By Genevieve Roja The Campbell Reporter 

To hear Shawn Flanagan tell the story of his early filmmaking days in Almaden Valley is to picture the Von Trapp children armed with small cameras careening through the Austrian countryside.

Flanagan was 16, a sophomore at San Jose's Gunderson High School, shooting "shorts" on Super 8 film with his buddies in the Almaden hills.

Twenty years and many acting, producing and managing stints later, Flanagan met Dan L. Connolly who pursued the Boneshakers project when Flanagan promised he could pull it  off for $10,000. They had worked together on an Erik Estrada (of CHiPs fame) vehicle called Shattered Dreams  (a Sean Donahue film) which was filmed on location around San Jose. Connolly had supplied the armored cars in the action sequences, befriended Flanagan, and agreed to produce the project under Connolly Entertainment. Connolly had based his decision largely on witnessing Flanagan's tireless efforts to market and distribute the film over the last seven months before striking a consignment deal with Bradley Video.

"It's a sacrifice," says Connolly, who together with Flanagan forms the production company True Spoke. "You decide there's a goal and you're willing to make sacrifices for that goal. I think Shawn has a tremendous amount of talent; he's extremely good."

• Boneshakers Trailer