By Leann Schenke

DOVER — Downtown Dover is getting some time in the limelight with the filming of “A Gangster’s Paradise.”

South Bradford and Loockerman streets served as filming locations Thursday along with the facade of Angelo’s Pizza.

Residents were advised early Thursday that a filming crew would be using “blank firing prop weapons” in two scenes. The Dover Police Department also was notified and officers were on set to ensure safety, a news release from the film’s studio states.

According to Joseph Johnson, writer and director of “A Gangster’s Paradise,” the film crew will likely be back in Dover to film more scenes later on in the filming process.

He said the plot of “A Gangster’s Paradise” plays out like a parable.

“It’s about a young girl who kind of got lost in the game,” Mr. Johnson said Thursday. “The moral of the story is, what we’re doing is, we’re trying to push to the youth that if you’re in this type of situation, get out of it before it’s too late.”

He said he wrote the plot of the film a few years ago, but returned to it and revamped it. Filming began in late August and the movie is expected to be completed by February or March. After filming wraps, Mr. Johnson said “A Gangster’s Paradise” will be released on streaming platforms — he listed Hulu as a likely vendor for the film.

Mr. Johnson is originally from New York, but has been a resident of Camden for nine years, he said. Much of the filming has already taken place at Mr. Johnson’s home in Camden, which also serves as the home base for his studio, September Tenth Films.

The studio, along with Marvin Singleton, of Sauce Kyng Productions, are working on this film, Mr. Johnson said. Marcellus Shields, a partner with September Tenth Films, also is involved with the project.

Mr. Johnson was not originally a filmmaker — he said he started out as a dancer in New York City. After being cast in a movie, Mr. Johnson said he discovered his love of filming when he asked the director if he could help out behind the scenes.

From there, Mr. Johnson returned to school and got a certification in filmmaking from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

After graduating, Mr. Johnson said he was interested in filming music videos, however never got the opportunity to direct one. Instead, he wrote a film.

That film, “East of New York,” got some distribution, he said. It served as the catalyst for his career.

“A Gangster’s Paradise” isn’t the first film created by Mr. Johnson that used Delaware as a filming location — his 2016 film “Love and Deceit” was filmed in Dover and Rehoboth Beach. He said when he first came to Delaware nine years ago, he was inspired to bring filmmaking to the area.

“I noticed there wasn’t a lot going on with filmmaking in Delaware period,” Mr. Johnson said. “I just said, ‘you know what, I’m going to take this step and try to bring filmmaking into Delaware.’”

Going forward, Mr. Johnson said he plans to film in Dover as much as he can including scenes in his next film called “Mahogany Jones.”

“I really want to emphasis Dover, because right now this is my home,” Mr. Johnson said.