With his last feature, the raw EVERYONE'S GOT ONE on the festival circuit, Boston Filmmaker Garth Donovan is embarking on a more traditional path, directing SAMANTHA, a feature-length drama he co-wrote with Michael Judge and J.P. Ouellette and starring his sister Savann Donovan. Shot over 18 days around Boston at such locations as Marlboro's New England Sports Center and Wellesley High School, SAMANTHA tells the story of a young high school senior whose success at hockey and scholastics come at a price. In her attempt to gain back control of her life from her overbearing parents and coach she ends up losing everything.

We caught up with Garth on location at the hockey rink where it was a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Director of Photography Ed Slattery was behind the Sony DSR500 camera securing the tripod on the ice as female teenaged hockey player extras skated by. Garth had donned a pair of skates and was whizzing by Slattery to direct the extras and principals through the scene where her coach chides her for not performing as a "winner". Garth said his family has been actively involved in hockey both professionally with the Boston Bruins and as rated amateurs. He's skated since childhood. He said one of his aims with the film is to show how amateur sports can begin as recreational but become more businesslike and mechanical with time.

Co-Producers J.P. Ouellette of Yankee Classic Pictures and David West were on hand to observe the action and make sure things ran smoothly since the ice was only available for a few hours. One particularly tricky shot was making Savann's winning shot to the goalie appear authentic and not staged. Members of the public at the Sports Center were rounded up to be extras in the stands.

After the hockey scenes were wrapped up, a few days later Garth and crew took over the first floor corridor and a classroom at Wellesley High School for critical scenes in the film. Garth worked with high school drama extras for the hallway scene and orchestrated a very tight shot of the main characters smoking in the girl's bathroom. In true independent film style even Garth's uncle was enlisted to play an English teacher in the classroom scene. The school scenes serve to show Samantha's increasing frustration that hockey and academics have taken over her life, leaving her no time for boys or a social life.

"By and large the shoot went well," Donovan said, "The only problem was, unlike the first film with comic book type characters, in this film the character development will make it work or fail. Not having everything scripted with all the actors was challenging. The technical aspects were not the challenge, it's making sure the story is tight and not a soap opera. People need to appear realistic and dimensional."

With a budget of between $15-20K the movie is now going to the post-production stage and is expected to be ready to release in September. Garth's next film CUBBY KNOWLES HAS ENTERED THE ROOM, a comedy, similar in style to his first film, will begin shooting in September 2003. For more information on SAMANTHA visit the website at www.yankeeclassic.com