Christopher Golon found like-minded dreamers in Hollywood.

Dreams die hard, especially in the arts. Hole up in a cramped apartment with a pen and a pad and maybe you'll emerge with the next Infinite Jest. Shoot your cinematic vision with a hand-held camera, and maybe you'll end up with another Mean Streets. Or maybe not.

When it comes to the latter, there's no better place to be than Los Angeles, where a classified ad on Craigslist will bring dozens of would-be stars running to your auditions, even if you're not paying a dime. That's what New Britain native Christopher Golon, 35, did this summer to make his coming-of-age drama set in Connecticut, Knock 'Em Dead, Kid, on a budget of about $4,000. Back in Connecticut now to put the final touches on his film, Golon is returning to Los Angeles in February to try to sell it.

"I'm going back to L.A. mainly on a wing and a prayer, and that is to try to get this out there," Golon said last week in a Starbucks near West Farms Mall. "I don't want to be famous, I just want to make films for a living that somebody might say, 'Yeah, that was good.' That's it."

Golon completed his script while still at Central Connecticut State University in 1995. Yearning to go to film school, he never graduated from Central, and ended up working in the insurance business.

Last year, Golon enrolled in the New York Film Academy, taking the two-month course offered in Los Angeles, where he stayed in an apartment across the street from Universal Studios. Golon made five shorts for the class, the last one being his thesis.

He admits his plot about an L.A. detective from the East Coast who solves the case of a missing girl who ends up in the porn industry isn't the most original. But he still felt proud when it was screened for the class on the Warner Brothers lot.

Coming home for Christmas last year, Golon decided he would return to L.A. to shoot Knock 'Em Dead, Kid on his own. He whittled the 200-page script down to 70 pages and the speaking parts down from 46 to around 20. Casting presented some unique challenges, given the pool of aspiring actors he had to draw from for characters who were mostly in their teens.

"I had girls in their early 30s telling me, 'People say I look 20 all the time,'" said Golon. "Guys, the same thing, 'I can pass for 20.' You might be able to fool me but you won't fool the camera."

By July 14, Golon was ready to begin shooting. He had to wrap by the end of the month because his cinematographer had a wedding to go to. On the biggest day of filming, when his protagonist cheats on his girlfriend, Golon got kicked out of the apartment complex where he was filming. It was the one day he failed to get a shooting permit.

"I needed a scene of them kissing and getting caught by the girlfriend," said Golon. "I'm thinking 'How are we going to do this?'"

By now it was 10:30 p.m., and nobody had eaten since lunch. The cast and crew went to dinner, where Golon noticed the restaurant had a big empty parking lot. They quickly shot the scene and left.

When Golon reviewed the week's shooting, he realized his leading lady just wasn't getting across the innocent vixen vibe he was looking for. He tried to talk to her about it, but she walked off the project. Golon replaced her with another girl who responded to his casting call and reshot all the scenes in two days, including the climatic kiss in a car.

"I can honestly say the shot with the two people in the car is the best thing I've ever done," said Golon. "The way we lit it, it came out really well."

Judging by the trailer — the only evidence we have right now — Knock 'Em Dead, Kid is not another Mean Streets. But maybe the full 70-minute film, once finished, will somehow begin to fulfill Golon's dream of just making a living.

Watch the trailer for Knock 'Em Dead, Kid.