Duke’s Malibu will host the Malibu premiere of the film “Work to Surf,” a biopic on local surfer Allen Sarlo, this Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The 45-minute biopic was produced by Sarlo and directed/edited by Dave Ogle, a Malibu resident and Pepperdine University graduate who has traveled the world with the Sarlo family during the last eight years.
Sarlo is a year-round fixture in the lineup at First Point Malibu, but also a family man who invests as much energy into his work, wife and children as he does into chasing waves around Malibu, and around the world.
Sarlo has been involved with surfing and skateboarding since the 1970s. Growing up in Venice, Sarlo was a protector for skaters Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta, as the Z Boyz changed the world of skateboarding. During the 1980s, he was involved in the early days of professional surfing. Fellow Z Boy Peralta has said Sarlo’s aggressive “Wave Killer” act of the 1980s-flamboyant surfboards, colorful wetsuits and aggressive surfing in which he sliced and carved waves to pieces-set the pace for modern performance surfing.
Out of high school and pondering life decisions, Sarlo balanced pro surfing and college until he faced a fork in the road: should he surf to make a living, or work hard to support his surfing addiction?
Sarlo chose the work-to-surf path, and that is the theme of the biopic: how Sarlo has managed to balance working hard in real estate and raising a family without losing an ounce of surf stoke. “‘Work to Surf’ reinforces the solid principles that hard work, education and dedication will get you where you want to go,” Sarlo said.
Sarlo worked his way through school at Santa Monica College and Pepperdine University, obtained experience as a tax accountant in the family business, and then established himself as a real estate agent working in Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu. With his wife Deborah they raised two children, Sophie and Colton. All the while, Sarlo continued surfing and having adventures at full steam. From the 1980s to the 1990s, Sarlo was one of the first to challenge the big waves of Todos Santos Island in Mexico. Spending part of every winter on the North Shore of Oahu, Sarlo was friends and business partners with Mark Foo-one of Hawaii’s best big-wave surfers, who drowned while surfing Mavericks in 1992.
These days, Sarlo, in addition to surfing First Point, regularly commutes to the North Shore of Oahu and chases swells from Indonesia to the South Pacific.
In “Work to Surf,” historic and current surfing footage of Sarlo and his family is mixed with surfing and interviews with Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Mark Foo, Yaden Nichols, Jay Adams and a cast of characters stretching back to the 1970s.
“This was an incredible project to work on,” director Ogle said. “Over the course of about eight years, Allen and I have surfed and shot all over the world. We interviewed over 100 people and I really enjoyed meeting and working with this very diverse group of legends in the surfing world. My favorite parts are the ones that give the history of how Allen grew up and the different influences he has had throughout his life. Of course, surfing and shooting some of the best waves in the world wasn’t bad either.”
Sarlo said of the film, “This movie will make you laugh, make you cry, but mostly it will get you stoked to go surfing.”
Admission to “Work to Surf” is free. Following the screening there will be a performance by the Billy Wilson Band.