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ABC 7 HIRED TWO DAYTIME PROS to create and oversee a new post-Oprah live, local morning show to originate from Ch. 7′ State Street studios.

Heading the production team of tentatively titled show, “Morning Rush,” are two producers with extensive experience in live, daytime television. Executive producer is Marlaine Selip, former EP of Ch.

THE PILOT FOR “ATF” (short for the U. S. Justice Department’s Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Bureau) will be the third hourlong TV drama to film on Chicago locations, starting the end of March.

Executive producer Michael Dinner, TV series veteran of some 27 shows, including 2009’s Chicago-shot “The Beast,” wrote the pilot and will direct.

“ATF” centers on an ATF agent who hunts down the most dangerous criminals while trying to balance life as a dad to his teenage daughter who has re-entered his life.

ALWAYS BUSY GEORGE ELDER of Luminair wrapped the Chicago shoot for the seventh season of “Mexico: One Plate at a Time.”

The half-hour TV shows are shot in Chicago at the home of restaurateur Rick Bayless, owner of top-rated Topo Lobampo, and in warm, sunny Mexico, where Elder, Bayless and crew will be headed in January.

FILM WISCONSIN: A cast and crew of 150 are filming “Road to Emmaus,” a drama based on a Bible story, Ozaukee County filming(northeast of Milwaukee).

POLITICOS WEREN’T ALONE IN THE SPOTLIGHT at the recent Democratic and Republican Conventions.

Producer Carey Lundin’s alter ego, “Citizen Kate,” star of the increasing popular website, www.citizenkate.com, struck high saturation pay dirt. “We proved that hard work, planning, creativity and just showing up, are all it takes to be successful,” says Lundin. At the two national conventions, “Kate,” aka actress Kate Soglin, got her share of the spotlight.

ACTOR DAVID PASQUESI’S TV SERIES, “Factory,” will bow June 29 on Spike TV, but Pasquesi may not see the premiere episode.

He is filming in Rome, in the super big-budget “Angels and Demons” from Imagine Entertainment and based on author Dan Brown’s prequel to “The DaVinci Code.”

The largely improvised “Factory” is about four guys ? Mitch Rouse, Jay Leggett, Michael Coleman and Pasquesi — who grew up together in the same small Illinois town and now work in the local factory.

ACTOR DAVID PASQUESI’S TV SERIES, “Factory,” will bow June 29 on Spike TV, but Pasquesi may not see the premiere episode in Rome, where he’s garnering a nifty credit in the super big-budget “Angels and Demons” from Imagine Entertainment.

It’s based on the Dan Brown novel, actually the prequel to “The DaVinci Code,” and Tom Hanks again portrays symbologist Robert Langdon.

The largely improvised “Factory” is about four guys ?

CHEVY CHASE hosts an evening at Sundance for the world premiere of Phil Ranstrom’s doc, “Electrified: The Story of the Maxwell St. Urban Blues” Jan 25 at Harry O’s in Park City.

Narrated by Chicago native Joe Mantegna, “Electrified” tells how Maxwell Street’s neighborhood led to the hard driving sound of the urban blues and ultimately to rock ?n’ roll.

Ranstrom’s companion film, “Cheat You Fair,” documents the last days of Maxwell Street market. Ranstrom began both projects in 1994 shortly before the Maxwell Street market was demolished.

“LEVERAGE,” a TV pilot from Dean Devlin’s TNT Entertainment goes into production Oct. 6-15 in Chicago, having won out over Portland, Vancouver and Montreal, thanks to the abundance of perfectly suited office space available here that’s required by the story.

“That and Illinois’ tax incentives cinched the deal,” says the IFO’s Todd Lizak, who heads IFO scouting.

The story’s about a team of high stakes, high-tech thieves who circle the globe to rob from wealthy criminals, corrupt businessmen and venal politicians.

MARK EGMON decided to step down as president of AICP’s Midwest chapter after an intense six years of service “to focus more intensely” on his growing branded entertainment company, Outer Radius.

The big Nov. 16 AICP Show will be Egmon’s seventh and he is predicting the biggest, with more than 800 attendees.

AICP board treasurer Joanne Bittmann of Crossroads also decided not to seek reelection next month.

IPA also will vote for a new board president as Eileen Willenborg, SAG/AFTRA executive director, won’t seek reelection.

MARK EGMON decided to step down as president of AICP’s Midwest chapter after an intense six years of service “to focus more intensely” on his growing branded entertainment company, Outer Radius.

The big Nov. 16 AICP Show will be Egmon’s seventh and he is predicting the biggest, with more than 800 attendees.

AICP board treasurer Joanne Bittmann of Crossroads also decided not to seek reelection next month.

