Oscar-Winning Fort Lee Filmmaker Has Film In 'Huluween' Contest

FORT LEE, NJ — It started with a stray puppy.

Fort Lee native Glen Zipper was an assistant criminal prosecutor in Hudson County. He was three years into his career, and he knew it was not what he wanted to do.

Then, while walking in Jersey City one day, he came across a stray puppy and that led him to quitting his job and volunteering at a local animal shelter.

"I never felt so encouraged and fulfilled in my life," Zipper said.

That's when he decided to follow his dream of being a filmmaker. A dream that took him to Los Angeles and Hollywood.

"I came out to L.A. and I had a lot of doors slammed in my face until I was hired as a documentary film producer," said Zipper, who helped produce "The Last Play At Shea," about the last concert at Shea Stadium. "That's where I learned to make films."

Then, a few years later, a film idea came to his company that his boss did not want to make.

Zipper said to his boss, "What if I raise the money for it and produce it?" His boss agreed and off he went.

The film would be called "Undefeated." It was about the Manassas Tigers high school football team of Memphis, Tennessee and its coach Bill Courtney. It won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2012. Zipper and his brother's company, Zipper Bros. Films, produced it.

"It was a dream come true," Zipper said.

Since "Undefeated," Zipper has produced 40 films and television shows, including "The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash," which will premier in November.

A 'Horror-Filled' Childhood

Zipper's true love of cinema began with horror movies when he was a child of divorce growing up at Horizon House in Fort Lee.

"When I was growing up in Fort Lee, so many of my friends, their parents got divorced, they were latchkey kids. While it was great living in Fort Lee, it was stressful," Zipper said. "There was a lot of pressure on us."

Zipper was one of the first of his friends to have a VCR. He only had a few movies: "Halloween," "Escape From New York," "Fright Night," "Alien," and "Evil Dead." He would watch them on a loop.

My escape was watching those movies," Zipper said. "The TV felt like it was a window to another world, and if you watch those films long enough, you feel like you belong in that world."

Zipper has gone back to his cinematic roots with the release of "Swiped To Death." The film is about a woman who swipes right on a dating app and meets a man who may not be what he appears to be. The film was one of seven included on Hulu's "Huluween" Film Fest competition. The most viewed film wins.

Zipper said his next dream is to come back to Fort Lee and film a movie here. It would be something of a circular journey for Zipper and the borough seeing how Fort Lee was the birthplace of the American film industry and the motion picture capital of the United States.

"If there's a way for me to ever pay it forward and bring more awareness back to Fort Lee, I'd like to do it," Zipper said. "I don't have a movie on my wish list, but one day."

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com