An overly anxious podcaster, desperate for content, becomes the subject of a bigger prank when he discovers "Gary" is his job-hopping childhood friend in disguise.

SYNOPSIS:

Happy summer days; lake life in a small midwestern town, bustling with thirsty vacationers and zany tavern-hopping townies. However, there is an underlying notion that something is wrong. An elusive something is out of place. Something you cannot immediately describe with a word picture.

Follow MATT ZELINSKI, an overly anxious forty-something podcaster, desperate to keep his contract with iheartradio, for an extended vacation in a quirky Wisconsin lake town. He quickly reunites with a job-hopping childhood friend CHARLIE NELSON, and learns Charlie has a legendary deadhead half-brother GARY he discovered over twenty years ago. Matt, curious to know more, begins asking the townsfolk about Gary, and they share bizarre and heroic stories about him, but when Matt witnesses Gary save a boy’s life at his kid's baseball game, he suspects it’s Charlie. As Matt’s suspicions grow, Gary pushes the prank as far as he can.

When Matt questions the townsfolk if they think Gary is Charlie, they all think he is crazy.

Soon Matt and his t-shirt making buddy ERIC ENGEBRETSON meet oddball ANDY NELSON, and discover Andy and Gary are best friends and first cousins. Eric thinks he went to high school with Andy, but thought his name was DALE.

Matt, wanting to get to the bottom of this, uses his podcast platform to press Charlie. He confirms Andy has a half-brother Dale, but once Matt blurts out his suspicions about Gary, Charlie wants no part of it and storms out of the studio.

As Matt’s obsessive nature blossoms, his wife grows tired of his late night work habits and wants to go home.

Matt, destined to find Dale, gets taken on a wacky, mind-bending ride with Gary and Andy to find him. With Matt going in and out of consciousness on a drug-induced wild weekend, he finally finds the truth he was seeking.

After Charlie and Dale admit they have been pulling this prank on the townsfolk for more than twenty years, Matt asks “Why?” With script in hand, Charlie hands Matt a mockumentary mystery podcast ‘Welcome to Garytown.’

This is a story of deception. A meticulous stunt organized by Charlie Nelson and others, designed to trick the townsfolk and a popular podcaster into thinking Charlie has a half-brother Gary; all in an effort to expose Matt's real father and surprise a television and podcast audience. While it’s blatantly obvious to Matt and the viewing audience that Gary is Charlie; that’s not the case in these small towns. Could the exposure have damaging consequences, and who is in on the prank? The feature film is just the beginning.

WELCOME TO GARYTOWN