'Bricktown' movie hits the big time with distributor's backing

For independent filmmaker Michael Kelber, there was never any doubt where he would shoot his first featurelength movie.

Right in his hometown.

"There's no place like home," said Kelber, who lives in North Hollywood now. "I grew up here. I have all of my memories here, good and bad. Mostly good. I miss it all. But for what I'm pursuing, I can't live there."

"Bricktown" actually debuted in 2006 under the name "Pranksters." But Kelber decided the title was a little too flippant, given the subject matter.

"It's really not about a prank," he said. "It's more dramatic than comedic."

Suffice it to say the film ends tragically, with a real kicker at the end.

The 100-minute movie is now available at a number of outlets, after a distributor picked it up, Kelber said.

He sent copies of the movie to 40 different distributors. One said yes, which has made all the difference in the film's success, Kelber said.

"It's huge," he said. "If I didn't get a distributor of any kind, then it would have been basically a very expensive hobby. It would have been sitting on the shelf. This was huge for me and for the film."

"Bricktown" cost roughly $250,000 to make. Kelber and his wife financed part of it. Eleven investors also contributed between $1,200 and $20,000 each.

"We had no money when we started casting," he said. "When you're talking independent, every little bit helps."

His immediate goal is to pay all the investors off.

"If we recoup the money, it's a huge success," Kelber said.

The movie was shot primarily in Brick. The opening montage features three grinning teenagers in graduation gowns and mortarboards in front of the Brick Township Memorial High School sign.

The movie follows friends Paul Johnson, a local landscaper played by Howard Gibson, and Jim, played by Jason Hamer, from their Brick childhoods to an incident in young adulthood that changes their lives forever.

One of the opening scenes is a flashback of the young boys flinging eggs at neighborhood doors and later knocking down mailboxes with baseball bats. It's a precursor of things to come.

Fast-forward about 20 years later. Paul is winding down at home after a long day's work. Jim, fresh from a stint in prison for an assault charge, drops by and eggs Paul on to pull a prank, just for old time's sake.

Paul resists at first, but eventually agrees to go along with it.

Their prank results in the death of a police officer and several others. In the end, Paul has drunk himself into near oblivion and Jim seems to have pulled his life together, despite what has happened.

"I like everything very subtle," Kelber said. "Little nuances throughout the story. I don't like to spoon-feed anybody."

Kelber said the major events in the film are based on an actual incident that occurred in the 1970s around Mischief Night.

"There were a few people when I was growing up who did something like this," he said. "I knew them well. It was never intended to hurt anyone. It was more like a Halloween thing."

Kelber had a rough time in his teens. His father was out of the picture by the time Michael was 2. Michael's mother, Pat Morris Kelber, was left to raise five children on her own.

"We were raised by a single mother," he said. "We had a lot of time on our hands. I was in rehab by the time I was 15."

Morris-Kelber is her son's biggest fan.

"He worked very hard for it," she said. "He deserves everything he has. For the first movie he ever did, I was surprised it was that good."

The movie was shot in a number of Brick locations, including Craig's, the Arrowhead Inn, Pinewood Park, the Veterans of Foreign Wars post on Route 88, Brick Memorial High School, friends' houses, and even a scene at his mother's house in the Holiday City development in Toms River.

The township became "almost another character" in the film, Kelber said. "The style of houses are different. The air is different."

Four Brick police officers — Jay Halley, Scott Reitemeyer, Jay Lampiasi and George Collins — are also featured in a section of the film, playing themselves outside Craig's on Princeton Avenue.

"Bricktown" is now available at Amazon. com, Target, Blockbuster.com, TCM.com and Overstock.com.

For more information, go online at www.bricktownthemovie.com.