HOLLIS – Samantha Scholefield, a 20-year-old Hollis native, is heading to Hollywood this week to walk the red carpet at the Uni­versal Globe Theatre after just her first crack at filmmaking.

Scholefield, class of 2017 psychology and counseling major at Wheelock College in Boston, said she creat­ed her film, "Letter to Olivia," on a whim.

"Ultimately, I’m just glad I looked up from my phone for 10 sec­onds to notice the post­er," Scholefield said in The Wheelock Blog. The poster was for a student film festival, Campus Movie Fest. The organization pro­vides students video cameras and laptops to create a five-minute movie in one week "The topic is entirely up to the student; the only rule is that you have to come back in seven days with a movie," Scholefield said.

Creating the narrative around what she knows and lessons she wants to share, the film imparts poignant advice to a young girl looking forward to the rest of her life.

Olivia is an invisible character in the film; ad­dressed by the narrative, but not featured.

"Olivia can be anyone. She can be your heartbro­ken little sister getting over her first love, or your roommate battling de­pression. She can be your old best friend that never learned to forgive or the girl down the street that can’t love anything more than the sound of her own voice," she said.

"I think it’s important that kids and teenagers have some type of ad­vice they can reference that isn’t coming from some celebrity, but a real person who better understands what they’re going through," she said.

Among the films submit­ted by students of the Fen­way Colleges in Boston, "Letter to Olivia" placed in the top four films and won Jury’s Choice, advancing Scholefield to the 15th an­nual Campus Movie Fest in Los Angeles July 9.

In California, she will have the chance to meet with film industry profes­sionals and other filmmak­ers.

"I am beyond thrilled to be able to shake hands with the directors, producers, screenwriters and actors that I’ve ad­mired for so much of my life," she said.

"This experience has absolutely encouraged me to explore the world of filmmaking. I’ve always worked to gain experience in front of the camera. In high school I auditioned for commercials and films, while I was in communi­ty college I was modeling and doing runway, but nev­er did I think I could excel in producing the work I fought so hard to be a part of," Scholefield said.

As a continuation of "Letter to Olivia," Schole­field started writing a book about the encouragement of friends.

"The book is much more in-depth and touches upon my own personal experi­ences and tough lessons I’ve learned along the way. The book is everything I wish I had known grow­ing up, and hopefully it can serve someone that is currently going through a hard time."

The film can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cDW6-N6Tk.

Tina Forbes can be reached at 594- 6402, tforbes@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_TinaF.

Newsletter