Coming in 2019 Buddy Holly film ‘Clear Lake’ in the works for 60th anniversary

The 60th anniversary of the plane crash north of Clear Lake that killed rock and roll icon Buddy Holly and three others will be memorialized with a movie.

Rick French and Patrick Shanahan are partnering with Buddy Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, to produce “Clear Lake,” depicting Holly’s 1958 music tour with Clarence Collins.

French is the chairman and CEO of North Carolina-based marketing firm French/West/Vaughan and Shanahan is the founder and president of Denim Buffalo Films. They have teamed to form Prix Productions, with French serving as managing partner focused on IP acquisition, financing, and production, and Shanahan focused on writing and directing, according to a statement by Prix Productions.  The film is being produced in association with Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly; the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation; and BMG, which manages the Holly Estate intellectual property and U.S. music publishing rights.

The film will follow Holly and Collins, founder of Little Anthony & the Imperials, as they tour together in the racially charged days of 1958 as part of the “Biggest Show of Stars Tour.” Shanahan and French are collaborating on the story with Shanahan writing the screenplay.

According to a news release, the movie will focus on Holly, who was white, and Clarence Collins, the founder of Little Anthony and the Imperials, who was black.

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson died in the plane crash near Clear Lake after performing at The Surf Ballroom.

Prix Producations is planning a $12 million budget for “Clear Lake” with production beginning in February 2019.