LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A crowd gathered at The Kentucky Theatre Thursday night to watch a dream come true.
"It's pretty surreal to say that the day has finally come for me to show it," said Dane Sears, a filmmaker who first wrote a script for a horror movie in 2010. After 12 years of work, Sears is premiering the movie, "The Hopewell Haunting."
"The Hopewell Haunting is this old-fashioned ghost story about this lonely, miserable old man who must learn to face his problems head-on," Sears said.
Holding on to that dream wasn't easy.
"The artist's soul burning in me was what kept me going. It's what I always truly wanted since I was twelve. There were a lot of times where I felt like I was kind of drifting away from what I truly wanted, but still, it was always there. I just had to grasp it again. I had to grab it," he said.
Sears can finally let that grip loose. His name is on the marquee, his friends gathered in the lobby, and the result of all that time is finally making it to the screen.
"It's kind of scary. As a filmmaker, you've got to please yourself, but you also have to please the audience," he said, as people streamed into the theater.
That audience was eager to see Sears succeed as he took the stage to introduce his movie.
"Now, the feature attraction, the movie that's taken me twelve years from script to screen. I've given it everything I have. I just hope you all enjoy it. This is The Hopewell Haunting," he said, as the opening credits began.
Twelve years is a long time to chase a dream. A lot of people would never hold on that long. Thursday night, Sears reached his, and he hopes others can hold onto theirs just as tight.
"If it's what you truly want inside. If it's truly what you, when you go to bed at night, it's going to keep you up at night, what you truly want, then you have to do it. Don't run away from it. Don't ignore it. You have to do it," Sears said.
Sears said the movie would be available on streaming platforms later in 2022. He hopes his success with "The Hopewell Haunting" will serve as a springboard for bigger projects.
