Carmel film festival’s Lawrence Roeck went from valeting cars to television news to making films.

Sitting on a couch in the Carmel bike shop/cafe Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Lawrence Roeck considers just how much popular entertainment has changed since the founding of Carmel.

“This used to be the site where you could see a bull and bear fight at the turn of the century,” he observes. “I think the old ticket booth is still upstairs.”

The co-director of the Carmel International Film Festival, Lawrence Roeck took an unusual path to Hollywood. He first had aspirations of becoming a professional snowboarder. But when an injury resulted in a broken back, he pivoted and started making snowboarding films.

Five years later, the X-Games swooped in and bankrupted his company and a 24-year-old Roeck turned to valeting cars in Pebble Beach.

A native of Carmel, Roeck eventually returned to his hometown. He’s since produced and directed several film projects, including movies like Diablo and The Forger, starring Josh Hutcherson and the late Hayden Panettiere. He’s now in his third year hosting the CIFF, alongside his CIFF partner Annette Andersen.

Weekly: How did you go from losing a company to producing and directing films in Hollywood?

Roeck: I moved back to Carmel and I got a job valeting at Spanish Bay because that’s what I did when I was 16.

The president of the company approached me, having known that I had made snowboarding films and said, “Hey, we’ve got the U.S. Open 2000 coming and we don’t like the video that ESPN made us. Can you redo it?” I made the video with a $5,000 budget and invested $5,000 of my own money, and Arnold Palmer loved it. So here I am, a snowboard videographer and movie director turned-valet parker, and now I’m working with Arnold Palmer on the U.S. Open.

How did you make the jump to narrative films?

I stayed with Pebble Beach Company for two years and found there was no advancement, so I then went to work for the news – I did six months at KSBW, but that wasn’t my career. My real career was at KION and KCBA where I did a segment every Friday called “The Spirit of the Central Coast.”

I left the news, then I started doing wedding videos because they paid so well. I did that for a few years – I’m like 30 years old at this point – and then I ended up getting hired by Clint and Dina Eastwood doing a video for a wedding coordinator named Julie Bullis. Dina called me one night and asked if I wanted to work for her and Clint making documentaries, so I ended up with the Eastwoods for 12 years.

Going from a valet to working with the Eastwoods is pretty amazing.

I always wanted to go to Hollywood, but I realized one day that there was more Hollywood in Carmel then there was in Hollywood. When people come here they’re accessible and open to new experiences.

After the bottom fell out of my company when the X-Games came around, I reconnected with my roots in Carmel because we have so much artistic heritage here. Hank Ketchum, the creator of Dennis the Menace, was my neighbor. And Clint Eastwood was always running around town and his kids grew up at Cypress Point. So I was always aware of all these characters of the artistry here.

What do you think about the independent filmmakers who are here in Monterey County?

The reality is young filmmakers in our community have the best opportunities here if they can find a way to harness the ability to interact with the movie business from here. I went to Los Angeles to make both of my movies, but my best producing was done by calling actors from Carmel.

You’ve also got the literary history of this place. John Steinbeck, Joseph Campbell and Robert Louis Stevenson that were running around. So as a filmmaker, you’ve got to ask yourself: What artistic legacy do you want to be close to?

Tell me about the Carmel International Film Festival.

I’m not really a film festival producer. I just know how to make movies. So we make the CIFF like a movie. We have producers, associate producers, etc., and we structure it like that. It works somehow. But I owe a lot of credit to Annette: she brings the same organizational skills from helping run shows like The Simpsons that really saved us on many occasions.

THE CARMEL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL runs Thursday Oct. 1-Sunday, Oct. 4. See more about the festival and ticketing information in this week's Film article.