How Jim Cummings Made Thunder Road (without Hollywood) 

Hear the full interview with Jim Cummings, writer/director of Thunder Road, at www.behindthecurtainfilm.com/

Thunder Road is one of the most depressingly funny movies I've ever watched. I have no idea how he managed to make me simultaneously laugh and tear up

This movie is amazing. The humor seems absurd but the story is so heartbreaking and deep!

Anyone who makes a film deserves all the accolades in the world. Even the shortest short is a labor of love and takes so much grit to bring to life. Success stories like Jim's are fantastic. Reminds me of the Duplass brothers who had a similar start. That said, not sure I understand what he meant by the whole script format jab, or script writing being a pipe dream. There so much content out there now, scripts are bought and sold every day. And of course you wouldn't be in charge of your baby once you sell it. It's commerce. They buy it and hopefully it gets made and hopefully it doesn't suck.

For a fact this guys gonna be big name in the next couple of years, the fact that he Tommy Wiseau'd his onwn film and actually made it into an absolute gem is crazy

7:31 this is exactly why I never understand why so many writers are obsessed with having the perfect structure, even if you have an amazing structure in your screenplay it doesn’t mean you wrote something good. It can mean you wrote a boring story with a good structure around it. Story is always king everything comes later

Cummings is a fantastic human being, and I love his movies. So inspiring and fun.

Thunder road was seriously so real in atmosphere and emotion. Even tho it wasn’t a big budget film or even technically a stereotypical “indie,” film it was so great. It really shows how emotion can affect the human psyche.

Thunder Road is one of the top 10 films of 2018. It's fucking amazing how he made something of such a high quality for so cheap.

It's really interesting to hear about his creative process, I'll definitely have to watch Thunder Road.

Just watched it and it is the first movie that actually made me cry

*Such an interesting person and journey. Great to hear his story and take this on board for my own filmmaking journey. Appreciate the great content BTC!*

I have to check out 'Thunder Road'. Saw 'The Wolf of Snow Hollow' and I had a blast!

This was eye opening. Everything he talked about are the reasons I would hold myself back whenever I'm encouraged to write a script. I think it has to be a specific way, I struggle to copy that format and give up.

Jim is such an inspiration, man. I loved this episode.

I saw Thunder Road at a film festival. It was not only my favorite film of the festival, but of the year.

He is right on everything he said. That was how I was when I first started, which led to my first feature film. Then, after that, I got caught up with the idea of getting the next film made with a big budget. Not to mention, I wasn't inspired to write anything for a shoe string budget. Fast forward 11 years later and I didn't complete my 2nd feature film yet. But I'm working to change that soon.

This was very inspiring, no movie gets made from the script buried in the drawer. "Good ideas are not the ones that are getting made" - this is so true. Audiences want authentic voices like this one. Another excellent video, I hope it inspires many up and coming screenwriters to go make their work!

I've literally been reading about thunder road all week, so happy about this video!

Hey man! Love your stuff, would you be able to reach out to me on twitter? Don't know if I'll be able to find the replies to this so hit me up there!

Yes! Loved the short and the film. He is so talented, and even though it was a sad ass film, you get a glimpse of hope at the end. And that's enough for me to just cry. Great video, love your style! Thanks for the hard work.

One of the absolute best filmmaking videos available on RU-vid.

Thank you for this shot in the arm of real life honesty. Got me energized.

this was a really honest talk about film industry, thank you!! i found real wisdom in this video

Really great discussion, especially the part about the old way of thinking being dead. I've been covering this on my own channel. We're seeing a paradigm shift in not only how films are being made but the whole medium of content creation and consumption. This means that the way we tell stories is going to change to suit what will pretty much amount to a new medium within VOD.

I value your content a lot, thanks so much for this!

THIS VIDEO WAS AWESOME! Great stuff.

The realist shit I've ever heard

Awesome interview and tips for people who want to make film

This was really amazing. I will see the movie right now just because JIM had the courage to make his script into a movie.

Great interview! Have enjoyed your channel for some time.

I just got to see The Wolf of Snow Hollow and loved it. Hope we get to see more from this guy.

