Sunday, September 17, 2017

Center City: The Pitch


CENTER CITY
Giovanni Vitacolonna



Logline: A woman now finds herself in charge of a bustling downtown restaurant with her two sons as she struggles to keep her legacy alive while overcoming the dramas of her past.

Tag: “If secrets be the food of love, there’s a feast in Center City. Come hungry.”

Anna and her two handsome sons run a successful Italian restaurant on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. This is a passionate world full of warmth, food, music and a lot of history that will start to unravel and reveal the truth. Each character is a vivid piece of the puzzle. We are at a buffet table of emotions, good, bad and everything in between.

The pilot was written by Giovanni Vitacolonna and edited by David A Gregory.




  

THE CHARACTERS:

Anna Fontana De Marco: 50. AttractiveSicilian American restaurant owner of Gaetano's. Feminineyet formidable. A matriarch who loves her two sons more than anything. Opinionated and controlling yet caring at the same time. She yearns to love again. 

Marc De Marco: 30. Tall, athletic and hauntingly attractive. Appears calm and in control to the world but beneath the surface lies a tortured soul. Struggles with his homosexuality, his decision to leave the priesthood and his specific sexual proclivity. It is through the telling of Marc’s story that the Church is taken to task. Possible gay sexual nudity.
   
Domenic De Marco: 25. Italian-American. Strikingly good looking. Confident, cocky and flirtatious, but very much in love with his fiancĂ©e. Both street and book smart, he keeps his educated life under wraps so as not to distance himself too much from "the neighborhood" where his family is from, South Philly. Possible sexual nudity. 

Valerie Festa: 25. Strikingly beautiful Afro-Italian, Single mother. Very much in love with her fiancĂ©, Domenic De Marco. Her singing can mesmerize you. Positive and forward thinking despite the hardships that she has faced in life.  An activist and advocate for HIV/AIDS causes. Possible sexual nudity

Thomas "Tommy" Avalon (Alvarez): mid to late 20's. Handsome and athletic but the weight of his struggles are worn on his face. The sous-chef at Gaetano's but eager for more responsibility. Secretly in love with Marc. Not an alcoholic, but when we first meet him he has a reliance upon alcohol to soothe his demons. Puerto Rican. A former male prostitute. Possible gay sexual nudity. 

Nicola “Nick” De Marco (50) is a charming rapscallion once married to Anna and father to Domenic and Marc. He has a reputation for being a womanizer and an absentee father. His goal is to redeem himself to a certain extent with his family. He “sits” on many solutions to the puzzle.

Mike Sheehan: (38). Ruggedly handsome, Irish American. A charming rogue that may or may not be connected to the mob. He is a bartender at the restaurant and a former cop. His personable demeanor should not be cause to underestimate him. He has the ability to go from charming to deadly in the blink of an eye.





Marlena Hightower Festa:  50s. MajesticAfrican American woman. A doctor specializing in infectious diseases. Intelligent and outspoken, she isn't afraid of anyone...not even Anna De Marco. Her daughter, Valerie, is the pride and joy of her life. 

Gianni Festa 50s is a gentle soul and a musician. It is through him that Valerie gets her love of music. He adores his daughter and is a very protective father and adoring husband. He plays the guitar and used to tour as a folk-rock musician

Agato Terranova (55-60) is the most enigmatic of the bunch, very inscrutable and may very well be part of the mob. It behooves him to let Eleanora, his “Norina” to take center stage—that way less attention is paid to him.

Rita Avalon (Alvarez) (50s) is from the old neighborhood. She has a history Mike. She is very devoted to her surviving son Tommy and wants to help him “rise up.” She wants Mike back and is, therefore, something of a foil for Anna. She is Puerto Rican with Sephardic heritage and loves the occult.


Gaetano Fontana (43-50) Anna’s fraternal twin and Nick’s best friend is an artistic soul who is also an executive chef. He almost has celebrity status as the original “star” of the restaurant his disappearance and/or possible death is the trigger for the plot.

Eleanora “Norina” De Marco Terranova (47) is a generally happy and caring person, more devoted to her former sister-in-law than her own brother. She loves a good time, she is also caring and wise. Her catch phrase is ‘una calatt’ i.e. tutto in una calata  (down the hatch). Her secret: she fears her husband may have mob ties.

Enrico “Harry” Terranova: 25. Italian-American. Recently deployed to the Middle East and now back home. He is his mother’s pride and joy and confounds his father, Agato. Heis brooding but best friend to his more expansive cousin, Domenic.

Filomena DeMarco: 75. Old school South Philly matron, somewhat demented. She drinks and smokes. Something of a Greek chorus. A bit of comic relief now and then.

Jacob Scaletta (45) is for all intents and purposes a good priest who teaches at the local high school. He is a powerful, athletic man with a wrestling obsession and an erotic asphyxiation fetish. He is in love with Marc. The combination of all of the above does him in.

Joe “Jungle Joe” Avalon (deceased) is a contemporary of Marc’s. He was brought up by Rita. He worked for Agato. He is a swarthy tough guy, whose life and death touch more than one character.

Lorenzo Festa (6) is Valerie’s son, curly headed tyke who, like his mother, is Italian and Black. He is smart and something of a handful. The revelation of his paternity is pivotal for this character driven story.



Italians are the spice of life and while not everyone in Center City is Italian, it is Anna and family who are the nucleus and set the stage. The history of the Fontana-De Marcos and their network of friends and family is at the center of the story. It will provide ample opportunity for back story. Where in the world is Gaetano Fontana? Is he really dead? The answer to that question and other unresolved secrets provide a backdrop for the ensuing character driven story. “A bottle of red, a bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite. I’ll meet you any time you want in our Italian restaurant.” (Billy Joel). The tapestry of the diversity of Philadelphia culture is the backdrop for our story.

This passionate world will draw you into a complex yet endearing group of identifiable people dealing with such issues as interpersonal relationships, the hypocrisy of organized religion, gay story lines and a touch of the mob.  Anna Fontana is a South Philly girl moved uptown to Center City and Rittenhouse Square. She wants to maintain the upward mobility of her family.  Anna wants to maintain control over events and things, even those over which she has no control. While she likes to run the show, she loves her family, even those who are no longer around.


Giovanni Vitacolonna

12th & Latona Productions                                                       Telephone:  646.246.6346