High School Student's Movie To Premiere July 10-11 At Baylor
Bynum High School junior Rance Collins will premiere his mystery/comedy film, "Murder at the Riverside Hotel," at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 10, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 11, at Bennett Auditorium on the Baylor University campus. The public is invited to attend, and a portion of the $2 admission will go to KWBU-TV Ch. 34, public television for Central Texas.
Collins, who wrote the 150-page screenplay while also serving as the film's producer, director and editor, and his cast of 15 young actors spent the month of June shooting the movie on the Baylor campus. Set in the 1930s, "Murder at the Riverside Hotel" features an "on-the-outs" detective couple, who are forced to work together when a man turns up dead at a secluded hotel. In addition to shooting at Baylor's Victorian-style Harrington House, Collins produced newsreels with his father, Hillsboro author Ace Collins, and used classic radio programs like "The Guiding Light" and "Suspense" to create an authentic 1930s atmosphere for his whodunit.
The movie is the culmination of Collins' participation in Baylor's University for Young People, a summer enrichment program of interdisciplinary courses and camps for elementary through high school students. This year, Collins worked on his directing skills with Baylor's Daniel Inouye, who is pursuing his master's degree in the department of theater arts.
Collins' aspirations as a filmmaker began when he took an "i-Movies" course through UYP several years ago, which led to his first summer internship in 2002 with KWBU-TV. During an internship last summer, he further honed his skills by filming "Mrs. de Winter," a sequel to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Collins also continues to write, shoot, edit and co-star in "The Five of Us," a "Friends"-like situation comedy taped at his family's home in Hillsboro. The program grew out of one of his internship projects with KWBU-TV.
For more information, contact Collins at home (254) 582-9938 or mobile (254) 644-2222.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Media are welcome at the premiere. Rance will be available for interviews after 6 p.m. Saturday and after noon Sunday at Bennett Auditorium. A clip reel and movie poster are available for the media. Please contact Lori Scott Fogleman, director of media relations at Baylor, at (254) 710-6275.