Articles from the Deseret News and the LA Times on Seth Packard and his film HottieBoomaLottie, which has gotten attention at the Los Angles Film Festival.
It is being pitched as the next Napoleon Dynamite.

(One other film note-Scott S. Anderson, who wrote and directed "The Best Two Years", has directed a new film, The Jerk Theory, a high school romantic comedy, filmed in SLC. It is written and produced by Abraham Taylor (I do not know if he has a Mormon connection).)

Deseret News
Provoan awaiting fate of his film
By Elizabeth Stuart
Deseret News
Published: July 8, 2008
PROVO — He spent years framing the plot, getting to know the characters and ironing out the dialog. He planned all the camera shots, coached the actors and threaded it seamlessly into a full-length feature film. He went to the Los Angeles Film Festival, introduced "HottieBoombaLottie" to an audience and shook hands with a few big names.

Now there's nothing left for Seth Packard to do but wait — wait, while, for once, someone else tries to secure a future for the movie he wrote, directed and starred in.

"I wish I could be more involved," said the 25-year-old Provo native, of the tension-filled week he's spent distracting himself, while his agents talk with major film studios like DreamWorks and New Line Cinema. "It's nerve-racking, not knowing where my movie's home will be."

It's better if he keeps busy, Packard said, so he's started blocking out his next script, a pilot for a television series. If his fingers are tangled up on the keyboard and his brain is focused on a different story, it's easier not to hypothesize what the big dogs in film think of their private screenings of "HottieBoombaLottie."

He hopes they laugh.

"This is what I've wanted to do my whole life," Packard said. "I love to tell stories and make people laugh."

That's why, in part, Packard wrote "HottieBoombaLottie," so he could poke fun at the ungainly experiences of his youth.

The story line follows Packard's character, Ethan, through the ups and downs of life as a high school student in Utah (the movie was filmed at Provo High, where, coincidentally, Packard attended as a teen). Balancing an overbearing mother and a brother whose hobby is making him miserable, Ethan conjures up an imaginary relationship with the hottest girl in school. Meanwhile, Ethan's cousin appears to want to take their relationship to the next level.

An "embarrassing amount" of the plot is autobiographical, Packard said. For the rest of the funny little twists, he picked his friends' brains for embarrassing high school memories.

"I'm a big believer in writing what you know," Packard said. "This is what I know. Feeling awkward and trying to get girls out of my league — that's me in a nutshell."

"HottieBoombaLottie" is more than just a collection of humorous adolescent vignettes, though. Packard spent the latter half of his time at Brigham Young University, where he earned a degree in philosophy and business, studying film theory.

At the time, he was starting to see some success as an actor. He'd been featured in several Disney Channel films and landed a lead role in "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer" for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

"I was about ready to drop out of college," he said. "I was getting some pretty big checks from acting."

But his father, who teaches philosophy of film at BYU, convinced Packard they could make his philosophy course work applicable to his career dreams. The two spent hours debating acting philosophy. With a team of philosophy and art students, they learned first-hand how to produce a film. Seth wrote the first draft of "HottieBoombaLottie" as a class project.

"Seth learn the ropes of filmmaking at BYU," said his father and teacher, Dennis Packard. "He saw the process of the whole thing, learned the ins and outs of directing and script writing."

Those experiences came in handy when Seth Packard decided to write, produce, direct and star in "HottieBoombaLottie."

Seth Packard had to storyboard every shot before filming even began so the camera crew would know what to do while he was busy saying his lines. He coached the other actors from inside the set. He ran back and forth between each scene to check the framing and chemistry before moving on.

"We had to film the whole thing in 18 days," Seth Packard said. "It was crazy."

But he isn't complaining. He's too busy living his dream.

"HottieBoombaLottie," was, after all, one of only seven feature films selected to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, an honor more than 4,500 filmmakers vied for. Critics raved about the film's witty way of drawing in the audience.

"It was a surreal feeling, watching my movie in a real theater," Seth Packard said. "Holy crap, it was so weird. My face was frickin' huge. But at the same time it's really, really satisfying."


Los Angeles Times
By Michael Ordoña, Special to The Times
June 21, 2008
The writer-director-producer-star of "HottieBoombaLottie" is old enough to drive, he swears.

"I'm 25; I just look 13," says Provo, Utah, native Seth Packard in the living room of a borrowedBeverly Hills apartment. "I'm living in the back of a Penske truck right now with my wife; we just moved down here a couple of days ago."

The most surprising thing here is not that he's so new to town or that the first-time filmmaker has snagged a world premiere for "Hottie" at the Los Angeles Film Festival Saturday night, but that he's old enough to marry.

