How this entrepreneurial team got its first project into Utah's premiere film festival

By Nichole L. Torres

Show business ain't easy-but it's a damn fine ride when you see your creation getting accolades at the likes of the Sundance Film Festival. Christine O'Malley and Patrick Creadon, the husband-and-wife team behind Los Angeles-based O'Malley Creadon Productions, are examples of what happens when the entrepreneurial spirit meets the entertainment capital of the world.

Up the Ranks: O'Malley, 34, and Creadon, 39, honed their craft during years of freelancing in TV and film production. "We decided we wanted to do our own projects and have creative control," says O'Malley. Starting part time in 2001 while still taking freelance jobs to pay the bills, the pair began producing product videos for a local dental laboratory. O'Malley says, "For us, it was a good training ground to produce projects that would eventually be a lot bigger."

Christmas Morning: Inspiration struck when this crossword-loving couple received three crossword puzzle books for Christmas in 2004. Curious about the author of the books, Will Shortz, editor of The New York Times crossword, they sought out a documentary on the man and found nothing. The pair contacted Shortz and pitched him the idea of doing a documentary that tells his story, what he does and how the crossword is such an important part of people's daily lives. "Will was totally receptive right from the start," says O'Malley.

Celebrity Crossing: The film Wordplay is an entertaining and informative look at crosswords, examining the work of Shortz and his Times collaborators and introducing viewers to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. A major coup for the entrepreneurs, though, was securing interviews with celebrity crossword lovers including Jon Stewart, the Indigo Girls, New York Yankee Mike Mussina and Bob Dole. At the tournament, they met a judge from Arkansas who knew former President Bill Clinton-a connection that led to a featured interview with Clinton. "He was so interesting and accommodating. It's a topic he personally enjoys, and I doubt people ask him about it very often," says O'Malley. "He was really exciting to talk to."

Financing Fame: Getting an independent film financed when you're new on the scene is no easy feat, so the pair used funds borrowed from friends and family as well as their own resources. Because they wanted to focus solely on the film, they halted all other projects through the summer and fall of 2005 and were able to produce Wordplay in a year.

Shining at Sundance: Submitting the film to Sundance was an early goal. "When we realized we had a really good story and this was more than something that was of interest just to us," says O'Malley, "we knew this was a marketable project." One of 760 documentaries submitted, Wordplay made the 16 chosen to play at the famous Park City, Utah, festival and was bought by IFC Films for $1 million. The film has been released nationwide, playing in nearly 350 theaters domestically so far, and the Weinstein Co. has picked up the foreign distribution rights and the DVD release.

Nichole L. Torres is a writer for Entrepreneur magazine.