Breaking News
Southwestern Cinema Presents: Breaking News
March 3, 2008
For decades, Waxahachie has served as a location ‘hot spot’ for films produced in north Texas. Many film-makers from Dallas to Hollywood consider the historical Ellis County town a perfect place to shoot special scenes for their productions. But coming this spring, one of Waxahachie’s hometown universities is also hitting the screen.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University will be shooting its first ever student film project in May. “I have extremely high expectations for my student film crew to create something meaningful and artistic,” said Communication Arts Instructor Rob Price, who is also serving as the film executive producer. “Although this is an entirely new concept for this budding program, it's one we can handle. We believe we have a very powerful redemptive story to tell about living a life of compassion toward others, and so our goal is not just to ‘make a film,’ but to genuinely touch hearts with the final product.”
The film Breaking News follows a selfish, hard-nosed newscaster named Taylor Foster who is busy trying to climb his way to the top of his career field. His path takes an unusual twist when he meets a stranger who forces him to look at his life from a completely different perspective. This angelic-type figure takes the heartless anchorman on a series of empathic flashbacks where he “becomes” the people who are the focus of his broadcast stories. The goal: to create in him a new heart of genuine compassion for hurting people in both his public and personal sphere of influence. The storyline is laced with beats of humor and ends with a powerful climax as the newscaster unexpectedly expresses his catharsis moment during a live broadcast.
Senior Janeya Nelson, who is serving as Production Designer described the project as a “feel good film that challenges you to look at the people around you and have compassion on them.” Freshmen Timothy Roberts wrote the screenplay and is also the film’s producer. He chose the theme of compassion because of its universal appeal. “In this modern age of news, I want people of all ages to take away from this story the need to care in difficult situations.”
The movie will be approximately 30 minutes in length and is slated to be shot in digital HD format entirely within the immediate D/FW area from May 5 to May 15. It includes an ambitious list of locations. These include: a high school football field, a TV studio, a homeless shelter (or equivalent), a military battlefield (equivalent), a hospital room (or equivalent), coffee shop and standard residential interiors/exteriors.
The cast is comprised of several local SAG (Screen Actors Guild) actors and also aspiring students from Southwestern’s Drama Department. Linda McAlister Talent, a Waxahachie-based agency, has provided generous assistance in finding the right actors for Breaking News.