SCREENWRITER KENNETH RANCE IS 'NEW IN TOWN': African American writer pens new Renee Zellweger romantic comedy.

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      In the new Lionsgate film, “New In Town,” starring Renee Zellwewer, his main character succeeds in her career, creates long lasting friendships, and get’s the man of her dreams.

      It's a typical happily ever after love story, right? Interestingly enough, this story’s true happy ending has nothing to do with finding Prince Charming.

     “I never set out to write a film about race,” explained Rance, to EUR’s Ricki Morris, about his new romantic comedy “New In Town.” “I wrote a film about a woman, who was on her way to the top, she takes this assignment in this small little town and she realizes she’s the only African American woman in this town of 13,000 Germans and Swedes. She’s (then) confronted with her loneliness and she ends up falling in love with a guy she wouldn’t, in essence, (have) given the time of day in the big city.”

      Rance said that even though the story was originally about a black woman, it was still diverse enough for the main character to be ethnically different.

      “What I was trying to demonstrate (was) that, as people of color our stories are more diverse than hip hop ... drugs ... gangs ... crime and violence,” said Rance. He continues by saying that though most stories about African Americans can be tragic, when he wrote his screen play he wrote “And They Lived Happily Ever After.”

      By writing that little note, he was reinforcing that “New In Town,” was to be a story with a happy ending for the African American community.

      But Hollywood had a different view for the final product. Instead of a Halle Berry or Angela Bassett as the leading lady, Rene Zellweger was cast as the ambitious Lucy Hill. In the film, Zellweger’s character is offered a temporary assignment, in New Ulm, Minnesota, to restructure a manufacturing plant.  What began as a straight forward assignment, with promotion potential, became a life changing experience. Lucy discovers greater meaning in her life and the man of her dreams.

      The story line is the same, minus the racial barrier Rance’s original character might have encountered.  Even though it would have been a great “black” love story, with a perfect happy ending, Rance found another avenue for his story to give the black community something to be glad about. 

     “What’s important to me is to let the world know that there are writers of color that are out there and we do have the ability to tell mainstream American stories,” says a very determined Kenneth Rance. 

      "New In Town" was inspired by a true story, told to Rance, by a woman he met in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Since he was from Minneapolis, creating the three dimensional characters of New Ulm, was as simple as telling stories about people in his own backyard.   Many of the intricate details that made his characters genuine came directly from Rance’s own household.

      “I grew up in Minnesota, I skied, I had braces, went to private school for a short amount of time,” admits Rance in a matter of fact way. “My wife is a scrap booker, all of the scrapbooking you see in the film that’s from my wife.  That’s her level of contribution to the film.” The ambitious screen writer also explained how his wife stood by him to support his dreams.

      “(I owe) a lot of credit to my wife ... being there for me, being so supportive,” said Rance. He also explains how his wife sometimes took three or four jobs to help support the family as he followed his dreams. “I think that that’s a great testament to the struggle and the sacrifice of the black family. It’s a testament to the strength of black marriage, and it’s been great to be able to celebrate (the) success with the woman I love.”

      In the end “happily ever after” belongs to Kenneth Rance, and every other writer of color to come. Rance hopes his film will show that African American writers are not confined to a singular box; they are able to write stories for and about all races and situations.

      “New In Town,” opens in theatres in North America this Friday, January 30. For more information, go to www.newintownmovie.com.

Watch the trailer for 'New In Town':

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