"I'm always doing something crazy around here," Schiefer said. "Right now there's a 30-foot cowboy laying down in the middle of my driveway."

With his monstrous movie screen, Schiefer plans to take his company, Apex Promotions—which already is in the business of renting and selling inflatable characters such as 30-foot-tall cowboys—in a new direction.

"We're getting ready to do movies in the park," Schiefer explained. "Right now they show movies in San Pedro Square, but I'm trying to do it a bit bigger and better."

In the meantime, until Schiefer can start screening movies at schools or parks, he has been showing films for his neighbors each week, and the block has responded warmly to the opportunity to spend time together.

The neighborhood children have been plopping themselves in front of the 18-foot-by-25-foot screen for the past three weekends, settling in clusters of beanbag chairs and blankets to watch whatever Schiefer decides to show for the night.

For an area full of new families, the weekly movie nights have provided a great way to socialize.

"The neighborhood is turning over," said Nicole Arnold, Schiefer's next-door neighbor. "There are getting to be a lot of young kids again."

Arnold said the movies are getting to be so popular, that at Schiefer's showing of Charlie's Angels, Full Throttle on Aug. 6, "we had to get here early just to get a spot."

Schiefer said showing the films on his lawn has not only served as a way to get the community together, but also as a trial run for his business endeavor. "You could call it product development," he said.

Schiefer said he intends for entities such as schools to use his movie service as a means of fundraising. He plans to facilitate free public showings with corporate sponsorships that will cover all the costs incurred—such as acquiring the proper licensing from movie studios to exhibit the movie—and also support the schools. Schiefer said each school would receive $1,000 per showing.

"It'd be a good fundraiser, and it'd be a way for businesses to give back to the community," he said.

Schiefer said he is currently in conversation with eight schools about organizing movie fundraisers. He said he'd like to start with neighborhood schools such as Simons and Los Alamitos elementary schools. He plans on coordinating movie screenings for the schools on a quarterly basis, so he can present the schools with a check at the end of the quarter.

The more people who could come out for the screenings, the better, Schiefer said, adding that having to sit rather far back from the $50,000 screen should not be a problem.

"The sound system is working great. You can see the screen no problem; it's a high-definition picture, and it's the same projection system they're using in theaters," he said.

Since the screen is visible from so far away, and since many of his neighbors have small children, Schiefer has been showing only family-oriented movies, like Ice Age and The Lion King, on his block.

"We do get requests—sometimes the kids want to see The Fast and the Furious or The Matrix, but I try to do something that's not going to scare the little guys," he said.

Schiefer plans on continuing to show movies for his neighbors, though maybe only on a monthly basis, to keep people interested.

Already, though, his neighbors say their children can hardly wait until the weekend when they get to sit outside with their friends and bowl of popcorn for a movie alfresco.

"It's a good time for my sister and me to hang out," said Arnold's 10-year-old daughter, Megan. "It's fun because we're all together."