Six Miles at Sea
A period adventure, a coming-of-age on the Jersey Shore in 1974
In 1974, Bruce Springsteen was just a shore-area rocker with a couple of records out and a kick-ass band in tow. They descended on Long Beach Island twice that summer to play raucous gigs at a funky place in Spray Beach called Le Garage. Those concerts became legendary on the island.
That historical nugget was the starting point for an ambitious short film conceived and produced by shore native Bruce Novotny, once a creative-minded marina worker, now an experienced California-based film editor.
Bruce wrote the script, refined it with help from veteran screenwriter Valerie Alexander, and set about raising the money and finding the cast and crew to shoot the film. It was ambitious because it demanded period details, featured actors between the ages of 12 and 14, and took place largely on water. And Bruce had never directed before. But over three July days and two overnights, a mighty production team tackled every challenge and emerged with several terabytes of footage and the makings of a pretty good short film.
Finn McKenna plays Finn, a reluctant 12-year-old who accompanies his friend Gary, played by Calvin Petersen, as they steal a boat and head across the wide bay to sneak into a Bruce Springsteen concert.
Landing at a yacht club near the concert, they are momentarily thwarted by a young club member, a girl named Sarah, played by Alexandra Rooney. Finn experiences his first crush.
Music was a big part of the adventure, and Six Miles at Sea eventually featured a pair of undiscovered gems of the era, plus two originals that beautifully evoked the 70s sound. The film premiered to a packed house at the Lighthouse International Film Festival in June 2024. It was while attending that screening that Bruce and Valerie decided to collaborate on bringing Flyers Game, also a coming-of-age set in 1974, to the screen.
After the film played to another very receptive crowd at California’s Ojai Film Festival that November, festival director Sven Shelgren, a highly-regarded and successful producer, saw the potential of the feature project and enthusiastically joined the team.