By Eavin Moore
The two-year-old I spend time with loves Looney Layne, a recurring character in KQ2’s marketing of 
their internet offerings. Whenever his commercial comes on, the boy yells, “Looney Layne!” and runs for the TV to watch. I happen to know the unusual character behind the character and thought I should introduce you.
I met Layne Hull through my loose association with F.A.M.E., the Film Alliance of the Midland Empire. These are the folks making films and working to attract outside filmmakers to our little town on the river. They have been around a couple of years now and have been involved in several indie projects, many with a horror/zombie leaning. Viewers saw Layne fill the screen as a psycho killer in The Lewis and Clark Trail of Blood by local writer director D Byron.
My own first view of Layne on screen was a project he showed the group where he used all kinds of old atomic bomb explosions. Mushroom clouds and all of that, interspersed with animated shots of Lane morphed into different zany scenes. This is a guy with a weird sense of humor.
Through listening to all these movie geeks talk about their faves I came to notice that no matter what movie anybody mentioned, Layne not only had seen it, but he probably owns it, and quite possibly in more than one version. (Special Edition, Directors Cut, Boxed Sets, etc.) Especially if it’s in one of his specialty areas like Horror and Sci-Fi, odds are he has it.
His lifelong love of all things Movie and TV have driven both his work and personal life.
He started out operating projectors at the old Hillcrest Theaters while in school, majoring in Video Production at Missouri Western. He later parlayed that into a job as a master control operator for KQTV where he has worked for the last 8 years.
After work, he tends to either congregate with others of his kind, cussing and discussing, as my grandma used to say, arguing about what’s a classic and what isn’t, is a popular theme. Late nights at Perkins, one of his favorite haunts, you can often find him with a pot of coffee in front of him, holding court in the back room. He is also reputed to be a serial karaoke singer, but I haven’t experienced that myself.
His portrayal of Venus Von Steintrapp in Chanel 2’s ’06 Halloween spoof was good training for his next project, which he calls Psychosis Cinema. In a classroom setting,
I then asked Layne Hull my Three Questions.
1.MOORE: Only 5 videos on your
LH: Only 5? Impossible! OK, Citizen Kane,
LH: That would be “Twice Upon A Time”, an animated film by George Lucas that came out in 1982. I’ve been looking for that a long time.
MOORE: Good, now for our separated at birth question. What famous individual, real or fictional, do people always say you resemble?
LH: That’s easy, John Candy, I always get that.
Lane Hull is not just another funny guy. As a collector he stacks up pretty well against the other compulsives that travel in my circles. As an actor/filmmaker, I think there are a lot of projects and a lot more characters to come. He invites you to find some of his projects at youtube.com/brandlayne and to “Come Look At My Stuff!”