EAST COUNTY DAD HOSTS WORLD PREMIERE EVENT JULY 10 AND 11

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Kathy Carpenter

Associate and Youth Reviewer www.sdtheatrereviews.com

July 7, 2015 (La Mesa) - Frustrated as a college student screenwriter, Chris Montgomery recalls, life happened. Years later, the La Mesa father decided his time had come.  After watching many children's shows both good and bad, he decided he could put together a movie kids would watch and  that parents would approve. Olivia's Island Adventure will premiere at the San Diego Performing Arts Center (4579 Mission Gorge Place, San Diego, CA 92120) on July 10-11, 2015 @ 6:45pm.

After Chris wrote the movie and decided he wanted Olivia's Island Adventure to be commercial, he knew he needed quality acting. In order to be fair he asked co producer and friend Tom Bishop, to audition his daughter, Olivia. He asked Tom to be totally honest, and fortunately for all, Olivia can act. This made things much easier for Chris, as he knew his daughter schedule. Kids are so busy these days.

Writing the movie gave Chris a chance to bring out his silly side and have fun. He also wanted to introduce classic and semi-classic songs to a new generation. The film is entirely filmed in San Diego, and took a couple years to make. The team has almost wrapped up screenplay two and Chris hopes to turn the movies into a book series.

The story is about a little girl who comes home from school and is bored out of her mind (you parents have never heard that one before). Her big sister and Uncle show up and they decide to use their imaginations to go on an island adventure.  They survive a hurricane, but the storm has washed a little princess up on the beach.  Olivia and her sister befriend the little princess and work together to get the princess back to her home and family.  They run into some quirky islanders and pirates on their quest.  Olivia's Dad and Uncle have their own adventure as well.  All adversity is overcome with music and laughter.  There is, of course, a happy ending.

When Olivia was a little girl about three, Chris sat watching The Sound of Music when he noticed his daughter come to life. "She might as well have been a member of the Von Trapp family." That's when he felt a glimmer someday he might make a movie. His total inspiration behind this project is his wonderful daughter, Olivia.

Asked how it was to work with his daughter? Chris responds, “Working with my daughter was great.  She really developed into a pro over the shoot.  I feel very fortunate to be able to spend as much time with her as I have.  Most parents are normally so busy that they are not able to spend as much time as they would like to with their children.  Because we work together, we are able to see each other a lot.  It has brought us very close.”

Are you happy with the outcome? Chris answers, “I am very happy with the outcome. The movie was written for kids with a few laughs for parents.  The reviews are starting to come in and they are very encouraging.  The Dove Foundation bestowed their seal of approval on us for family friendly entertainment.  I really hope our audience will enjoy the music and comedy.”

And what did he learn from the process? Chris learned that the team needed to move quicker so my young actors won't be 80 years old by the time we finish the movie.Also, we are finding our audience which is very exciting.  We hope to have the next one out before Christmas, so stay tuned!  

Olivia, Chris's daughter, and star of the film, is 10 years old and attends La Mesa Arts Academy. She liked working with her dad - because he made her laugh. She loved being in a movie and hopes to do more. Tbe hardest part for her was learning the lines. So much to memorize. What did she learn from the movie making process? She learned that making movies is hard work.  You have to do things over and over.  It takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of patience

The team is currently developing the stories for six more movies. The second one currently named Olivia's Next Movie is in rehearsals and will be filmed by theend of the year. It is a Christmas story. All the movies are musical comedies.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.