"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."

---

E-mail: estuart@desnews.com