Watched thunder road and wolf of snow hollow back to back. Literally can’t wait for his next project

Thunder Road was so good, I really like this dude. I wish him nothing but the best!

Thunder Road is such an inspiration for my career.

This channel is so inspiring 🙏

This was soooooo interesting and informative.

I LOVE THIS FILM SO MUCH, Jim Cummings is amazing

Just watched it now. Never cried more in my life

I was just looking up videos of the voice actor Jim Cummings, but this will do!

I haven’t seen the movie, but the trailer where he talks to his colleagues with the piano music... That trailer makes me wanna cry. It’s such an intense scene. I always come back to that trailer just to admire the fuck out of it. God I need to see this movie.

Just how Jim Cummings wrote, directed, and stared in such a deep and funny movie is so damn amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

Just saw the film last week. Absolutely loved it.

Awsome! Thank u 🙏😊

Jim Cummings movies should be more mainstream. He's fantastic in The Wolf of Snow Hollow, The Beta Test, and of course Thunder Road. I look forward to anything he comes out with next.

(entire 'thunder road' segment): FACTS

God bless you more sir Jimmy 🙏

You all need to watch his next movie The Wolf of Snow Hollow. And his new one Beta Test comes out November 2021

I think filmmaking is changing for the better. Like Jim said, majority of big movies suck right now. But there are incredibly talented filmmakers out there, so why aren't they being hired? Pretty obvious why, but that's not important for this. Point is, the artist, for huge budget films, are not allowed to be the artist, for the most part. So the passionate filmmakers are finding other way to make THEIR films. And I'm 100% for it. Sunday, I'm going to a film festival to watch a film made by Danny Gevirtz, where funding for the feature film came entirely from youtube viewers and creators. Now whether the film is good or not, it's his first feature, isn't that important, but the fact that he never had to pitch to studios or execs, is groundbreaking. More independent studios are popping up, talented film makers like Jim are paving their own way. And gosh golly darn it........ I will too.

Is this what wisdom sounds like?

Jim Cummings....you are an inspiration to me

Thats so inspiring

Wow. Inspirational.

I just saw thunder road...that movie is amazing and I urged all my friends to watch it...

This man is a revelation! A REVELATION!

Keeping an eye out for this guys stuff. Snow Hollow is great but Thunder Road is masterful.

5:54 Dat Angenieux lens.

Jim Cummings is the next Shane Carruth!!

That was fantastic.

This was my favorite movie of 2018.

Just finished watching the Wolf of Snow Hollow, and once I realized the Star of the film was also the Director, I had to find out who this guy is. Such an odd yet perfectly human performance.

only naive people imagine hollywood is where the prime stuff is at. Thunder Road is as perfect as it is precisely because it is not attached to it. A lot of the genius filmmakers from the past would even alternate between a good film done independently and another one for the studios. For a short while it felt like this reality was through... but this time is already far and gone by now. Just watch how foreign directors are again the most prominent ones... this movement is cyclic in Hollywood history. Thunder Road is one of the best thing US cinema has put out in a long time. I mean... while this guy is putting out Thunder Road, Hollywood is really thinking (and influencing people to believe) La-la-land is the gender bender holy grail of its season...

This movie is awesome

I agree with Jim on going ahead and making your own movie if what you're writing is a comedy, drama, horror, or a lite adventure. If you know what you're doing, you can shoot a great feature with a budget as low as $7k, as the recent big indie hit of Cosmos (2019) taught us. But if you want to do a space opera then you can't do it on your own. Even if you outsource the VFX to Bangladesh or Ethiopia, you'll still need millions of dollars to make it, and not the $50k to $500k that most of these indie dramas cost to make. Personally, while my short films are all either narrative music videos, or art films, or dramas (because that's what I can afford), I don't really like them. I do them just for the experience and to have a portfolio. I very rarely even watch dramas, even great dramas (which is ironic, since I'm Greek, the home of drama). The only types of films that capture my imagination are all sci-fi, particularly set in space (I even dislike drama-based Earth-bound sci-fi). Space is where it's at for me. And space is not only hard, but also expensive. Even when it's make-believe and not the real thing.