IPA also will vote for a new board president as Eileen Willenborg, SAG/AFTRA executive director, won’t seek reelection.

The only Illinois-shot feature at the Sundance Film Festival this year was 26-year-old Brian Jun’s gritty family drama “Steel City,” shot in his native Alton.

“Steel City” stars John Heard (“Prison Break”), America Ferrera (“Real Women Have Curves”), and Steppenwolf company member Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”).

Heard had starred in Jun’s short “Researching Raymond Burke” at the Fox Searchlab, after his earlier short “Jimmy Brown” screened at the Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival.

VINCE VAUGHN, whose every meal, drink and partying fills inches of column space, will give columnists serious delirium long after his film, “The Break Up,” wraps and the players return to Hollywood.

Vaughn plans on becoming a permanent Chicago resident, by virtue of the condo he’s in the process of buying and his shiny new Illinois drivers’ license.

An estimated 100-plus vendors, many of them women and minority businesses certified to do business with the city and state, attended the Minority Vendors Summit to learn about business opportunities in the film industry.

Held Feb. 26 at the South Shore Country Club, the Summit was a collaborative effort to increase diversity hiring of workers and vendors, a key factor in determining an extended life of the wage tax credit bill. The bill is due to end January, 2006.

But the bill’s extension could be stalled or ultimately killed, stated state Sen.

NATHYN MASTERS’ debut feature, the apocalyptic thriller “The Fourth Beast” about a former army ranger taking on the forces of the Antichrist, was released on DVD Feb. 15 by York Entertainment. “The Fourth Beast” stars Jon Ross, Katie Getty, Jason Walsh and Glenn Dhont. Masters was associate producer on Xenophobia Films’ dance feature “Open Your Heart” last December.

Masters, Ross and “Fourth Beast” producer John Rogers are producing Whitney Barber’s dark comedy short “La Petite Morte” in April.

The 4th Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, aka Sketchfest, at the Theatre Building is running on all three 150-seat stages simultaneously from now through Jan. 16.

One hundred-plus shows will be mounted by 83 local, national and Canadian sketch troupes chosen from more than 160 applicants.

Sketchfest’s special events include a comedy writing workshop, “How to be Funny Even if You’re Sketchy,” taught by John Vorhaus, veteran Hollywood comedy/sitcom writer (“Married?with Children”) Jan. 15. It will be followed by a panel of Chicago’s premier comedymeisters.

CRAIG JAMES PIETROWIAK of Squid Brothers and Scott Preston of American Stonehenge Films are joining forces to co-produce two back-to-back HD features next year.

First up in spring is Pietrowiak’s under-$75,000 “Wrigleyville,” a coming-of-age ensemble drama that he’s been developing as a TV pilot. He plans both feature-length and hour-long cuts, “to maximize exposure.” Financing is from retired People’s Gas employee, E.P. Patrick Hogan.

This is the second in a two-part survey of local documentarians, who they are, their background and credits. Ranging from national leaders like Kartemquin, Towers and Kurtis Productions, to small to mid-size companies, they capture public imagination and affect social change by telling true stories.

Bob Hercules Lesbian military drama script based on true story set for reading in L.A. Catherine Crouch is set to follow up her debut feature, “Stray Dogs,” with the lesbian military drama “Half Life.” Set during the first Gulf War, “Half Life” is a love story between a Chicago journalist and a career soldier, who are both investigating the case of a lesbian soldier being discharged after suffering chemical exposure in the Gulf. Crouch adapted the script from an unpublished novel by producer Tracy Baim, publisher and managing editor of Windy City Media Group, which includes the weekly Windy City Times. Chicago’s 200 theaters in full swing By Jonathan Abarbanel A warm and cordial welcome to Jonathan Abarbanel, whose regular columns many of you will remember from the Original Screen magazine. The theatre maven extraordinaire will keep ReelChicago readers updated on Chicago’s vibrant theatre scene on a semi-regular basis. THE NEW SEASON among Chicago’s 200-or-so theater companies is in full swing, with more than 40 theater openings in September and another 40-plus in October. Steve Dahl opts out of “Soundstage;” music series starts July 3 on Ch. 11 Steve Dahl has split with HD Ready Productions, the company he founded with music producer Joe Thomas to produce the new HD version of the “Soundstage” music series with Ch. 11. Dahl gave as his reason the need to concentrate on his radio show. He also didn’t realize how time-intensive producing a show like this was, said his assistant, Deb Cullen. “Now that the project has wings, I’m free to pull back,” Dahl had told the Sun-Times’ Rob Feder. Green’s indie feature starts self-distribution route in Chicago John Mahoney and Ian Gomez star in Terry Green’s “Almost Salinas.”