CHOICES to be filming in Crowley

Filming began Saturday night for the third installment of the movie CHOICES. The movie is a realistic portrayal of the dangers of drinking and distracted driving.

This is the first year the movie is being shot in Crowley. 

The movie’s coordinator, Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office’s Maxine Trahan, spoke with the Post-Signal Tuesday during an interview at the Rayne Police Department. 

“We shot our party scene at the home of Howard and Tina Derouen in Rayne,” she said. “The filming lasted from 3 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. The kids had a lot of fun.”

Trahan discussed how this will be the first time CHOICES has been filmed at night. 

“We’ve never done that before,” she said. “But many of the accidents we respond to are at night so this is just another way of showing things as they actually happen.”

There are also many other aspects of this year’s version of CHOICES that will be portrayed for the first time.

“This year we will be focusing more on the civil aspect of things,” said Trahan. “When we had a parent who was sentenced to only six months last year for providing minors with alcohol (prior to a fatal accident), people were asking why did they only get six months. 

“Police don’t make the laws or the sentences. We enforce them. We will depict how the choices the parents made will haunt them for a long time after any jail sentence.” 

This will also be the first time that CHOICES has chosen a speaker (who discusses a real life tragic accident)who has been responsible for causing an accident.

According to Trahan, he will describe how his actions have caused grief and harm to those he affected. During the prior two films, the speaker has been a victim. 

There are 75 Acadia Parish high school students who are involved in this year’s movie. As has been the case the first two years, the students are given various roles from playing victims to being the driver who causes the tragic accident. The students will be spending Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Best Western Hotel in Rayne. 

A portion of Mill Street (near Miller Field) will be shut down Tuesday night while the movie is being filmed. Crowley Chief of Police K.P. Gibson stated that it would only affect about a quarter to a half mile of the road. 

The actual filming is not open to the general public, according to Trahan.