JEFF THOMPSON BIOJeff had always wanted to be a film actor, and for nearly two decades, he displayed his talents on local stages, performing in small town theatre. In 2002, he attempted to break into screen acting with a friend, by getting an agent. But the industry spit them back out, albeit a little more broke and a little more wiser. Swallowing his dream, he realized the only way he was going to make it onto a film set, was to do it himself.
Exclusively a do-it-yourself’er, Jeff’s filmmaking education comes from books, internet sites, and by watching the works of everyone else. Using his new baby boy as inspiration, he began making movies of his own.
In 2007 he managed to wrangle a couple of friends together to help create a 17min movie called The Pond, which was filmed with a rented camera in a bog, not too far away from his house. He wrote the script, scouted the locations, storyboarded the entire project, cast it, directed it, scored it, and edited it to completion. It came out a whole lot better than he had expected. It still remains as a favorite with the cast to this day, and even 2 years later they show it proudly to family and friends at every chance they get. This would be the start of his real filmmaking journey. Total budget-260$.
Next he created a little light hearted humor with a 9 minute short called Zombie Nation, which portrays an actor going through a very unique (and abusive) audition process in order to be an extra in a zombie film under the same name. This was thrown together over the course of a week when the plans for a previous project fell through. Once again with a rented camera, some flood lights and a crew of 2, Zombie Nation was added to his small, but growing, resume. As he was hoping, this one sent many viewers giggling and chuckling. Total budget-220$
Photo/Shoot was next. With hours of scouting locations, revising and re-revising scripts, collecting props and scheduling the day of the shoot, it was intended to be an experiment to push his limits working with an action sequence. Not happy with just filming a gunfight with no substance, a story developed, and Photo/Shoot took on a life of it’s own. This movie became an instant favorite with family and friends, and with the discovery of the WildSound Film Festival web site, it seemed like a good time to get some real advice from the industry which he longed to be part of. Total budget-340$.
His next project, already in it’s infancy, will push him even more.
Jeff Thompson
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