EXIT has added the emotion, passion and honesty of director Olivia Altavilla’s work. Altavilla is an observer of life, injecting small moments others miss, drawing audiences into her stories with characters that feel real, and making them captivating and memorable because they are warm and inviting. Her work is often overlaid with a charge of emotion that comes from her Italian-Venezuelan heritage and an unorthodox family life that gave her a deep empathy and a unique perspective on things. Her work feels genuine and that is the foundation of a powerful appeal.
Wilf Sweetland, managing parter, EXIT Films, commented, “Oly’s work speaks from the heart. Full of beautifully authentic moments, her craft led direction creates narratives that leave the audience with a depth of understanding of human emotions, from the uplifting to the heart wrenching. When you first meet Oly you learn she is a person of genuine warmth, care and empathy who approaches her work with collaboration and connection. We are so excited she is now part of the EXIT family.”
Olivia took The Stable inside her creative thinking:
The Stable: You have a flair for making “people stories”. Where does that come from?
Olivia Altavilla: I love people, probably because I’ve been surrounded by so many my whole life. I cannot tell you how many times my Ring doorbell goes off on the weekend from another family member rocking up. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Being constantly surrounded by so many personalities has always made me very curious. I’ve always been obsessed with understanding the psychology behind why people do the things they do, how they’ve become who they are. When a script comes in, I’m drawn to the people in it before anything else. They’re really what excites me, and what I use has a driver for all the craft that follows.
The Stable: What do you look for in the people you cast? The people in your work, characters or real, connect with people. How do you go about achieving this?
Olivia Altavilla: My fam will kill me for saying this, but at a treatment stage, I often assign characters in each script to different people I know, so I’m always making sure they’re imperfect, complex humans that I can relate to. When I get to casting, it doesn’t have to be that they perfectly reflect the person I initially had in mind, but it sets the bar for the level of nuance and ownership of a character that I’m hoping to find. Whether actors or real people, I’m always asking myself, ‘Do I believe them?’ Or how can I help them lose themselves in a scene, so I do. No matter how experienced the actor is, I love a closed set. I want us to feel like a fly on the wall to a real moment.
The Stable: What matters most for you in the process of making a commercial? What is important to you to achieve?
Olivia Altavilla: For me, it’s authenticity. Regardless of the tone, I want to believe what I’m seeing. A huge part of that is performance, but I’m also so obsessed with filling every frame with Life’s Wrinkles. I work closely with production designers and costume designers who really get into the weeds with me about the specific details that make a space feel owned by the character, like my Nanna’s collection of elephant figurines and herbs in reused passata bottles on the windowsill.
Equally, I want my camera to mirror the feeling of the scene. I don’t like fancy moves for the sake of it; they have to serve the moment. If I have kids fanging it through a field, I want my camera running with them at their speed to immerse us in that moment. But if it’s quieter and more private, I’m drawn to a locked-off shot from an incidental, observed frame.
The Stable: As you’ve developed as a director, what wisdom have you accumulated? What are you most proud of so far?
Olivia Altavilla: More and more, I’ve learnt that surrounding myself with people who care deeply and are as excited about filmmaking as I am, is how I thrive. I’ve been fortunate to work with so many brilliant people, who’ve challenged me because of how hungry we are to make great work, and I value this passionate environment so much.
I’m really proud of the series I got to make with my Nanna. She’s one of the most important people in my life, and being able to share a small part of her story and see it resonate with people has been really special. I have big plans for Nanna…
The Stable: What was it about Exit that drew you to the company?
Olivia Altavilla: It’s surreal because I’ve been quietly obsessed with Exit since I was 15. I watched Glendyn Ivin’s Puberty Blues and was so taken by the filmmaking and how understood it made me feel, that I got my stalk on and quickly found Exit’s work.
It’s kind of crazy to think 15 years later, I get to see my name on the roster surrounded by such incredibly talented humans that I’ve always looked up to.
I had always heard stories about how much of a creative family Exit is, and to be part of that now is kind of unbelievable.
EXIT has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. For all director enquiries, contact leah@exit.com.au / wilf@exit.com.au / declan@exitfilms.com.
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