Filmmakers eyeing Sag Harbor as location for next film

If the producers of the new movie, “The Kings of Appletown,” have their way, they will be following in the footsteps of Alan Alda by filming their next project in Sag Harbor.

“There is one script we’re looking at where the story takes place at Universal Studios and ‘somewhere else,’” said Bobby Moresco, the director of the “Appletown” film. “I’d like to think Sag Harbor could be that place.”

Some residents and visitors may remember those warm-weather months in 1985 when Mr. Alda used Sag Harbor and its surroundings as the setting for “Sweet Liberty,” the film he wrote and directed and starred in along with Michael Caine, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bob Hoskins, and Lillian Gish.

While it was very entertaining for some to watch the cast being put through their paces in the romantic comedy about the making of a movie set during the American Revolution, a few business owners were put out that portions of the village were closed to consumers during a crucial time of year. As a result, the Merchants Association of Sag Harbor—the acronym, in Mr. Alda’s honor, was MASH—was formed.

Reilly Kelly Productions will seek to avoid any similar problems, as will Mr. Moresco, who is a first-time feature film director with “The Kings of Appletown” but is not a novice in show business. The native of Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, who has spent summers in Sag Harbor, pointed out on Sunday that he spent 24 years working in the theater as an actor and director before becoming a writer and director on television. Among the shows on his resume are “Millennium,” “The Black Donnellys,” and a series based on the movie “Crash.”

He had co-produced the feature film “Crash,” which won the Oscar for the Best Picture of 2005, and he and the director, Paul Haggis, shared another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Mr. Moresco had also been a co-producer of the previous year’s Best Picture winner, Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby.”

But it was the future, not past achievements, that the three men at the Bay Street Theatre wanted to discuss on Sunday before a showing of “The Kings of Appletown.” Mr. Moresco was accompanied by Tom Kelly and Joe Reilly, whose company co-produced the movie. The three are collaborating on a new project, “High School Homeroom,” which they expect to go before cameras after Mr. Moresco completes the enviable task of spending most of the winter filming the feature “Castro’s Daughter” in Puerto Rico.

“Appletown” features the 16-year-old twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse, stars of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and “The Suite Life On Deck” on the Disney Channel, the latter reportedly being the highest-rated TV show among 6- to 11-year-olds. The screenplay for the action-adventure film was written by Mr. Moresco’s daughter, who also wrote the first feature starring the twins, “The Prince and the Pauper.”

Adding to the family element is the fact that Kate Burton, daughter of Sybil Christopher, one of the two artistic directors of Bay Street Theatre, is playing a supporting role in “The Kings of Appletown.”

With a box-office hit expected and comparisons being made to the success of the Jonas Brothers, the three filmmakers want to continue working with the twins, and that next project or a different one could be lensed in Sag Harbor and partially financed by local investors.

“My experience in Sag Harbor as a teenager helped me during the preparation for the shooting of ‘Appletown’ in a small town,” said Mr. Reilly. “I began to think, why not come back here for the real thing?”

As he indicated, Sag Harbor is not a random choice. Mr. Reilly, a Brooklyn native, spoke about the months he spent in New Braunfels, Texas, during the shooting of “The Kings of Appletown,” noting that he enjoyed the small-town atmosphere, though not necessarily how early the town closed up for the night. A helpful audience member pointed out that in Sag Harbor, especially in the summer, there is plenty to keep the film crew occupied during down time.

More importantly, Mr. Reilly spent summers in Noyac and worked at Spinnakers Restaurant on Main Street “until Jerry fired me,” referring to Jerry Warwyck, the co-owner of what is now the Blue Sky Mediterranean Lounge and the coordinator for Sunday’s event. “Growing up in the city, Sag Harbor was the place you wanted to be in the summer,” said Mr. Reilly. “Fortunately for me, that happened.”

“This weekend for us is almost an audition process,” said Mr. Kelly, who grew up in Bay Shore but, like his producing partner and Mr. Moresco, had flown in from his home in Los Angeles. “We’re looking at specific sites in and around Sag Harbor and thinking about how we can shoot here. The time of year and the local environment will play a major role.”

The producers have not formally spoken to Sag Harbor officials about making a movie in the village. “We’ve had conversations with a few of the local business people and several people in the industry who live in the area,” Mr. Reilly said. “We have not discussed logistics yet with village officials.”

“We would need cooperation from people here,” added Mr. Moresco. “Shooting a movie on location is racing the clock.”

He told the audience that Sag Harbor has a small-town look but is more sophisticated than what he experienced in Texas. Mr. Moresco explained that each rewrite of a script has to be down on different colored paper so that the filmmakers can keep track of the generations of revisions. “We had to fly colored paper in from Los Angeles because New Braunfels had only white paper,” he said.

The presentation on Sunday also included questions from a few of the youngsters in the audience. About a dozen attended the 1:30 p.m. presentation, while another 30 or so waited outside for the 2:30 showing of the not-yet-released Sprouse brothers movie. A couple of the questions were pretty technical, such as how the producers had managed crowd control during the shoot in Texas (answer: local police) and was everything in the film shot on location (yes) or were computer-generated graphics used (no).

The interaction prompted Mr. Reilly to tell an anecdote about his 5-year-old son. The boy said that he wanted to be a producer, too, when he grew up, because he wanted to be able to say, “Action.” Mr. Reilly explained that it was not the producer but the director who says that. When asked what the producer says, Mr. Reilly replied, “I can’t afford that.”