while growing up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

“Route 30 was our highway that took us into Pittsburgh,” he said. ‘Everybody thinks it’s the same local road that it just goes from one town to the next, but they don’t realize that it goes from one coast to the other.

“I was originally thinking of perhaps a documentary about Route 30 and then I started thinking about having a 30-year-old taking Route 30.”

While in Hoboken, New Jersey, Pollock reconnected with Chris Halleron, a friend he had previously bartended with several years back. After reading an article in a bi-weekly column authored by Halleron, Pollock realized he had found his wandering protagonist.

“He wrote an article about ‘Come out and celebrate his 30th birthday,’ and I thought, ‘Well here’s a 30-year-old who just got recently dumped by his girlfriend and he doesn’t enjoy his job bartending and he’d rather write,’ and I thought it was just the perfect casting call,” Pollock said.

Beginning in the summer of 2005, the cast and crew, comprised of mostly first-timers, geared up and hit the road with a donated Chevrolet Corvair.

“We did start in Atlantic City and then got in a car and just went west. About 24 days with 12 people,” Pollock said. “Along the way it’s very authentic. All the exteriors you’re seeing are on Route 30.”

A month of shooting brought with it a wealth of experiences, including an impromptu stop at a Corvair convention to obtain a spare transmission and a memorable moment.

“We got some unbelievable footage from very kind people that had no idea who we were and charged us absolutely no money, so I’m very appreciative to the Iowa Corvair enthusiasts,” Pollock said.

Generosity was the driving force of the film as Pollock said a majority of the cast was willing to forgo a payday in exchange for the opportunity.

Seasoned actors, like “Little Orphan Annie” star Aileen Quinn, joined those who had zero experience in front of the lens in the cinematic adventure.

“Basically everybody’s talents were free and that was the big gift,” Pollock said. “All along the way everybody was very helpful, very kind and took us in wherever we went, especially the further west we went.”

Keeping the wheels turning in 30 is a funky soundtrack written by New York jazz ensemble Second Movement. Pollock said a college friend introduced him to the group of talented musicians several years ago.

“They have a very good groove and I could hear that as we were driving. It was definitely important to me to have that kind of music that was helping to propel the visual images as we were going along,” he said.

After a month of shooting, approximately four months of editing and countless hours of post-production (with several still left), Pollock’s road trip opus 30 will have its sold-out premiere at the National Constitution Center on April 13 at 9:30 p.m.

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