Manuel Mendoza

Brad Keller is content to make his movies and TV shows right here in North Texas.

"We have the resources. It's just a matter of proving it," says the principal in Fireside Entertainment, currently shooting the TV film and Web series Inspector Mom for the Lifetime Movie Network in Dallas.

"When this comes out and Prison Break comes out, they'll see that this is no different than what the coasts can do. ... We do have equipment, we're nice people, and we do speak English."

A native of Redondo Beach, Calif., Mr. Keller studied film at the University of North Texas and wound up as a production assistant on JFK when it was shooting in New Orleans. After being accepted into the prestigious director's program at the American Film Institute, he moved to Los Angeles.

But then, with his girlfriend expecting, he had to drop out. After struggling for a year working multiple jobs while raising his son, he returned to Texas and began directing commercials.

Shooting straight-to-DVD films on the side, Mr. Keller began learning the distribution business. "As crappy as those first films were – Playing Dead, Loofa, titles you never heard of – they kept selling," he says.

Mr. Keller's breakthrough came with 2004's A Killer Within, starring Giancarlo Esposito. Distributing it himself, he succeeded in getting the DVD into Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Borders and other chain stores.

Inspector Mom, starring Wonder Years alum Danica McKellar as a crime-solving homemaker, will include online "Webisodes" with their own story lines.

"We couldn't get away from the Internet and the future," Mr. Keller says. "The Internet of today is going to be the television of tomorrow, and movies have now become the new TV. ... We figured it's going to happen, we might as well be one of the first."

And it's all being shot in Dallas with a mostly Texas-based cast and crew.

Drew Waters, an Orange native who now lives in Sachse, plays Ms. McKellar's husband; 7-year-old Nathan Bell plays her son; and two Dallas stage actors, Jeffrey Schmidt and Stephanie Young, have small roles.

Part of Mr. Keller's company is a continuous casting facility that keeps his local acting pool stocked. "My resources are here," he says.

E-mail mmendoza@dallasnews.com

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