Packard, who calls himself a "questioning Mormon," freely admits he wrote his debut film, a giddy celebration of teenage nerd love, as a vehicle for his acting career. Which raises the question: If one could cast himself as anything -- James Bond, Roy Hobbs, Chewbacca -- why choose Napoleon Dynamite?

"I felt like that's who I am," says the Brigham Young University graduate, who majored in philosophy and minored in business and who now sports a more sober version of the fauxhawk-Wolverine 'do he wears in the film. "In high school, I always felt out of place, like I was working so hard to win over the girl or be the cool guy."

The filmmaker says large portions of his script are lifted from his experiences, such as his character's attempt to put the smooth moves on a flower shop girl -- using the ruse of having a very sick mother -- that goes miserably awry. That one was lifted from watching a friend crash and burn.

"I was standing next to one of my best friends in a flower shop . . . . I died inside," he says, laughing. "I told him, 'God, don't do it,' and he's like, 'This is gonna work, trust me.' "

Packard workshopped some of the material for "HottieBoombaLottie" (he says the title comes from local cheerleader slang for hot guys) at a Utah high school. In one drama class, he was blown away by the work of a winsome blond named Lauren McKnight -- but it wasn't until she showed up again to the film's local casting call that he got a chance to work with her again -- she was so busy pursuing acting gigs, she often missed class.

"I wrote her part based on a cousin I always had a forbidden crush on," says Packard, then realizes: "Now she's going to know I had a forbidden crush on her. Whatever. Robin, you can now know."

McKnight -- sweet, spontaneous and tough -- is one of the film's strengths. A wealth of time to finish, however, is not.

"Our final product isn't even quite locked in on tape yet," says the filmmaker, promising it will be ready for tonight.

It better be, or someone's getting grounded.


The Hollywood Reporter
Commentary: 'Hottie' could heat up with 'Napoleon' fans
Teen comedy premiering at L.A. Film Festival
By Martin A. Grove

June 17, 2008
"Hottie" history: We're told not to judge a book by its cover, but when it comes to movies we certainly make decisions about seeing them based on their titles.

If a title grabs us, the chances are we'll want to find out more about a film and that typically means we're more likely to see it. As titles go, one of the most intriguing I've run into in quite some time is the coming of age comedy "HottieBoombaLottie" from first-time filmmaker Seth Packard. "Hottie" will have its world premiere Saturday at the Los Angeles Film Festival with additional screenings June 24 and 25. Distributors, who are getting their first look at "Hottie" at the festival, will see it's a film that could resonate with audiences that enjoyed "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Juno."

"Hottie" is written and directed by Packard and was produced by Ben Lakey and Packard. Packard also plays the film's lead role, Ethan, a Utah teenage underdog in love with high school hottie Madison (Shay Williamson), who's stolen away by Ethan's really cool older brother Clay (Matthew Webb). Ethan's misbehavior while trying to get Madison back prompts his overbearing mom to ship him off to California to stay with his cousins Asher (Trace Williams ) and Cleo (Lauren McKnight). And that, as you might expect, ultimately leads to him find the real girl of his dreams.

Having enjoyed my early preview of "Hottie," I was glad to be able to ask Seth Packard recently how he managed to bring it to the screen and, in particular, where the film's unusual title came from.

"HottieBoombaLottie was a word that the cheerleaders in (my Utah) high school used for the hot guys," he explained. "They used it all the time and I remembered not being the hot guy and always wishing they'd use it for me. They never really did so it always stuck with me. Everyone wants to be a HottieBoomaLottie, but it takes some work to become one. I made the film with my best friend from high school (Lakey). It's based on all the stupid things that we did. Most of the stories in it actually happened to me or one of my friends."

Packard said he turned to writing and directing not really because he was driven to make films, but because "I wanted to have a vehicle to move my acting career forward. I've done a lot of stuff in Utah, but I haven't always been satisfied with the scripts and I strongly believe that the script is the most important part. So what got me writing was the determination to write something that I thought would be good and would be able to move my acting career forward."



"Hottie" isn't just his first feature, it's his very first film of any kind: "The only thing I ever did -- and it wasn't very much -- is I wanted to make sure I would be able to act in something and direct it, as well. I wasn't sure if that was going to be possible so I went to a local high school that I know is huge in the performing arts and way bigger than my high school ever was. I went to that school and talked to their teacher and told her I was about to produce and direct and be in a film this summer and I was wondering if I could use some of her kids and practice with a camera doing a few scenes. So besides a little bit of that stuff, I haven't done any other directing. Funny enough, the girl (Lauren McKnight) who plays Cleo, the lead girl in the film, (is someone) I actually met at the high school doing that."

