One of the Eye's very favorite local entrepreneur types, Braun Mincher, is launching a new project that can only be described as counterintuitive - or so it would seem.

He and partner Kevin Houchin, a Fort Collins lawyer and Business Report columnist, have enlisted Fort Collins-based filmmaker David Himot to bring the elements of Mincher's book, "The Secrets of Money: A Guide for Everyone on Practical Financial Literacy," to the screen.

Watch in horror as adjustable rate mortgages strangle homeowners. Cover your eyes when a young couple runs up credit-card debt larger than the gross domestic product of Switzerland. You get the picture.

But Mincher and Houchin make a pretty good case that their topic - financial literacy - can make for good visual fare in "The Secrets of Money: America's Lost Advantage."

"There's nothing better than a good story," Houchin said. "A lot of good stories strung together under the same theme will be a lot more interesting and engaging for people than a two-hour drama."

Mincher and Himot, whose credits include documentaries, short films and music videos, will hit the road in January with an East Coast swing to record interviews with just plain folks, financial experts and celebrities. Mincher is also lining up interviews for a February tour along the West Coast for the documentary that he describes as "Michael Moore meets 'SuperSize Me' meets 'Jay Walking.'"

Among the possible celebrity interviews: Financial advice superstar Suze Orman - "she's on our list," Mincher said - and noted Harvard law professor and author Elizabeth Warren. More luminaries likely will turn up in the final cut.

"But I can't tell you," Mincher said. "It's super-secret. I'll tell you after we've interviewed them."

Mincher said the partners have models aplenty for their movie - for example, "Maxed Out," a 2006 documentary look at credit-card binging that is a peculiarly American affliction.

"The producers took the perspective that the credit-card companies are predators and villains," he said of the feature-length documentary that won the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival. "We're looking at this from a different perspective. We're asking about the role of personal accountability."

Mincher has made plenty of money in his various technology-based entrepreneurial ventures and is committing "hundreds of thousands" to the film. But he said the commercial potential was not the driving force behind the project.

"If we recouped our costs, I'd be satisfied," he said. "All three of us really believe in this cause. We really don't have a commercial objective here."

Since the publication of his book earlier this year, Mincher has been a traveling evangelist for financial responsibility, appearing regularly on cable television programs and speaking to groups nationwide. Even more than building and selling companies, he said, this subject is his passion.

"People are buying things they can't afford," he said. "They're getting payday loans. They're living on credit cards. Yet, while we teach language and science and math, we don't teach basic financial skills."

The production team has an ambitious, five-month timetable leading to release in May. Among the most daunting tasks will be getting average people to speak candidly about their personal finances.

"Getting people to talk about money is tough," Mincher said. "They're more likely to talk about substance abuse issues or their sex lives than their money situations."