While producing their first feature-length crime thriller, “Wire,” Nate Drew and Max Christopher brought together classmates, alumni and local creatives who continued collaborating long after filming wrapped.
“Our whole film community came from working on that set,” Drew said.
That group effort paid off as Drew, Christopher and their team at 7to8 Production and Distribution screened the film at The Lindsay Theater through its Emerging Filmmakers Showcase, a program that gives independent filmmakers access to professional projection, sound and promotional support as well as a network of fellow local artists.
“It was the first time I had ever publicly shown off my work,” said Christopher, a supply chain and marketing major in the School of Business, who is also minoring in film and media studies. “Being surrounded by friends, family and collaborators was an incredible experience.”
Christopher, originally from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, first envisioned “Wire” as a short film about Devlin, a troubled private investigator who becomes obsessed with solving a mysterious woman’s murder after a phone call ends in a scream and silence.
“At the end, the whole thing gets flipped upside down,” said Drew, a film and media studies and history major in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Drew, who came to Pitt from Philadelphia, added that the film reveals that Devlin has been an unreliable narrator throughout the story.
As the script expanded, Drew and Christopher saw an opportunity for their film to respond to unhealthy stereotypes and rhetoric related to masculinity. The students began shaping the film around questions of denial, shame and self-perception, exploring how young men process identity and pressure.
Drew said they had watched acquaintances and peers fall into a “toxic masculinity pipeline” and wanted the film to prompt viewers to reflect on how personal narratives can distort reality.
“We really wanted to talk about and try to make a movie that would get people thinking — not just about the film and its topics, but about themselves,” said Drew.
Production stretched over a year-and-a-half and eventually brought together on one set roughly 60 cast and crew members, including Pitt alumni and students and local creatives connected through campus organizations like Steel City Entertainment Networking Entity (SCENE).
“Everyone there was working for free because they believed in it and wanted to learn,” Drew said.
That scale was possible in part because of Pitt’s backing. Through SCENE, the team secured a $50,000 equipment grant that provided access to professional-grade gear for “Wire” and other student productions — and the support didn’t end there.
“The people that I have worked with at Pitt … everyone there wanted to see us succeed, and wanted to support us,” Drew said.
In 2023, 7to8 began as a grassroots effort to help student filmmakers bring scripts to life before becoming an organized operation and production team. The company is owned and led by producer Adam Snook, who played a central role in producing “Wire.” Along with Drew and Christopher, the core team now includes Pitt students Zain Adamo and Maia Nikolova.
A portrait of Pittsburgh
Drew and Christopher are graduating this spring after years of working on their studies, as well as their film. Watching the finished product of “Wire” at The Lindsay felt, Drew said, like opening a time capsule of their years in Oakland — capturing locations that have since changed ownership or disappeared entirely.
“We were able to sit there and basically watch our college experience play out on a screen,” Drew said.
The film also reflects the duo’s own growth. Conceived with novice instincts and finished with years of technical development behind them, Drew and Christopher said the release of “Wire” marks both how far they have come and how much they have learned.
After graduation, Drew plans to remain in Pittsburgh and continue building 7to8’s independent projects. Christopher said he hopes to keep telling stories rooted in Western Pennsylvania, wherever his filmmaking career takes him.
“Whether it involves the city’s history, people or unique landscape, I want to continue to highlight the region where I was born and raised,” Christopher said. “Pittsburgh will always be with me on that journey.”
The team is currently exploring additional screening opportunities and distribution options for “Wire.” For now, you can catch a trailer of the movie on their YouTube channel.