An award-winning documentary about the eclectic career of writer and director Larry Cohen is set to be made available for purchase on August 14, displaying the work that several Santa Clarita residents invested in.

“King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen” chronicles the career of Larry Cohen, a writer and director whose work had a widespread influence on Hollywood today.

“He never really worked within the studio system,” said Cardon Ellis, one of the executive producers for the documentary. “But he inspired generations of filmmakers.”

One of those filmmakers is director J.J. Abrams, who opens the film talking about Cohen’s impact in his own work after Cohen himself requested that he be in the documentary.

Four years ago, Dan McKeon, an entrepreneurial producer from Santa Clarita, was working on securing funds for a different film he was involved in when director Steve Mitchell approached him and pitched the idea of making a documentary about Cohen. McKeon agreed, and they started to work on the film.

“We went and recorded Larry for three straight days at his house,” McKeon said. “We spent two years making it, plus another 9 months to get J.J. Abrams at Larry’s request.”

Halfway through production, McKeon approached Ellis about getting involved with the film.

“I met up with him one day, and he asked if I wanted to help raise funds for it,” Ellis said. “When I saw the clips, I was sold.”

Ellis went on to secure several more funders from Santa Clarita. By the end, five of the producers involved in the film were from Santa Clarita, according to McKeon.

“It wouldn’t have been made if we didn’t have the support of our Santa Clarita residents,” McKeon said. “They came in for about half of the budget.”

After three years of work, the documentary debuted on the film festival circuit in July of 2017, where it would go on to win numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival.

“We didn’t even realize that we had won the gold for best documentary at Fantasia,” McKeon said. “It just popped in our feed one day.”

The film then went through a theatrical release run, playing in theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. It currently has a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“If you don’t know the man, you should, and this is a lively, informative introduction,” said Glenn Kenny, a film critic for The New York Times.

The documentary is available now for pre-order on services including iTunes, Google Play and Vudu, and is set to be released on August 14. The film is also set to be released on Blu-Ray in North America some time in September, with plans for an international release as well, according to McKeon.

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