By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun

     EL CAJON — When Rod Magdaluyo started playing around with filmmaking in 1995, using a Sony camcorder and his computer to make short dramatic pieces with friends as actors, he didn’t expect to turn it into a career.
     His efforts were rewarded last Saturday night as he and his colleague Gabriel Pan walked across the stage of the El Cajon Performing Arts Center to accept an award for best feature length comedy, for their film, Finding Love for Annie.
     Magdaluyo grew up in Alpine, attending Joan MacQueen Middle School and graduating from Granite Hills High School. He has been writing stories since the third grade, and has countless binders full of notes and short stories he’s written throughout his life. He has an equally strong love for technology, being a self-avowed nerd from before it was fashionable to be one. In 1983 he moved north to the bay area and began a high-tech career. 
     He wrote his first script in 1997, entitled Destiny Hotline, and then allowed his growing passion for making movies to go to the sidelines when he got married and took on increased responsibilities in his career. The job grew into another technical job, and then another, as he continued to shape his career in high-tech.
     It was while working with Pan at a Japanese semiconductor company that his creativity was re-awakened. The two could often be seen hip deep in millions of dollars of computer chips, schematics, and mechanical engineering, but talking about stories, characters, and what ‘what-if’ scenarios with some of their favorite literary heroes. On weekends, when they weren’t traveling or fixing equipment, and armed with a cheap camcorder, they’d try their hands filming short pieces of drama and action for fun, starring the only ‘actors’ they could muster — themselves.
     At lunch one day, when trying to get his friend into a relationship, Magdaluyo asked Gabriel about getting an online personal, “Heck, even a mannequin could get a date using an online service!” They had a good laugh — and a seed was planted.
     Magdaluyo’s movie-making dreams were given a sharp jolt forward when he was unexpectedly laid off from his high-tech job. 
     On his first day as a free man Magdaluyo turned on his laptop, sat at his kitchen table, and, over the course of a week, pounded out 40 pages of the screenplay for Finding Love for Annie. He brought it to Pan when he picked up his last paycheck. Pan saw the potential in the script and the two began e-mailing bits and pieces back and forth.

     When the first draft was completed, Pan was faced with a choice: stick with a high-paying job in technology, or follow his dream and try to make a movie out of Finding Love for Annie.
     Armed with their severance checks, these two friends moved to San Diego from the Bay Area and in January 2005 began work on the film. Magdaluyo moved back to Alpine, which he still calls home, living with his wife Denise, and their two daughters, ages four and 14 months.
     “We were bitten by the bug hard,” Magdaluyo said. “Everyone thought we were crazy, industry people just kept saying that you can’t do this, you can’t make a feature length film for your first project.”
     But after reading Magdaluyo and Pan’s script, people in the industry realized it was doable and were very supportive. Magdaluyo said that his wife his now is greatest supporter, however, at the beginning she may have thought he was crazy as well.
     “The hardest part for me has been finding ways to avoid my wife forcing me to get a real job,” said Magdaluyo, laughing.
     The film, which took 14 days to film and nine months to edit, cost less than $50,000 to make. It was filmed entirely in San Diego County on locations in Santee and the beach.
     In the movie, which spans 76 minutes, Ben (Jabe Hammond) and Frank (Jonathan Meza) are best friends and co-workers challenged by the modern world of romance. The former is starting to have doubts about his upcoming marriage while the latter is too engrossed in work and too gun-shy with relationships to even respond to the attentions of co-worker Belinda (Deja Bleu Ginsberg).
     Things begin to change for them when an old college roommate sends Annie, a love doll, to Ben. Unable to figure out what to do with her, Ben convinces Frank to keep her at his place while they try to figure out what to do.
     But getting rid of her isn’t as easy as they thought when they start coming to grips with the idea that Annie may have an identity of her own and may deserve better than the trash heap. On-line auction and romance chat rooms — how does a modern-day love doll find the right guy?
     Soon they’re interviewing an increasingly bizarre string of prospective internet dates who all see something in their new friend and confidant, but how can they find love for Annie when they can’t even help themselves?
     Finding Love for Annie is the second screenplay Rodrigo has written, and the genie has been let out of the bottle. He finished a third screenplay (about modern-day unicorns) and is nearing completion on a horror, and action, and another romantic comedy.
     “A film festival is about opening doors,” Magdaluyo said. “If we didn’t have another project in mind, it would really be a waste of time.”
     The First Annual El Cajon Video and Film Festival rolled out the red carpet last Saturday, Feb. 25 at ECPAC. After a screening of their film early in the day, Magdaluyo and Pan were awarded the best feature length comedy award at the inaugural festival for Finding Love for Annie. 
     The festival, sponsored by the Optimist Club of the Performing Arts and City of El Cajon, celebrated up-and-coming filmmakers, with an emphasis on work presented by youth in the community. More than $1,700 in awards were awarded to filmmakers and scriptwriters of more than 20 film entries.
     For further information, one may visit Finding Love For Annie

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