'Wild three weeks.' This indie movie star owns pizza shops in Chatham, Harwich and Dennis

It’s been quite a month for Cape Cod actor Josh “Koop” Koopman and the crew at Pizza Shark Cape Cod, which he co-owns with his wife, Sarah Scanevin Koopman, and friend Todd Montgomery.

“It’s been a wild three weeks but you just have to ride the wave when it’s happening,” he said.

The actor/pizza guy filled us in on the whirlwind.

On Tuesday, Koopman’s latest film, the indie comedy "Earlybird," became available on Amazon Prime, Peacock, Apple TV, and other streaming services. Commercials are scheduled for TV spots during “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Access Hollywood.”

The movie had its world premiere in 2023 at the Milwaukee Film Festival and IFFBoston. The movie trailer can be seen on YouTube.

The Milwaukee festival's description said, "(Earlybird) tells the story of a struggling theater owner as he tries to resuscitate his business with increasingly outlandish play productions. A meditation on creative careers and the potential for passion to fizzle out, this fictional film will hit close to home and serve as a glimmer of hope for arts patrons and workers alike."

On April 3, at 7 p.m., the 90-minute "Earlybird" will have a one-night Cape premiere on new projection equipment at the Chatham Orpheum, which houses one of Pizza Shark’s three locations. (The others are the original at Pleasant Lake in Harwich and now one in Dennis.)

“None of my staff have seen the movie yet and they will be at the premiere. I’m terrified,” he confided.

"Earlybird" is about a small community theater troupe trying to fill seats while staging quality shows to maintain their integrity as actors. But it becomes a comedy of errors when the down-and-out actors stage a “joke play” that is a smash hit and their leader, played by Koopman, lets it go to his head.

Koopman, an Army veteran who turned to acting and whose movies include "The Golden Scallop" with fellow Cape Codder Marnie Schulenburg, and "How to Rob," said he tries to envision the feature-length film in its totality so that when scenes are filmed out of order he still has a strong hold on where he wants his character to be.

“In a lot of ways ‘Earlybird’ is a love letter to that desire to do good work,” Koopman said. “My level of panic comes from not wanting to let the other actors down.”

Community theater is at the heart of Pizza Shark since Koopman and many of the other folks ― Trish LaRose, Jared Hagan, Holly Erin McCarthy, Anthony Teixeira and Jess Andra ― who work there are veteran Cape actors. Although their availability is limited in summer, Koopman said, they are great team members because they are “incredible people — smiling and talented.”

"Earlybird" was filmed in less than a month in Milwaukee. Koopman said it got a boost after Good Deed Entertainment picked up the film, written and directed by Martin Kaszubowski.

Coincidentally, Pizza Shark’s animated commercial, created by Koopman’s Barnstable High School acting teacher John Sullivan and shown during Boston Celtics games, went viral on “X,” hitting 775,000 views on the site formerly known as Twitter.

Also, the Cape Cod pizza business saw a big bump in demand for its merchandise after “White Lotus” actress Meghann Fahy wore a Pizza Shark sweatshirt while revealing her relationship with actor Leo Woodall after a year of “Are they or aren’t they?” social media flirting.

“Fahy’s Instagram post was in People.com, Vogue, Glamour magazine, Page Six. She’s walking with her back to the camera and wearing our cobalt sweatshirt,” Koopman said.

The cobalt blue sold out immediately and Pizza Shark started getting three dozen online orders a week for shirts and hats.

“It’s a cool secondary revenue stream,” Koopman said, noting that acting and pizza work well together.

“I don't audition anymore. I figure if I'm in a room with 50 guys who look like me, one of the other 49 can probably do it better," he said. "My great freedom is that I’m only making movies with people I love and stories I’m interested in.”

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts. Contact her at gfriss@capecodonline.com. Follow her or X, formerly Twitter: @dailyrecipeCCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape pizza maker, actor Joshua Koopman stars in comedy 'Earlybird'