At the time, McKnight was a senior and about to graduate: "I actually didn't get to work with her (on the practice scenes). The teacher let me sit in on a class when they were all doing basic acting exercises and she said, 'You can choose the kids you want to work with.' Right away I saw her and I said, 'She's incredible. She totally looks like she is a film actor.' And the teacher said, 'Well, she is, but she hardly ever comes to class.' I said, 'Why's that?' And she said, 'Well, because she's working a lot in films and stuff' and I said, 'Oh, boy, can I work with her?' But then she got dropped from the class so I wasn't able to work with her. (Later on) she showed up in the casting session room and I totally remembered her and she nailed it."

Asked how a young filmmaker with no previous experience gets to make his first movie, Packard observed, "There's a lot of hard work. There's no way I could have done it without the people I had helping me. On this first one I pretty much used up all my favors for the next 25 years of my life from everybody that I know. I have a great support group around me like my family and my friends. I think the first step to making any film is obviously finding a script that you love. I wrote it and thought, 'This is something I actually like. This is pretty good.'

"My best friend Ben Lakey was in Afghanistan (at that time) in the military. I was talking to him on the phone and (told him) I was really excited and wanted to make this film and he said, 'Man, if there's something I can do to help, I'd love to help.' So I took him up on that. I guess what you have to do to make your film is come up with a good script and then get all the help you can in piecing the rest of it together."

Packard began writing "Hottie" in college about four years ago. "I spent a couple of years writing it," he said, "until it was something that I liked and then once I had that script the real pre-production started about a year ago. I hadn't written (any films before that). I wrote one script called 'Night Games' because me and my friends all played night games where you go the local church and stay up late playing Steal the Flagman. I wrote that before I wrote this script and I looked at it and I just chalked it up as a learning experience. It wasn't my favorite and I thought, 'I can do a lot better than this.'



"So I spent a lot of time reading scripts and watching my favorite films trying to understand what makes them work. I tried to spend three or four hours a day reading and watching stuff and trying to really understand and then I set out to write my next one. So this is the first thing I've ever done that's ever left my computer."

How did Packard make "Hottie" happen? "Well, I came out of BYU," he replied. "My Dad's a professor there. He has a PhD in film and philosophy and he has a lot of connections. So probably the first thing I did was go and talk to him and say, 'What do you think I should do?' He helped me a lot. Another reason why I was really fortunate is that I've acted with most all the crew members in Utah. So after Ben signed on to help me we just made a list of all the keys that we needed to get.

"The first person that we found was Travis Cline, our cinematographer. He liked the script and I loved his work (like the 2003 college set romantic comedy version of 'Pride and Prejudice'). And then we found the other (department heads like) our hair and makeup person Greg Moon and my first AD (and line producer) Eric Johnston. We just called them up and they all knew me (from having worked together on past projects). I said, 'I'm making a film and do you want to join up?' As soon as we had our keys I said, 'Choose the people you want to work with' and the crew kind of filled out. Ben took over most of the financial side. He took over the technical side and made sure we got the right technical equipment that the people needed."

That division of labor enabled Packard to focus on the creative side. "I spent four months storyboarding the film while he was doing a lot of (the technical) stuff," he noted. "I wanted to have the shoot go as smoothly as possible. We shot it in 18 days. I came up to the crew with my three or four inch stack of storyboards with three pictures per page and some of the people were saying, 'They never use these' and I said, 'Seriously, we're going to use these. We're going to shoot every storyboard we have.' That's how I started. We ended up needing to cut some of the shots that I wanted because of time, but we got most of what we wanted. But it helped so much. I don't know how people do it without storyboarding."

What Packard wanted to do during shooting was "spend my time working with actors. I knew I was wearing so many hats that during shooting I just wanted to be able to focus with acting. The only way I was able to do that was with storyboards. I gave Travis Cline the storyboards and said, 'This is what I'm thinking. Feel free to move things around if you feel like it's going to make it better, but I'm not going to have time during the shoot to really be working on this kind of stuff.'"

As things turned out, directing and acting was a winning combination for Packard. "I had my father on set the whole time and he took care of the monitors to record everything," he explained. "I had the incredible opportunity to perform the scene with the actors and perform the very best I could knowing that it would help their performances come through. So I kind of got to direct in that sense inside of the scenes and then after the scene we'd all run back to watch the monitors to see how we did.

"For me as an actor, I can in my peripheral awareness know when the scene is going really well, but I have to stay peripheral. If I start focusing on it, it pulls me out of the scene. I just knew that if I could stay focused on my character and really perform well it would give them something good to play off of."