Shortcake and the Big Ragu Invade Lakeway!

Eddie Mekka comes to Lakeway.
Eddie Mekka comes to Lakeway.

It's a Seventies/Eighties flashback in Lakeway where the independent comedy Code Enforcer is in the middle of a 21-day shoot with Erin Moran and Eddie Mekka starring. You remember Joanie "Shortcake" Cunningham, Ritchie's lil sis on Happy Days, but may have a harder time recalling Mekka, who was Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa, the singer/dancer on Laverne & Shirley.

Greg Dorchak and Steve Cauley started writing Code Enforcer, a tale of a homeowners' association gone wrong, while working on another film. Since both writers live in subdivisions with home owners' association, they had plenty of experience to draw on.

"There are a lot of new subdivisions going up all across the country – and most of those are governed by HOAs of some sort. Some lines in the script were taken directly from real situations," Dorchak says. "It was impossible to put everything I wanted into this story; it would have been 300 pages long." Steve Cauley and Greg Dorchak are the co-writers and producers, with Cauley directing and Dorchak performing.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle  

READ MORE
More by Joe O'Connell
This Job Will Change Your Life
This Job Will Change Your Life
Former staff reflect on the zigs and zags of life post-Chronicle

Sept. 3, 2021

Top Books to Read in 2020 As Everything Falls Apart
Top Books to Read in 2020 As Everything Falls Apart
In a COVID-strained year, tales of families repairing their lives and the caste system's effect of Black Americans made an impact

Dec. 18, 2020

MORE IN THE ARCHIVES
One click gets you all the newsletters listed below

Breaking news, arts coverage, and daily events

Keep up with happenings around town

Kevin Curtin's bimonthly cannabis musings

Austin's queerest news and events

Eric Goodman's Austin FC column, other soccer news

Information is power. Support the free press, so we can support Austin.   Support the Chronicle