By Lawrence Emerson
FauquierNow.com Editor

A meek geek in high school learns that his older, hard-partying cousin will die without a kidney transplant.

The teenager decides to donate one of his healthy organs. His parents go ballistic.

But, everyone starts thinking, learning and growing.

In the hands of a talented filmmaker, that plot nugget could unfold as powerful drama.

Liberty High School graduate R.J. Haynes, 24, has devoted much of his life the last couple of years to making that film.

“Kidney Beans” will premier Friday night at Manassas 4 Cinemas.

“It’s semi-autobiographical,” Mr. Haynes explains. “My older cousin Brian (Kenney) had a heart transplant at age 18. Then (about a decade later), he got diagnosed with kidney failure.”

As a 19-year-old sophomore at James Madison University, Mr. Haynes decided to donate a kidney to his cousin.

“As soon as I heard what was going on with him, the seed was planted,” the filmmaker recalls. “Then, I was looking at my life. It would almost be a crime not to help . . . . I needed a little pain.

“I talked to my parents and I talked to my girlfriend.”

At first, they reacted skeptically.

But, everyone began doing research and discussing the idea.

Mr. Haynes announced the decision to his cousin during a family reunion the summer of 2008 in Frostburg, Md.

In 2009, he took a two-week break from college for the surgery and recovery. That semester at JMU, he got all A’s and continued work toward his degree in media arts, with a video production concentration.

The veteran of LHS and Fauquier Community Theatre productions completed lots of short video projects for his college classes. But, he began to think bigger.

“There’s that old mantra: Write what you know.”

He got to work on the script, with the “placeholder” title: “Kidney Beans.”

Mr. Haynes never came up with a name he liked better.

After graduation in May 2010, he started recruiting friends as volunteers for the cast and crew. He conducted auditions at the community theatre.

After casting, everyone gathered around the pool table in the basement of his parents’ home just east of Warrenton for read-throughs.

He traded video production services with Fauquier Hospital for access to a shooting location.

He borrowed Canon digital, single-lens reflex cameras.

That fall, under Mr. Haynes’ direction, the crew began shooting, most of which took place in Fauquier.

Two key members of the production staff dropped out just before the shooting began.

In stepped college friend Garrett Johnson as the director of photography and his friend Eric Wronsky as the audio wizard.

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wronsky credit their filmmaker friend for remaining positive and for keeping a group of amateurs on track.

“We learned a lot with trial by fire,” Mr. Johnson says. “We completed a feature-length film, which is amazing . . . . R.J. stayed positive . . . and our friendship survived.”

Mr. Wronsky admits he started with modest expectations, because of the amateur cast and crew, part-time schedule, challenging locations and limited equipment, particularly for audio production.

“But, R.J. was very determined . . . . Just saying out loud that we’re gonna make a feature-length film with volunteers, and we’ve never done this before, doesn’t make any sense . . . .

“R.J. just has such personality. He can talk to anybody and make them feel that they can do things.”

Despite constant challenges, the filmmaker claims he never thought about quitting and that he felt an obligation to those who volunteered to help.

“It was arduous. It was the first time for all of us,” Mr. Haynes says. “I gained a lot of confidence, but also extreme humbleness. My name is attached to this, but I couldn’t do it without the contributions of so many other people.”

They finished shooting last February.

Meanwhile, Mr. Haynes kept his day job at Borders books and music in Warrenton. Then, the bankrupt chain closed its store.

Dennis and Jean Taylor of Paradigm Solutions volunteered to provide outplacement services for the staff. They connected Mr. Haynes with McKinsey Development, a local marketing/communications firm, which needed to a videographer.

But, on nights and weekends for the last year, Mr. Haynes dove deeply into Final Cut Pro, a powerful Apple software suite, to edit his film.

“It was me in my room.”

He made the final adjustments just days ago.

McKinsey Development will host the Friday night premiere.

Although the script sprang from his experience, Mr. Haynes describes the film as “a character study. It’s about two guys getting to know each other. I don’t have an agenda. I’m not trying to get people to donate a kidney.”

The film, a comedic drama, includes strong language and might deserve an “R” rating, he says.

What happens next with “Kidney Beans” remains uncertain. Mr. Haynes hopes to enter film festivals before considering distribution via the Internet.

But, he has begun work on more scripts.

And, as they have planned for some time, he, fiancée Katie Yancey and Mr. Johnson next month will drive across the country. They will move to Los Angeles and attempt to make their passions into livelihoods.

> Sign up for e-mail news alerts from FauquierNow.com

> “Like” FauquierNow.com on Facebook