Las Vegas Business Press : Gambling on cinema

Gambling on cinema

Filmmaker channels his passion for movies into memorabilia emporium

BY BEVERLY BRYAN

Miko Montgomery, 48, is an ambitious man. He doesn't just want to sell you a DVD -- though he sells them in his store, along with videos, posters and books.

"I've always considered myself to be sort of a patron of the arts. This isn't just a business, this is my cultural contribution to the valley," Montgomery says.

When you walk into his new store, Moviebrat, the purple walls (one of which is almost totally obscured by bookshelves), the Jamaican sounds of old-school ska vibrating the air and the eclectic posters bespeak a labor of love.

Marlene Karas Cornman | Business Press
Miko Montgomery is the owner of Moviebrat, a movie memorabilia store located at 7380 S. Eastern Ave. Montgomery says collecting movie posters is an affordable way to experience a unique artform.

"People always complain and say, 'There's no culture in Las Vegas.' Well, that's not true," Montgomery insists. "I know plenty of people, cultured people, people who are into film, music, books. The problem is it's not supported. That's what this place is about."

To that end, Moviebrat will host events such as one, planned for Dec. 9, with graphic artist, Terry Lamb. His credits include "Aliens," "Basic Instinct" and the recently released "The Departed" and he will be discussing his enviable career.

Montgomery means for Moviebrat to be a place where small cultural events like that can happen. "I want to get people excited about poster art," he says.

An intense movie buff, Montgomery wrote screenplays for years but it wasn't until 2005 that he made his first sales -- two supernatural thrillers set in Las Vegas. Montgomery, who has a degree in philosophy, learned filmmaking as a producer for a public-access TV station in Milwaukee and he's shot a few short films.

A lot of guys like him would take the money from the two scripts and sink them into making a feature-length picture. Instead, Montgomery opened Moviebrat in August.

"I decided to do something that had a little less of a gamble to it," he explained. "Not that opening a store isn't a gamble -- it's certainly rolling the dice too."

But the store fulfills a need. Being a part of the cultural life of this city, where he has lived for eight years, is in his blood, Miko Montgomery says. His uncles were Wes Montgomery, the jazz guitar player, and Monk Montgomery, who started the Las Vegas Jazz Society over 20 years ago.

Many Moviebrat customers are film students at UNLV or hardcore collectors. When they come into Montgomery's store he wants them to feel the person behind the counter is as passionate as they are. No problem. Montgomery was a collector himself before he became a merchant. Once he learns what you're into he's quick with recommendations, and his personal approach seems to be paying off.

"I know a couple of people have come in here and liked the store, and then went on Myspace and put the word out that way," he says. So far business has been good, he thinks, because people are looking for an alternative. "When someone walks in here, they know they're not in Blockbuster," he says.

And the array of silent movies, film noir, foreign and trash cinema available on DVD or VHS will chase away any lingering confusion. Blockbuster doesn't sell the French version of your favorite movie poster and you can't buy a copy of The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America by Sally Denton and Roger Morris there, either.

"Cinema comes from ideas. Not old television shows," Montgomery says, and so Moviebrat doesn't just sell books on film. Variety, in general, is what Montgomery banks on. "I put out a lot of different stuff, old and new, cult and stupid," he says. Thus you buy a documentary on the making of "Dawn of the Dead" and the foreign-made "Quiet Days in Clichy," based on a Henry Miller novel.

Moviebrat will thrive or fail on the premise of offering something different in a city known for catering to the lowest common denominator. Montgomery's inspiration comes from shops in Paris and San Francisco, where he sometimes ferrets out the more unusual items in his inventory.

A store like Moviebrat may have a far better chance of surviving in San Francisco but the closest Montgomery comes to hedging his bets is to put some of the store's more mainstream items out front. A poster of Elvis and one for "Pulp Fiction" are prominently displayed.

"It's either going to work for me or against me," he says of his gamble on uniqueness. Montgomery's seen a few distinctive places like his own store come and go in the time he's lived here, and he knows what the odds are.

But, he says, "there's got to be more to it than just the money aspect," sounding very much like the independent filmmaker he is. Besides, his heroes are all men who beat the odds with courage and dedication.

Even the store's name reflects that. "Movie brat" was a nickname given to the renegade directors of the 1970s, guys like Dennis Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Their commitment to rebellious visions is a sustaining inspiration to Montgomery, in film and in business.

bbryan@lvcitylife.com | 702-871-6780 x309

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