Thunder Road
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Two or Three Things They Know About You: Marketing Independent Film with Behavioral Data
Dear filmmakers, surveillance capitalism is your friend. Like every other thing we purchase nowadays, movies have been subsumed into the new digital economy, where behavioral data, influence campaigns and social media marketing are an integral part of doing business. Morally, you might have a problem with Mark Zuckerberg’s corporate practices, but there’s no getting around the fact that Facebook and Instagram hold some of the most powerful tools to reach people and manipulate their decision-making—including their choice of which movie to see on a given weekend. “It’s definitely been a help for smaller filmmakers,” says Stephen Metzger, director of marketing […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Mar 17, 2020 -
Filming in the Golf Cart Capital of the World: Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe on Greener Grass
The cinematic equivalent of the popular improv exercise “Yes, and…,” Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s feature directorial debut, Greener Grass, opens on an extreme instance of absurdity and gobsmackingly builds from there. In picturesque suburbia, competition runs thick amongst cutthroat nuclear families, neighborhood pool parties are all the rage and mom and dad travel to and from soccer practice via the tacky family golf cart. Co-starring the film’s directors as housewives who develop a grating rivalry, the film opens with Jill (DeBoer) giving up custody of her baby daughter to Lisa (Luebbe). Why does Jill do this? Because Lisa expresses interest […]
by Erik Luers on Oct 23, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 27: Thunder Road‘s Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings’ performance in the Sundance winning, one-shot short film Thunder Road was the talk of the indie film world in 2016. Then he turned it into a feature, and it won the Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival. Now Cummings has decided to turn down less than thrilling distribution offers and make the risky decision to distribute Thunder Road himself. It was the right move. The film has not even hit American screens yet and it has already made its money back and more. He talks to me about “performing” the script into existence, mastering the long […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Oct 23, 2018 -
Watch: Jim Cummings’s Springsteen-Fueled Sundance Grand Prize-Winning Short, Thunder Road
Following a heartfelt public campaign to convince Bruce Springsteen — or, perhaps, his battery of lawyers, publishers and master owners — to let him affordably release his short film, Thunder Road, director Jim Cummings prevailed. The result is that this excellent short, fully deserving of Sundance’s Best Short prize, is now screening online, for free. Cummings himself stars as a young man who decides to evoke The Boss while eulogizing his mom at her funeral, and the short is an example of a game-changing work that can make a career. (Cummings is on every agent’s radar now as an actor […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 19, 2016 -
Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road Video Diary, Part Three
In part three of Jim Cummings and team’s video diary documenting their time at Sundance, Thunder Road wins a jury prize! But before that, there’s more anxiety about networking to get through, both before and after the awards. Part one is here, part two is here.
by Vadim Rizov on Feb 1, 2016 -
Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road Takes Sundance, Part Two
In part one of this video series, Jim Cummings and his team got ready to go to Sundance with their short. In this installment, they’re on the ground and feeling shaky. Actor PJ McCabe practices his networking skills in front of a mirror, there are arguments about who was supposed to get tickets to the premiere, and of course there are parties. Funny stuff.
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 29, 2016
