The least Delco thing about Delaware County native Chris Pierdomenico is that he no longer lives in Delco.
In this suburban Philadelphia county where nativity is as much of a badge of pride as the Delco flags that fly on front porches, leaving is rarely deemed worth the effort or condoned.
Why move anywhere else when you live in a land Wawa calls home, where the bars have names like Tipsy McStagger’s, and where they celebrate Delco Day (on June 10, in honor of the county’s 610-area code) and minigolf at Delcoland?
Love will make you do funny things, though.
“In my wedding vows I had to promise my wife I wouldn’t make her die in Delco,” Pierdomenico, 37, said. “That’s why we live in North East, Md.”
But years ago, Pierdomenico also made a vow to himself — to remake the film he created as a teen about three high school seniors who decide to live a day “the Delco way.”
“The Delco way is jump first, ask questions later,” he said.
Pierdomenico is finally ready to fulfill that vow and film his magnum opus, Delco: The Movie, with a cast that includes Philly native Brian Anthony Wilson, who played Det. Vernon Holley on The Wire; Brian Dunkleman, who co-hosted the first season of American Idol with Ryan Seacrest; and one of the actors who inspired Pierdomenico into filmmaking, Brian O’Halloran, who is Dante Hicks in the Clerks franchise.
“It’s extremely surreal, it’s something that is a dream of mine, really,” Pierdomenico said. “What a perfect situation, a movie that was inspired by Clerks and has a clerk in the movie.”
‘Core memories’
O’Halloran met Pierdomenico at a Clerks fan event and has appeared at the Delco Film Festival Pierdomenico hosts. The actor said he wanted to be a part of the movie because he admires Pierdomenico’s talent and tenacity.
“I always find that independent filmmakers, a lot of the effort is through the passion of wanting to do it, of wanting to tell their story, as opposed to ‘We’re going to make a lot of money off it, we’ll get this great director and these big stars,’ ” O’Halloran said.
“Sometimes that can be a little soulless and machine-like. While independent film, the struggles to raise finances, the volunteer aspect, and everything that goes into it, usually results in a much deeper storyline being told, and a much more deeper push behind it,” O’Halloran said.
Pierdomenico not only wrote the film, he’s also the director, producer, and editor. He financed the project entirely through crowdfunding on Seed & Spark. He named his incentives for donors after nostalgic spots in Delco like the Bazaar and Pulsations Night Club, and raised more than $59,000 in 30 days, far exceeding his $30,000 goal.
“I received so many DMs from people saying ‘I think it’s so cool you’re doing this, I grew up in Delco and I want to help in some way,’ ” he said. “I think it really stirred up some core memories for people.”
Amid the ongoing writers and actors strikes, Pierdomenico applied for an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA, which was granted this week. He plans to begin filming in the fall.
‘Chrispy’
Pierdomenico — who got the nickname Chrispy when his eighth grade teacher portmanteau-ed “Chris” and “P” and it stuck — grew up in Parkside, Brookhaven, and Aston, where he attended Sun Valley High School.
He always knew he wanted to be a storyteller, but didn’t know what kind until 2003, when he watched Kevin Smith’s 1994 comedy, Clerks, for the first time.
“That made me say ‘Oh, OK, this is something that is actually possible to do,’ ” Pierdomenico said.
For his senior project in 2004, Pierdomenico wrote a script about three Delco teens, persuaded 10 of his friends to film it over four months, and premiered it at his high school auditorium.
“That was a pretty monumental occasion,” he said.
Pierdomenico then attended West Chester University, where he majored in secondary English education. For the last decade, he’s blended his love of teaching and filmmaking as the TV and video production teacher at Oxford Area High School in Chester County.
In that time, he’s done a handful of films, like the 2020 short Jesus V. Satan: Rise of the Zombies about Jesus and Satan competing for mayor in a town in the middle of a zombie pandemic.
Wilson, the Germantown/Mount Airy native who now lives in South Jersey, was featured in that film. With more than 200 credits on his IMDB page, Wilson said low-budget indies are his “bread and butter.”
“I’m a big Black dude, 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds. I’ve done a handful of studio films like The Postman, Ocean’s 8, and Limitless, but the majority of things I’m going to be typecast out. I’m either going to be a cop or a prisoner,” he said.
“With indie films they look past stuff and cast to what your ability is. I can play anything and I love working with younger filmmakers who have this passion and haven’t been dulled by the business.”
‘Hell or Delco?’
After 20 years of reworking his original script, the only thing Pierdomenico kept are the characters: Wayne, Jess, and Adam; the setting: a high school in Delco; and the time period: one day in 2004.
The current version leans much more into Delco as a character, he said.
“I think every artist has a complicated relationship with where they grew up, and that’s sort of the theme of the movie. I think we’re asking the question: ‘What’s the worse fate, hell or Delco?’ ” Pierdomenico said.
The coming-of-age film is about three Delco friends who haven’t broken any rules in their lives. The protagonist, Wayne, whose father is a pastor (played by O’Halloran), is having a crisis of faith. His friend Adam wants him to continue to follow the rules, while his friend Jess encourages him to “make a ruckus” and live “the Delco way.”
South Philly actor Jenna Kuerzi plays Jess.
“There’s something really fun about a buddy comedy but in Delco, and I’m always drawn to things that can only be made in the Philadelphia area,” she said. “I also like silly things with a tiny message. They don’t have to hit you over the head with it.”
‘Write your story’
Pierdomenico said the movie has a Delco “Easter egg for everybody.” Planned filming locations include Tom Jones Family Restaurant, the Media Theatre, and the Brookhaven Police Department, which answered Pierdomenico’s call-out to film at a jail cell.
“When good kids try to behave badly and try to break rules for the first time, they do a real bad job at it,” he said.
One of the biggest scenes will be filmed at an undisclosed church in Delco where O’Halloran is the pastor and Wilson his boss, the Rev. Charleston. Donors to the crowdfunding campaign paid $37 each to appear as extras in that scene.
O’Halloran said that while there will always be people writing about the Oppenheimers and Barbies of the world, with Delco: The Movie, Pierdomenico is making a story that otherwise wouldn’t be told.
“If you wait for someone to write your story, you’ll be waiting your entire life, or until someone else tells it at your funeral,” he said. “So write your story while you can, while you’re living, and make it yours. If people see it, awesome. If not, at least you told your story.”
This content was originally published here.