Greatest movie of all time

Is there a new link to the full interview? Your link in the description doesn’t take me there

Don't miss this movie - I'm all about dark comedy, and Jim Cummings is brilliant in this tremendously powerful film.

Cummings' new movie, "The Wolf Of Snow Hollow" with the late Robert Forster, is excellent. Four stars,Joe Bob sez check it out!

Hm Fascinating :)

is there anyway I can hear the full interview? Your link does not work anymore

That’s what’s up

LOL, incredible! Especially because it was apparently filmed in my neighborhood. LMFAO

Hey... Do you have any idea where I could watch this movie??? I live in India btw

Where can you watch Thunder Road? Just watched Snow Hollow and thought it was quite good.

Video on “Ozark”?

If i have a screenplay.. how can i reach a producer in USA ?

FACTS

Control of the old regime is loosening and the Wild West Horizon is given clarity in Jim's interview.

How can I get this movie?

This is great. i needed this. i just self financed/wrote/directed my own project (on my page, please check it out) and i can relate to this so much. love your channel. love this interview

Exactly. A brilliantly written script does not mean it will be a great film, just look at all the blockbuster crap in the multiplexes. But a script that's not that exciting to read can still make a great film...Hollywood will never make your film. And as far as screenwriting competitions are concerned....name one wide released film that came out if them....I can't.

What if you’re writing a screenplay with lots of special effects? 100 mil budget?

You know the best way to make something is to just make something. People don’t want to work with that it’s their loss. There’s one obvious problem. Gobble up everything and work with nothing like those gagillion scripts they sit on after buying the rights. If they wanted to make anything, they’d be doing it, but that’s clearly not the real business even if it was at some point. This is why people go somewhere else. Trust me if you made a thing someone else is interested. If you need role models to support you, well here’s one and there are others. The best role model is reality, where people actually support your dream because, hey, they wanna dream too.

I sat through this waiting to hear about Fury Road.

House M.D Please

*Step 1:* Assemble a team *Step 2:* Make shit

Neil breen has being doing this for decades....... not as good.. but.

Wait, people actually go out of their way to sabotage one's movie in the big business?

Don't want to be nasty and I liked the interview but host jordan change your photo.

Hollywood blows. So many great original movies have been coming out with little to no budget in recent years. I haven’t seen this movie yet but his Wolf of Snow Hollow was great.

I admire Jim Cummings for what he did with Thunder Road, but my god to assume that his experiences of rejection by the industry and inability to get things made are universal to everyone else is beyond arrogant. As someone who is a writer (though anonymous on here) and had projects produced, I can tell you that Cummings is pulling that old self-deception trick many indie people do: try to convince other people that because he couldn't do it, no one else can. This is total horseshit, and I see fringe filmmakers with a chip on their shoulder say this often. Then he disparages films being made today by saying they are all terrible, which is simply not true. There are hundreds of films released every year from around the world that are wonderful. If he is just talking about Hollywood then he must only be watching the tentpole blockbusters because great films are still getting made. Cummings does this in order to logic himself into thinking his way is better, when in fact making your own indie is far more of a longshot than writing good material and knocking on doors. If you have undeniable talent as a writer and you are persistent, you WILL get somewhere. It takes time and patience. With making your own indie film, fine, do it for yourself and your collaborators. But don't think you can be the next Thunder Road. It's more unrealistic than what he is claiming. First it has to get into a festival (which is incredibly hard to do) then you have to hope for a good reaction from audiences, maybe win some prizes. Then you have to hope to find distribution (you're waiting on Hollywood again!) then you have to hope that it finds an audience again. It's just as unlikely doing it his way. Never mind raising a budget and/or planning the production to begin with. Thunder Road is a decent stab at an indie movie. He has proven he can wear all the hats well, but just you wait: first offer at making a film in Hollywood and this guy will dump the indie scene at the drop of a hat.

Sounds like the way to go is to make your own films and not slave your way through shitty jobs in Hollywood for a decade.

I found it depressing listening to him about not able to make your script even if it's good Part of me wish it's just his experience