Somewhere around 1991: I find old camera in the closet, probably while rooting around for a past issue of BMX Action magazine.
Summer 1996: I receive a top quality, though older, Beseler Topcon still camera from my dad, complete with wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Results are uninspiring but show potential.
September 14, 1996: Together with Matthew Fabiano, tries out Super 8mm film for the first time, filming a day at Pt. Reyes on my birthday. Results are enjoyable, though basic.
August 19, 1999: I purchase a Canon F-1 professional still camera and begin taking much better pictures.
January 2001: Though in the wedding as a groomsman, I film the days leading up to the wedding of Neil Anderson & Casey West using the same crappy, thrift store Super 8mm motion picture camera. Resulting film, with music, is enjoyable, though still raw and unpolished.
Feb 3, 2002: I start the Real California Picture Company, and realcaliforniapics.com jumps on the information super highway. The purpose of The Real California Picture Company is to showcase those parts of California that often get overlooked, between the tourist spots, ie the “real” California.
February - April 2002: With my vintage Chrysler Newport, I get two months of work as a driver and extra on the set of the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can. During this time, I hang with the grips and camera operators and gain some valuable knowledge about camera mounts and the film industry.
April 2002: I purchase a Super-Suction camera mount from Modern Studio Equipment in Burbank California, which allows the camera to be mounted on a vehicle while it is moving.
May 2002: I purchase my first high quality Super 8mm Camera, a Canon 814 Autozoom Electronic.
May 2002: Together with three friends, I take a 9-day trip of the Southwest US, including Havasu Falls, Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Lees Ferry, Bryce Canyon, and Las Vegas. This trip is filmed using two rolls of Kodachrome Super 8mm Film, and using the aforementioned car mount. Results of this film, complete with editing, telecine color correction and accompanying music are vastly improved from earlier attempts and garner rave reviews from friends and family.
October 2003: I enter the short Super 8mm film “Exact Change Man” in Flicker LA’s “Attack of the Fifty-Foot Reels” Super 8mm Film Festival at Grumman’s Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
December 19, 2003: I graduate from Biola University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Organizational Leadership.
Summer 2004: I become proficient in and begin editing using both Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier.
February 2005: I purchase an Apple Macintosh G5 professional computer.
November 2005: I purchase the Final Draft screenwriting program and begin work on three original screenplays: Dill, California, Kingsnake, and Confessions of a Salesman.
June 2006: First meeting of cast and crew for the feature film Dill, California to be filmed in late summer.
July 27, 2006: Dill, California screenplay completed and registered with the Writers Guild of America.
August 14, 2006: filming begins on the film Dill, California.
October 8, 2006: filming ends on the film Dill, California.
December 1, 2006: I visit Yale Film & Video in North Hollywood for supervision of telecine transfer of raw footage for Dill, California.
March 3rd, 2007: Dill, California premieres at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma, California. Over 100 friends and family members enjoy the screening.
August 2007: I finish my 2nd screenplay, a comedy entitled “Confessions of a Salesman.”
August/ September 2007: I again use my classic 1966 Chrysler Newport to land a few background scenes in the Wine Country-filmed independent feature "Bottle Shock."
2008: I relocate to Hollywood and begin work on four original screenplays.
2009: I become moderator of Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! writer’s feedback group. During the summer I attend the live stage show “Point Break Live” and am chosen from the audience to play the lead role of Johnny Utah!
2010: I finish screenplays Kingsnake, Bridge to Nowhere, john.doe, and Bigfoot Country.
2010: I receive notice that my father, John Olmsted, has cancer which has spread to his liver, and has six months to live. I become my father’s caregiver in Nevada City, California, and begin documenting the journey of reconnecting with a father who was largely gone, saving and preserving state parks.
2011: I finish my 2nd feature film, the documentary My Father, who art in nature, and get to show a rough copy to my dad just before his passing.
2011: Following my father’s death, in March of 2011, I become a parks crusader, beginning a campaign to save the very parks my father helped create, upon the announcement that 70 parks were scheduled to be closed due to budget cuts by Governor Jerry Brown.