Spotlight on Emporia?
Local writer pushing a screenplay with Emporia backdrop
By Scott Rochat
Friday, October 20, 2006
Xavier Keogh has a screenplay he is currently trying to sell for a movie.
Xavier Keough wants to put Emporia’s name in lights. And he doesn’t plan to use a made-for-TV murder to do it.
Keough is an Emporia screenwriter with four full-length scripts to his credits, though none have been produced yet. But the one he’s pushing the hardest on, a time-shifting comedy called “Retro Night,” calls for the action to be shot in and around Emporia.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Keough said. “But it’s best set in a town about this size, not too big, not too small. I thought Emporia was perfect for it.”
One of the best-known movies to use Emporia for a setting was 1987’s “Murder Ordained,” a made-for-television retelling of the Sandy Bird murder. But that tale of murder plots and adultery is a long way from the world of “Retro Night.”
There’s no gore in Keough’s script. No sex, either. There’s a little profanity and some suggestive references, but it’s a long way from, say, “American Pie.”
The main character, Scott Davis, is a 31-year-old college student who abruptly finds himself in the senior year of high school again. But this time he has the skills, experiences and muscles of his older self allowing him to wow the girls, trash the bullies and completely bewilder his best friend.
Of course, there’s still all the little things about 1988 to get used to again, from the clothes and the music to the “high-powered” 256k Apple computers his father sells. And then there’s the personal tragedy that he might be able to prevent if he can put it all together in time ... .
“This is a movie that people will be laughing out loud at in the beginning, and by the end there’s some things they’ll have to remember,” Keough said, “It’s a thinking movie as much as anything.”
The script has its share of local references, such as Emporia State University or the 707 bar (whose “Retro Night” event gave Keough the title and initial idea for his script). But Keough’s own ties to Emporia are fairly recent.
Keough grew up mostly in Colorado and Michigan before graduating from Chanute High School. He first came to Emporia in 1997, graduating from ESU with a social sciences degree in 2000. He left Emporia for about three years to help his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and later returned to be with his girlfriend, who had gotten a job in the Emporia school district.
It was during that time away that Keough began working on movie scripts. He had no formal training but studied what he could find on the Internet.
His efforts were strong enough to attract an agent. And one of his scripts, “One Hit Wonder,” caught the eye of Lee Levinson, producer of the Emmy-award winning “Out of the Ashes.” He contacted Keough and the two started to talk.
“We went over it and he gave me a lot of lessons on how to best present my stories,” Keough said.
That helped a lot. And now, with four scripts on the desk (and two more for shorter subjects) Keough is temporarily shifting from writer to promoter. He’s pushing hard to get something on to the screen. And he thinks “Retro Night” may be his best chance.
The reason has as much to do with economics as it does with the story. “Retro Night” requires no special effects and could be produced for a fairly low budget without sinking into B-movie status. Keough estimated that the movie could be made for $300,000 to $400,000, an amount that could be quickly recouped with even a small amount of interest at the box office.
But then, it all depends on what Hollywood’s interested in. And that changes day to day.
“It’s all about timing,” Keough said.
The most recent set of movies to be made in the Emporia area was in the early ‘90s, when the Hallmark “Sarah, Plain and Tall” trilogy was shot mostly in Osage County but used Emporia as a home base.
Other films that did some shooting in or around Emporia include the Jeff Bridges film “Bad Company,” some scenes from “In Cold Blood” and the TV movie “Mary White” about the relationship between Emporia Gazette publisher William Allen White and his teenage daughter, who died in a riding accident.
With a little luck, “Retro Night” may get to join the list.
“I just think Emporia would be very good for it,” Keough said.
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