Vacation Survivors

(Experimental Feature Film Comedy) Howard and Bobo O’Dell are celebrating their wedding anniversary, as they do every year, by watching their old home movies. Enter Don Patrillo, game show contestant coordinator who arrives at the O’Dell home to interview the couple for “Married 25 Years and Over,” their favorite TV program. What starts out to be a simple question-answer interview turns into every game show coordinator’s worst nightmare. Tired, hungry and in a hurry, Don Patrillo finds himself trapped in the O’Dell home, unable to escape the flickering images and bizarre vacation stories the couple insists on sharing. When Howard O’Dell flashes a loaded shotgun, Don Patrillo settles in for what may be the longest evening of his life.

  • Steve Roth
    Director
    Vacation Survivors
  • Steve Roth
    Writer
    Designing Women, Evening Shade, Hey Dude, Greystone Kid's Adventures, Homer's Workshop, Power Rangers in Space, among other TV comedy
  • Steve Roth
    Producer
    Bunker to Bunker: The Ligher Side of Golf, Homer's Workshop, Greystone Kid's Adventures
  • Richard W. Munchkin
    Producer
    (TV) L.A. Heat, Hollywood Survivor, and over a dozen motion pictures
  • Dominic Oliver
    Key Cast
    Murder She Wrote, Quantum Leap, Head of the Class, Matlock, 227, Webster, Hill Street Blues, other TV and Commercials
  • Brendan McKane
    Key Cast
    Days of our Lives, Star Trek, Hunter, Canadian & US Theater and TV
  • Sharon Noble
    Key Cast
    Canadian & US Theater and Television
  • Project Type:
    Feature, Other
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 16 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 7, 1992
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm standard
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.33:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Independent Feature Film Market (NYC)
    New York, NY
    October 3, 1993
  • Premiere Screening
    Laemmle Theaters - Hollywood, CA
    August 3, 1993
    Premiere
  • Santa Clarita International Film Festival
    Santa Clarita, CA (Los Angeles area)
    September 7, 1993
Director Biography - Steve Roth

In the writing arena, Steve has written for top network television series include Designing Women (CBS), Growing Pains (ABC), and Evening Shade (CBS). In addition, he wrote a half-hour TV pilot for stand-up comedienne Kathy Buckley, and 6 one-hour episodes for Two Too Much, an action-comedy series for RTL-Germany, through Peter Trunk Productions.

In Kid’s TV arena, Steve served as Executive Script Consultant/Writer for Nickelodeon’s first live-action comedy series Hey Dude. Shot on location on dude ranch in Arizona, Hey Dude proved to be a groundbreaking TV series for Nick which lead the way for the fledgling network’s subsequent growth. Steve went on to serve as Producer/Head Writer and write the pilot plus numerous episodes for Big Kid Productions’ syndicated series Homer’s Workshop for sponsor Home Depot. He also wrote and produced the pilot episode for Greystone Kids Adventures for Greystone Communications. Dabbling in the sci-fi realm, Steve wrote an episode for Saban Entertainment’s popular kid’s TV series Power Rangers In Space, an assignment he says was perhaps one of the most challenging writing assignments he’s had.

In Reality TV, Steve served as Executive Producer/Writer for Bunker to Bunker: The Lighter Side Of Golf, a humorous golf magazine show which he created and co-produced with Showreel Hollywood. As a result of that association, Steve joined the Showreel Hollywood team in 1997 as V.P. of Creative Development, creating, writing and producing original programming for the cable and syndicated television markets.

In Documentary work, Steve wrote the screen adaptation for How Strong Is The Wind?, a Gates Learjet documentary about the lives and accomplishments of the Wright Brothers. To this day, the documentary is screened worldwide and is sold at the Smithsonian Aero-Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In the 1980s, while a student at the University of Arizona, I drove past an antique store that was going out of business. There, I discovered 7 large canisters of 16mm film.

Primarily interested in the cans and reels for my film school projects, I purchased the whole lot for $20. I then rented a projector, gathered some friends together, and watched the films. To my surprise, the reels contained vintage vacation films from the 1950's and 1960's (including footage of Marlene Dietrich and Jane Mansfield on stage in Las Vegas, and the coronation parade ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth, 1953).

These films were shot in bright and vibrant Kodachrome (pre-Super 8). Not knowing exactly what to do with the footage, I carried the films around with me for many years until I came up with the concept of Vacation Survivors.

With $10,000 funding from a well-known TV producer, and a vision set in stone, I set out to create my film. It was a guerrilla project from day one. From starting with footage that was a positive instead of a negative, to the film’s length coming up short of a feature (and having to write additional pages into the night on a IBM Selectric accompanied by a bottle a bourbon), this film was indeed an adventure in filmmaking.