by Len Lear

You might be excused for thinking that all American filmmakers live and work in or near Hollywood, and you might be surprised that one of the more talented contemporary filmmakers, David Greenberg, lives right here in Chestnut Hill.

David, 51, who teaches screenwriting and film history at the University Of The Arts and Drexel University, specializes in writing screenplays for ultra-low budget films and shorts over the last 30 years. Since 2006 he has been hired to write or doctor dozens of feature, short and documentary film screenplays. Features written by him, "What Matters Most" and "Used To Love Her," have been produced as well as a documentary, "Bonnie & Clyde: Lovers On The Run."

David wrote and directed "Interrogation," a short, in 2015. His 1995 short film, “The True Meaning Of Cool,” won an award from The American Film Institute. He made “Jumpcuts: An Art Film” in 1996. He shot “The Audition” in 2009, which was screened at the Idyllwild Film Festival in Southern California. In 2011 he produced, directed, shot, edited and wrote "Love, Park." Also in 2011, his screenplay, "April, Mae and Joon," was adapted into the film "Sugar Cookie.”

David graduated from the film program at Temple University and quickly found work on both indie films and Hollywood features, working his way up the production ladder for a few before deciding to focus on screenwriting and getting his first jobs in the mid-‘90s.

Greenberg has worked as a writer-for-hire, developing projects for the film division of a record label that were pitched to HBO, Abel Ferrera, Forest Whitaker and others. His original screenplays have attracted attention throughout the industry, from Oscar-nominated producers to Sundance Award winners.

He regularly consults with established filmmakers who seek him out for his advice and opinions. "David is one of the most hard-working and dedicated screenwriters I have ever known,” said Rel Dowdell, a Philadelphia filmmaker and Germantown native. “He has certainly paid his dues, and I am elated to see him getting the opportunities he deserves."

“I am currently helping a friend, another local filmmaker, produce his bio-pic of controversial Philly civil rights activist Cecil B. Moore,” Greenberg told us last week.

“It's the best screenplay I've read in years, and if we can pull it off the way we want to, it will be a great film, not at all a typical biography. Another friend just wrote a great low-budget horror film, so I am planning to help him with that — probably just a two man crew with each of us doing everything, even some acting.”

Raised in Mt. Airy and Germantown, Greenberg's father, Arnold, founded The Crefeld School in Chestnut Hill. Greenberg attended Crefeld (originally called The Miquon Upper School) after attending The Miquon School in Conshohocken. (The Local's Arnie cartoon is supposedly named after Greenberg's father.)

When he graduated from Temple U. in 1987, David's first job was on the set of a small budget film shot in Maine, where he did everything from filling gas tanks to serving as second assistant cameraman. He got the job by calling the director over and over and eventually just showing up on site. He worked for free. He was in Maine because his dad, who owned a restaurant in Frenchtown, N.J., had opened another location in Maine.

Greenberg's work so impressed the director that he recommended Greenberg for a job with a Hollywood producer. Greenberg thus found himself working on the set of “Pet Sematary,” a major 1989 production based on an early horror novel by Stephen King.

“I started work on 'Pet Sematary' two days after finishing work on a low-budget independent film, so the experience of going from a scrappy $1 million production to a major studio production with a budget of $20 million was pretty dramatic.

“I worked for no money on a small film where I worked in every department on the crew, did everything from washing the producer's car to being assistant cameraman, to being actor Vincent D'Onofrio's body double (even though he's about a foot taller than I am), once spending 45 hours straight on set.

“Then I went to a big Hollywood production where I had one job, working in the set construction department, did the same thing every day, had the same hours every day and made really good money.

“Ultimately, it was a really important experience because I got to compare the ridiculous excess of a big movie with the 'every penny counts' philosophy of an indie film.

“I was really turned off by the amount of waste that I saw on the big film, and I resolved to, if given the chance, only make fiscally responsible films, only use what I need and not waste anything.”

But Greenberg's most important project to date, "Stomping Ground," the first feature-length film for which he has done all the writing and directing and which has been years in the making, will premiere at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival on Saturday, May 7. It has already attracted industry attention.

"Stomping Ground" is a gritty, intense coming-of-age drama about four tough young buddies whose "day off" at their childhood hangout deep in Fairmount Park turns suddenly violent, leaving them not just on the run from the police and a vicious gang but also forced to confront a moral dilemma and, ultimately, a dark secret that threatens their friendship and their lives.

The micro-budget film was financed through a Kickstarter campaign and, even then, was only able to happen because so many members of the crew worked for deeply discounted rates as a personal favor to Greenberg either because he had done work for them in the past or simply because they just like him. (He is likable.)

What is the best advice Greenberg ever received? “Don't go to bed with dishes in the sink, and never leave the house with the bed unmade.”

“Stomping Ground,” which is 72 minutes long, will be screened at the Connelly Auditorium in the University of the Arts, 211 South Broad St., 8th floor, 12 noon. Greenberg will be in attendance.

Ticket information at bit.ly/LocalPaPremier. More information about the festival at www.philadelphiaindependentfilmfestival.com. More information about Greenberg at www.davidjgreenberg.com.