Their first movie together was a surprise hit, costing just $500,000 to make and taking $8 million at the local box office (and plenty more via DVD sales afterwards). It was the launch pad for Shane’s seemingly unstoppable showbiz career but, remarkably, Clayton has struggled ever since to make a follow-up. “There hasn’t been a week since the release of Kenny where I haven’t tried to get one of my other 12 projects up through the normal paths,” he says. “One in particular was a bit of a darling for about 11 years and then it fell over.” Brothers in arms (l-r): Cinema owner Eddie Tamir, actor-director Clayton Jacobson, and producer Jason Byrne. Credit:Eddie Jim That must have been heartbreaking. “You go numb after a while. But if you dwell on the hours you’ve spent on it you’d slit your wrists – and everybody else’s in the room with you as well.”

Finally, and at the urging of a friend, the elder Jacobson decided to revisit the Kenny model in order to finance Brothers' Nest. Initially envisaged as a very small project with a budget of $200,000 or so, it ended up costing close to 10 times that. But it has already surpassed expectations, playing at the South by South West festival in Austin, Texas, in March to strong reviews ahead of its Australian release on June 21. And that’s great news for the investors. This may be the first film in Australian history to include a dozen cinemas in the end credits. They got there by essentially pledging an advance on expected ticket sales. Loading For $5000, a cinema gets trailers and radio spots that name-drop the cinema and locality, plus the right to screen the film for up to three months, with complete autonomy about which and how many sessions to give it.

For $10,000, they also get to host the filmmakers (but not Shane) for Q&A screenings. For $20,000, they get both brothers for a red-carpet premiere. Eddie Tamir owns the Classic in Elsternwick, the Lido in Hawthorn and the Cameo in Belgrave. He went a step further, investing $25,000 in the movie. In exchange for that, he gets it exclusively in each of his territories. “We want to make our cinemas compelling, we are into the carnival aspect, we want to be a community hub, a bit of spectacle, great food and drink offers,” he says. “But most importantly we want interesting programming, and unique programming.” The dollars involved are, he says, “big enough for most cinemas never to have done it in their history, and for many not to have picked up the opportunity to do it now. “Is it a lot of money?” He pauses before answering. “It’s a calculated risk.”

Clayton Jacobson as Jeff and Shane Jacobson as Terry in Brothers' Nest. Credit:Label Distribution That risk took an unexpected turn on May 27 when car-mad Shane injured himself while celebrating Daniel Ricciardo’s win in the Monaco Grand Prix. He flew back to Australia believing he’d twisted an ankle. It turned out he’d snapped his Achilles tendon and had developed two blood clots in his leg. “The doctors told him he can’t fly,” says Clayton, who had to rapidly rethink, with producer Jason Byrne, how to organise a national tour with a wheelchair-bound star. “They said if he got on a plane he’d die.” A day later, they’d come up with a plan: they will now be taking the Brothers’ Nest tour bus on the road. “The idea of Shane rocking up at screenings in a wheelchair with his foot elevated above his heart, that’s better press than rocking up on a plane like every other schmo,” says his brother.

Shane Jacobson in Kenny, the massive hit no one saw coming. Credit:Madman Those cinemas that have invested will keep 100 per cent of revenue, with half going to pay back their “advance” and the other half being pure revenue. When (or if) the investment is paid back, a more traditional split kicks in. Will it work? Well, the film is good, but it’s a vastly different beast from Kenny, and Jacobson insists he has been careful to lower people’s expectations. “I would be silly to go out there and promise another Kenny, because we didn’t see that coming,” he says. “We based a lot of our thinking around a film that would do moderately OK.” And if by some miracle it does better than that?

“Hopefully everyone, all the partners, gets to enjoy a bit of that as well.” Facebook: karlquinnjournalist Podcast: The Clappers Twitter: @karlkwin