BILLINGS — Montana-born film producer Preston Scott Lee is returning to his hometown of Billings to premiere his latest independent feature film at the Montana International Film Festival (MINT) this week.
Watch the Billings native talk about his journey to Hollywood and latest film:
The film "Omaha" will open the festival on Thursday night and has already traveled across the world, including its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah earlier this year.
"'Omaha' has made it into a number of the bigger festivals, which has been amazing, so it's traveled the world," said Lee.
Lee has spent over 30 years building a career in Hollywood—a long way from his Montana roots.
He was born in Havre and grew up in Billings, where he graduated from Billings West High School in 1985. After a semester at the University of Montana, where he studied drama and military science and served in the Army ROTC, he packed up his things and headed west.
"Decided to pack up my car and drive to Los Angeles to be an actor,” said Lee. "I kind of knew from about 13 on that I wanted to be an actor, or I wanted to go and try it and make movies somehow, so that was always a dream."
Early on, he formed a friendship with actor Sean Astin, best known for his roles in "The Goonies" and "The Lord of the Rings." That lifelong relationship led to several collaborations, including giving Lee a credit on the 1992 film "Encino Man" as Astin's personal assistant.
"He's like, 'I'll pay you. It's part of my deal,' so we just hung out for a few months on 'Encino Man' and had a good time," said Lee. "That's the main credit on IMDb that kind of pops up, which is funny, but I was just an assistant to Mr. Astin on that one.”
Though acting gave him a foot in the door, Lee found long-term success behind the camera.
He had his first child at the age of 23, and his career path wasn't always financially stable when it came to starting a young family. He quickly found a new love in producing.
“There's something creative about producing: assembling the right crew, finding the material, helping the directors and writers kind of get it to a point where you can shoot it and you can make something,” said Lee.
He worked his way up through multiple production companies before eventually launching his own under the name Sanctuary Content. With offices in Los Angeles and New York, his work has spanned television, films, branded content, and commercial campaigns that have gone on to win major awards.
"Brand work is a lot more lucrative, and you produce quite a bit rather than once every other year you make a movie," said Lee.
Lee said "Omaha" stands out as his biggest and most personal project yet.
In 2023, Lee reconnected with longtime collaborator, friend, and director Cole Webley to produce their first feature together, and Webley's directorial film debut. They found the script, written by Robert Machoian, in early 2023, and decided to finance it themselves.
"I was really taken by the story, and I just felt like, 'I'm going to make this movie,'" said Lee.
Starring John Magaro alongside child actors Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis, "Omaha" tells the story of a father navigating grief alongside his two children after losing his wife during the 2008 economic crisis.
“It's a road trip movie. It's a powerful little movie with hope, we think, but there's some heartbreak as well,” said Lee.
The film was shot across Utah, Wyoming, and Omaha over 28 days in the summer of 2023, just after the end of the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
“We all traveled like a little family. Very special film experience," said Lee. “John Magaro, the lead, he's a fantastic actor out of great stage credits and screen credits, so he could work with the kids, and he's a father as well, so it kind of all became a unit of three pretty quickly."
In late 2024, they submitted the film to Sundance, and in November, they got the call that it had been accepted.
"We had made it into the dramatic competition, which was a pretty big deal for us," said Lee. "It's the Super Bowl for independent films."
Since then, "Omaha" has traveled the international festival circuit, with screenings across the U.S., Europe, and Canada, and has received rave reviews. It currently sits at an 89% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Lee expects the film to continue touring through November before its official release in March 2026. Already, he said, the themes of fatherhood and grief have resonated with audiences and sparked important conversations.
“I think one of the takeaways is that as fathers and as men, we oftentimes grow up feeling like our worth is what we can provide materially, and then you realize that that's not what kids need," said Lee. "And then just men learning to ask for help, you know, it's very, very hard. We're not really taught that growing up, so sometimes you break or you feel like you're breaking, and you have to figure out at that point, when are you going to ask for help?"
Now, he's coming back to where it all started. "Omaha" is expected to be one of the biggest highlights of the MINT Film Festival, showing on opening night at the top of the ticket.
"I'm excited to bring the film back here. I'm excited to show it to the local friends and family that are still here. My mom is very, very excited to invite all of her friends out, so it'll be a fun evening,” said Lee.
Bringing the film home will also give him a rare chance to look back on his journey and career.
"I think it's a bit crazier in the first like 20 years, but then you kind of just forget and take it for granted," said Lee. "But when you come back here, I think the festival will be a big kind of like reflection point where you think about the last 30-some years.”
Despite decades of living in LA, Lee has not forgotten his Montana roots. He plans to shoot an upcoming film in Butte and bring more production to the state.
"It's a cinema paradise there. Everywhere you turn the camera, it's history," said Lee.
But for now, he's savoring the moment.
It can be tough to make it in a business as brutal as Hollywood, but it's possible. Lee is proof that chasing a dream, no matter where you start, is enough to take you farther than you ever imagined.
"It's hard, especially when you move from a place like Billings to Los Angeles. It's a lot of people for a Montanan to be stuck in the middle of 13 million people," said Lee. "If you give it 10 years, and you work out that every day for 10 years, you'll be successful."
"Omaha" will premiere Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Art House Cinema and Pub in Billings as the opening night film of the MINT Film Festival, which runs Sept.18-21. For tickets, click here.
