Chadwick Pelletier, Founder, DaVinci International Film Festival

Chadwick Pelletier is an award-winning AmericanCanadian screenwriter, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. As a WGA screenwriter, Chadwick has written, optioned, and sold film and TV content at the highest level in the industry. His work as a director and producer has earned him numerous awards, including the coveted Golden Eagle statue at San Diego International Film Festival (For Blood) and two Red Poppy Awards (She Will Be Loved).

In 2017, Chadwick founded the DaVinci International Film Festival, which hosts an annual event at AMC Theatres, The Grove in Los Angeles, and is ranked among the top best reviewed festival platforms in the world. Chadwick is also the owner and CEO at Veritas Film & Television with offices in Los Angeles, California and Vancouver, British Columbia.

NM: Can you tell us about your background?

CP: I was born and raised in Colorado; one of five kids and spent the majority of my formative years in Steamboat Springs where I went to high school and competed as a downhill ski racer. I later went on to attend Colorado University, Boulder before transferring to Harvard where I graduated with honors.

NM: What brought you to this specific career path?

CP: Two letters — E. T. I was eight years old when my life took on what many would call purpose or “calling.” Seriously. Having grown up without a TV and going to movies maybe once or twice a year, I was immediately pulled into the cinematic experience, and nothing else existed during that time. Well, maybe some popcorn. But I remember that day in 1982 as if it were yesterday: walking a long dirt road to a theater at the distant end with a white-knuckled grip on a couple bucks to catch a matinee that would have a cosmic pull on my life. It was a story about a boy and an alien, and I was dying to see it. That movie changed me in every way and I wanted more. E.T. set me on a 30-year journey in the business to write, direct, and produce compelling stories that would touch the human condition. In time, these experiences lead me to developing a platform for others to feel the same — as creators and viewers, and DaVinci International Film Festival was born.

NM: What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

CP: After WGA-ATA I had a number of projects land back on my desk — TV and feature films namely, so I’m working to get them back out there again, but I am always writing and currently working on a script that is taking me a bit outside of my comfort zone as a period drama, set during the Spanish Civil War. I’m also looking to go into production on a short format fan film that will showcase at DIFF this year — no spoilers! Come check it out, you won’t want to miss it.

Aside from film and TV, DaVinci International Film Festival is growing at a rapid pace and I’m just trying to keep up. We will be hosting our sixth edition at AMC

The Grove in LA this year, OCT 20-22 with a lot of surprises and celebrity events!

And like any good entrepreneur, I have a few other irons in the fire, including an all-new Nashville, Tennessee brand, MuseqCity.com, and a couple NFT projects in the pattern.

NM: Why is it important to have diversity represented in the entertainment industry?

CP: I believe it’s important, if not critical, to represent different voices — voices that stand for and embody a variety of experience, culture, language, and conditioning. Diversity can offer new insight, creative solution, divergent thinking, and a through-line to what it means to be human and how we connect.

Our industry offers an influential platform to share these voices, which makes it all that more important to have more than one.

NM: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

CP: If I were to pick one, it would be my wife. She’s the only one who has read every one of my scripts, good or bad; supports my crazy ideas like … What do you think about launching an international film festival? And has given me the drive to thrive in this business with two children who are my raison d’être.

NM: What’s your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?

CP: I don’t know when/where I said this, but it rings true today: If you walk in the shadows of others, you’re bound to be a cold person. I think what this quote really means is that we are meant to lead and not follow as creatives and share our voices.