Century-Long Movie Legacy Continues As Father and Son Team Up

MIAMI - April 18, 2017 - PRLog -- This June, twenty-year-old Peter Alexander travels to Hollywood, CA to begin work on a new cinematic thriller, continuing an uninterrupted 110-year family immersion in movies. He has already produced and directed two feature length films from his own scripts. In the spring of 2016, the Florida Gulf Coast University student worked with the special effects department on the upcoming horror flick, "Mara," arranged through one of the connections his father Tom has in the film industry.

Tom composed the soundtrack for his son's independently produced movies, "Connections" and "Connections Part II". In early 2011, Tom saw a film he co-scripted — the frat boy romp "Stonerville," — released worldwide (the film wound up being comedy legend Leslie Nielsen's last screen appearance). Now, father and son work side-by-side on everything from conceptualizing, scripting and editing, to foley work, and soundtrack composition.

"We literally work across the hall from each other," Peter says, "I'll be in the middle of editing drone footage I shot or tweaking a scene, while Dad is in the other room working out a piece of music for the film. It's pretty cool."

Tom and Peter continue a legacy in movies that began when Tom's grandfather, Thomas Alexander (Alexopoulos) emigrated from Mykines, Greece in 1898.

"The movie business sort of happened by accident for my grandfather," Tom says, "He was a chocolatier who saw an ad for a movie projector in the back of a magazine. One thing led to another and suddenly he found himself in the nickelodeon business. It all expanded when he built neighborhood theatres and ultimately, movie palaces. He even wound up funding one-reel silent comedies for Paramount for a time. My dad and his brothers continued the movie theatre tradition. I worked and grew up in the theatres too, but in 1988 when the last theatre closed, I wanted to get in on the production end."

Tom Alexander took a few detours over the years, but none too far from his cinema roots — radio, TV, and music. "The business chose me," Tom Alexander continued. "It was in my blood. Now I write screenplays, voice act in cartoons, and work in radio. More and more though, my work is moving toward music composition for film." A skilled pianist and composer, Tom Alexander's music has been heard in films, television shows, and commercials. His critically acclaimed new iTunes release, "Overbrook Avenue," is a musical tribute to his youth in his family's theatres. Alexander is writing a book chronicling his family's many decades in the cinema industry called, "Making Concessions — From Nickelodeons to Movie Palaces: One Family's Life From the Other Side of the Silver Screen." He hopes to develop it into TV series.

Is a move from Miami to LA for the youngest Alexander in the cards? It's a pretty good bet. "It's where everything is happening. Hopefully, my parents will tag along," Peter Alexander adds with a smile. "My dad is writing music more and more. People are recognizing his compositional skills. I like that we're a team." Father and son work under a collective known as Alexander Brothers Entertainment. The name is dedicated to Tom's dad and his three brothers, who continued their father's cinema legacy from its humble beginnings in a chocolate shop in 1907.