Al Monelli was one of those get-on-your-bike-and-be-out-til’-dark kind of kids. The parks and woods of Clarks Summit were his stomping grounds. Through middle school and high school at Abington Heights, he would often pester teachers until they’d let him turn in his own original films in lieu of standard book reports.

His love for filmmaking and storytelling sparked early on with inspiration from The Twilight Zone. This passion brought him to Savannah School of Art & Design and then to Long Island University. After graduating, he followed wherever this thread would lead him – early jobs at Marywood University, then Franklikn & Marshall. There, a right place/right time kind of situation led him into documentary filmmaking.

Al has since directed and produced dozens of shorts and three feature-length documentaries. His work has brought him Emmy Awards and several film festival prizes. It also landed him a new career at WVIA, where he has most-recently directed the 10-part digital documentary series, NEPA @ Work, a collaboration between WVIA and DiscoverNEPA with support from Coterra Energy.

We caught up with Al at the Pittston Diner where he waxed poetic about old 50s-styled eateries, drive-in theaters, his WVIA gig and his girls (his wife and two daughters). We also brought out the old hits like Why NEPA?

How long have you lived in NEPA?

Well, I’m about to turn 39. And I lived in Lancaster for nine years. So, I guess you could say that I’ve lived in Clarks Summit, or in Northeastern Pennsylvania for 30 of my 39 years.

What do you love about your town?

I love going for long runs through Clarks Summit. It’s something I do almost every day. I get up at 4:30 AM and I like to head out and run through the streets of Clarks Summit. I do about seven miles and I’ll go past all of the nostalgic places from my childhood. I’ll go right into town. I just love it. I’ve seen the sunrise over Clarks Summit a bazillion times and it never gets old. It’s like our school song — Nestled in the hills of Summit… I think that’s how it goes (laughs).

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

I will have to give that one to the Sunrise Café in Clarks Summit. I go there every week with my dad. We have breakfast once a week. And it’s the kind of place where when you walk in, they know exactly what we’re drinking – we sit down and a coffee and a water appears. I don’t know. I like diners. I’m not a big fan of anywhere where I have to wear a button-down. I love the atmosphere of a diner. You’ve got local cops having coffee and eggs over there and some old guy reading a newspaper over here and talking about politics. When I’m in a diner and I look around, all I see is a richness of stories. And most of these people wouldn’t even think that they had a good story to tell, but I see a great value in every one of their stories.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

I have been going to the Circle Drive-In since I was a kid and not just to see movies, but they also do the Sunday flea market. I have been going to that thing since the 90s. And that is something where I’m actually looking for a story there. I would love to do something about the flea market. I think there’s so much there, you know? It’s such a microcosm of our culture. There are weird, strange things going on there — people like living out of their vans almost, and all the weird things that you can find. There’s just so much there.

And I take my daughters there. They love it and they want to go back. I’ve also taken them to movies at the Circle Drive-In. They’ve been to the Mahoining Drive-In. We go there every year. And we go to the regular movies. I would say my favorite thing to do is going to the movies with my girls. We get popcorn and chocolate and have a great time. Also, just a note, I consider my wife one of my girls. So, if I say my girls I’m referring to my daughters and my wife (laughs).

What’s next for you?

Well, of course, putting out NEPA @ Work, the WVIA digital series (which premiered on 10/16 – a day after this interview). I’m excited for people to see it. The series is 10 short documentaries about 10 different manufacturing companies located in Northeastern Pennsylvania that have a global or national footprint. For example, Gertrude Hawk – we’ll see how a Smidgen is made. Or Yuengling – you’ll see the caves where they used to keep the beer cool before electricity, which is just crazy that they had to do that. Gentex is another cool place that we got to go to. And someone at Gentex told me that the helmet Tom Cruise wears in Top Gun Maverick is a Gentex helmet. I thought that was kind of neat. So, that’s kind of the immediate thing for me. And I’ve accomplished a lot of goals at WVIA, and I’m also always on the lookout for that next mountain to climb – always looking for the next story.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

It’s tough because I look at artificial intelligence and I think of how its might possibly change a lot of things technology-wise and work-wise. Now, obviously, we’ll always need human people and this area has survived so many changes in industry that I think we’ll be ok. We always find a way to figure it out. I also know that there are a lot of people working toward getting some movie production going here. They’re working on some tax incentives and, as a filmmaker that’s great to hear.

I don’t know, man. This is a tough one for me. Remember, I’m a guy who likes going to diners and to the drive-in movie theater (laughs). I’m not really a look into the future type, I guess.

Why NEPA?

I think NEPA is a real fun and funny place. There’s a lot of different accents and different cultures. We have this whole Polka culture and the phrases like heyna’, there’s a lot of funny things about Northeastern PA that are kind of charming. Maybe that’s the word I’m looking for instead of funny. I feel like it’s this untapped resource of stories, you know? Like, sure, I can move to LA and try to be one in a million and tell the same superhero story over and over again, but I would rather find those stories that nobody is telling. For me it’s about finding that small story that has big, universal themes. NEPA has a lot of that. It’s quirky. It’s charming. I love it.