Far From Utah, but It’ll Do

    It may not look like the backlot at Warner Brothers, but you can’t beat the location, location, location. For the past few weeks, undergraduate film students from New York University have been building sets, rehearsing, and filming in Tom Ferreira’s backyard at 63 Navy Road on the banks of Fort Pond Bay in Montauk.

    Drivers might have noticed the crew filming on the Napeague stretch last week.

    The writer-director of “Deuce and a Quarter” is a junior at N.Y.U. named Ari Selinger. “It’s a road film really, and this will be scenes for a longer film,” he said while alternately directing construction of a set in the interior of what had been a garage and storage area in Mr. Ferreira’s backyard and rehearsing his actors.

    He explained that the title referred to the slang handle given the Buick Electra 225. The scene being filmed is set in Utah and features an ornery garage owner, two young men traveling in the Deuce and a Quarter, the radio of which is on the fritz, and an Italian tourist who gets his ear pinned to the wall by a dart thrown during a dustup.

    Mr. Selinger said he found Mr. Ferreira’s place by accident. “There were 10 location scouts. We were driving by Tom Ferreira’s and he was standing outside. We asked if he knew of any open areas,” Mr. Selinger said. Mr. Ferreira said the filmmaker could clear out the storage area and use the space without charge.

    In the past, the location’s owner has had trouble with the Town of East Hampton over his pre-existing car repair business in an otherwise residential area. A conclusion to the troubles awaits decisions by the town board and the State Supreme Court.

    “I helped another crew that was filming the movie ‘Sunburn’ in ’97,” Mr. Ferreira said. “These are great kids. I wanted to help them, and I’d like to see more movie business around here. It would be good for the local economy.”