WOODSTOCK – About 250 people came through the doors of Classic Cinemas Woodstock Theatre on Wednesday night to see a private premier of "Thrill Ride."

The idea for the independent film, written and co-produced by Woodstock residents Chris and Ilisa Parrish, came from the couple’s son, Mason, who died in 2011 after battling cancer.

Mason, who was 10 when he died, loved his family, telling stories and playing make-believe, his father told an audience of friends, family and cast and crew members before the screening started.

“And because of the people in this room, the people behind the camera, the people in front of the camera, and the absolute overwhelming support we’ve had from the community for the past two and a half years, tonight Mason’s able to do that again,” Chris Parrish said.

The entire movie was filmed in Illinois, with the opening scene starting on the Woodstock Square in front of the Woodstock Opera House, Chris Parrish said.

Another scene was filmed on a snowy road in Bull Valley, where Chris Parrish grew up.

Chris Parrish later moved to Los Angeles where he was a screenwriter who sold numerous television pilots and wrote for series such as “The King of Queens” and Disney’s “American Dragon: Jake Long.”

It was while Chris Parrish was driving his son to school in Los Angeles when Mason, inspired by the movie “Night at the Museum,” suggested making a movie where amusement park attractions came to life. In “Thrill Ride,” an amusement park comes to life as a group of children search for Al Capone’s hidden fortune.

“He would be so thrilled to share his ideas and his creativity and his storytelling with this many people,” Ilisa Parrish said as she stood on a red carpet before the screening.

About six months after the Parrish family moved from Los Angeles back to Woodstock in 2010, Mason was diagnosed with a rare pediatric brain cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. He died eight months later.

Half of the proceeds from the film will go toward The Mason Parrish Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting DIPG research.

Ilisa Parrish also leads a program called Cartoon Comics Inc., named after the production company Mason held in the family’s basement, to teach children storytelling through cartooning and storyboarding.

“One of the things I wanted to do with the foundation was not just fight how he died, not just fight how he was sick, but something that reflected how he lived,” Ilisa said.

Mason’s parents said a love for writing was something their son never lost. Some of his last words were “Mom, get me my notebook, I feel like writing,” they said.

The whole family participated in the film, with Chris and Ilisa Parrish’s 10-year-old son Max making a cameo and 2-year-old daughter Lainey’s photograph being featured. Ilisa Parrish does a voiceover, and Chris Parrish makes a quick appearance as a pirate in a TV commercial in the movie.

The project was completed thanks to funding from local philanthropist Vince Foglia, and about 100 cast and crew members, Chris Parrish said.

Local actors and crews were used to help make the movie, Chris Parrish said, including people from Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy and DePaul University, where Chris Parrish teaches screenwriting, writing for TV and writing for film.

Chris Parrish said he hopes the film will be shown publicly in Classic Cinemas theaters in the fall.

“I hope they’ll get a glimpse at what a talented storyteller Mason was, and I hope that people can also see that there’s a lot of odds against us in being able to make this film,” Parrish said. “… A bunch of people from Illinois made a Hollywood movie with not a lot of resources, and just a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”

To view the movie trailer and learn more about The Mason Parrish Foundation, visit www.thrillridethefilm.com.