Jim Cummings doesn’t mince phrases. When requested on My First Movie whether or not aspiring administrators ought to go to movie faculty in 2025, he says, “Completely not.” It’s not that he’s anti-education—it’s that he’s pro-action. The Sundance-winning director of Thunder Street believes in doing, failing, and doing once more. In our newest podcast episode, he lays naked a journey filled with missteps, mini-victories, and one very well-known Olaf balloon floating on the backside of the ocean.
In the event you’re unfamiliar with Jim’s work, he broke out with the 13-minute brief Thunder Street, a darkish comedy eulogy filmed in a single shot. It premiered at Sundance in 2016 and received the Grand Jury Prize. Two years later, he turned it right into a function movie—self-financed by Kickstarter and indie traders. At this time, it’s probably the most well-known short-to-feature transitions within the fashionable indie playbook.
However what most individuals don’t know is that Thunder Street wasn’t his first function. That got here in 2011, a yr after graduating from Emerson Faculty. And it flopped. So badly, in truth, that he swore he’d by no means make a boring movie once more.
The “Cringeworthy” First Function
Within the episode, Jim remembers capturing a 100-page script with mates straight out of faculty. The price range was minimal. The solid and crew have been largely Emerson buddies crashing on his mother and father’ flooring. He calls it a “cool little film” shot in New Orleans—however in the end “dreadful.”
“I left the screening on the New Orleans Movie Pageant, appeared right into a canal with a half-submerged buying cart, and mentioned to myself: I’m by no means going to make a boring film ever once more.”
That emotional sting pushed him out of directing for 5 years. He targeted on producing, doing stints at CollegeHumor and Industrial Mild & Magic (together with work on Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and quietly writing in his free time.
Thunder Street: From Commute Crying to Profession Rebirth
Thunder Street started with a each day commute. Jim, caught in visitors and dealing a full-time job, would dictate notes for the movie into his cellphone utilizing voice-to-text. Finally, these fragmented ideas turned the unforgettable single-take funeral monologue that redefined his profession.
“I’d cry within the automotive whereas serious about it. Then I’d get residence, assemble the notes in Google Docs, and rewrite scenes out loud. That’s nonetheless my course of.”
Jim knew the brief could be one take. He was impressed by the bravado of Kids of Males, and he needed to throw as many “spinning plates” into the scene as potential: a dance routine, a eulogy, a crying cop, a Springsteen tune. It labored. The movie was uncooked, humorous, deeply uncomfortable, and fully unforgettable.
After the brief’s success, he made 9 extra single-take shorts to construct his stamina for longer storytelling. That culminated in The Minutes, a lesser-known however structurally formidable anthology that gave him the arrogance to write down the Thunder Street function.
DIY or Die: The Indie Financing Mannequin
Jim didn’t await a studio greenlight. He launched a Kickstarter that raised round $36,000, then supplemented that with small investments from individuals who had seen the marketing campaign, every shopping for “factors” within the LLC for round $12,000–$15,000 per share.
“The film value about $190,000. Many of the cash got here from particular person supporters who believed within the imaginative and prescient. It was scrappy, however it acquired us to the end line.”
After premiering the movie, he landed a $100K–$200K licensing deal from Amazon by their now-defunct Stars program. Later, with assist from Sundance’s Artistic Distribution Fellowship (additionally now defunct), he and his crew self-distributed the movie throughout the U.S. and Europe.
“Simply French theatrical made €200,000. That’s not even counting DVD or TV gross sales. We made our a reimbursement with out ever getting a studio deal.”
Olaf on the Backside of the Ocean
In one of many episode’s most poetic moments, Jim talks in regards to the picture that impressed his brief movie Is Now A Good Time. It wasn’t a headline or a pitch from a studio exec. It was an Olaf balloon—sure, the snowman from Frozen—discovered on digital camera on the very backside of the Mariana Trench.
“It was this horrifying metaphor for the way far we’ve pushed trash—not simply into the Earth, however into our minds. That snowman was smiling again at us from the bottom level on the planet.”
For Jim, the Olaf balloon symbolizes how deeply popular culture seeps into our unconscious. He made the brief to reclaim a few of that inventive house—away from studio mandates and algorithmic storytelling.
What Comes After the Fall of Hollywood?
Jim is blunt about the place he thinks the trade is headed. With studios downsizing and AI on the rise, he believes it’s going to be as much as people to reclaim the storytelling course of.
“The concept that you’re going to get found by knocking on the entrance door? That Hollywood is useless. It’s a misleading daydream.”
However he’s not pessimistic. Fairly the other. He believes the instruments are higher than ever. The gatekeepers are fewer. And the trail to nice work remains to be the identical: make one thing private, make it wonderful, and don’t await permission.
Key Takeaways for Filmmakers
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Skip movie faculty, make a movie as a substitute. Jim is obvious: spending $100K on faculty received’t train you what making a $15K brief will.
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You don’t want a studio. Thunder Street made $1M by a mix of crowdfunding, fairness, and self-distribution.
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Discover your individual voice. Jim’s most profitable work is totally his—no notes, no compromises.
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Parody has energy. From shutting down the salad bar in highschool to satirizing Marvel, Jim’s comedy has at all times had tooth.
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Make it private. Whether or not it’s a eulogy for his mother or a metaphor for media air pollution, Jim begins with emotional readability.
Last Ideas
Speaking to Jim Cummings appears like getting a masterclass in filmmaking, but additionally in radical self-trust. He’s proof that the previous mannequin is damaged—and you may nonetheless thrive. You simply want grit, a humorousness, and perhaps a digital camera sufficiently small to slot in your automotive.
You may take heed to the total My First Movie podcast episode with Jim Cummings wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the total video interview on YouTube.
📺 YouTube: My First Movie Ep. 10 — Jim Cummings
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