Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Storms.
Jeff, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in the Dallas metroplex, where I graduated from Plano East Senior High School in 2005. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be writer, so once I graduated high school, I enrolled in the University of Texas Radio-Television-Film program, where I specialized in screenwriting and producing. There, I met Dan Siegelstein, and in the years after graduation, the two of us developed People with Issues as a feature film script. Over the course of the next few years, we shot a proof-of-concept short film, then a season of a web series based around that script. In 2016, we filmed the “second season” of People with Issues, which wrapped up all filming of the script and left us with enough footage to turn parts of the short, the first season, and the last round of filming into one full-length feature film. In 2018, with the completed film in hand, we signed a distribution deal with Nandar Pictures, and the film was released in June 2018 around the world.
In addition to People with Issues, I am an active screenwriter currently represented by Chemical Imbalance Management out of Los Angeles. With my manager, I have developed a number of television and film screenplays in the horror, science fiction, and thriller genres.
In addition to film work, I am also an active musician in Austin and have been making music with close friend Alex Curet for over ten years under a variety of monikers. Alex and I wrote and performed the musical score for People with Issues (along with Joe Rice), and we released an album under the name “Laugh Track” in 2011 called “Everything You Wish for Is Real,” which is available on Spotify, iTunes, and more. Our new band, RED BRANGUS, is an electronic music duo in the style of Tangerine Dream.
When not working on film, I work as a Project Consultant for the CBTH Project, a geologic research group at the University of Houston, where I assist with scientific publications, data delivery, web design, and project management.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Though I have worked on the producing side of filmmaking, screenwriting is my passion. In many ways People with Issues, a lighthearted comedy-drama, is a bit of an outlier in my screenwriting career. I primarily write thriller, mystery, horror, and science fiction scripts, all of which tend to be rather dark screenplays, even the comedies I’ve worked on. I enjoy exploring the darker side of human nature in my work, and I set the majority of my screenplays in Texas, my home state. A number of my scripts fit firmly in the Southern Gothic genre, and I consider writers like Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor to be two of my key influences.
Through my work, whether lighter fare like People with Issues or darker fare like a number of my unproduced screenplays, I want to tell character-driven stories that explore how flawed people try and make their way through an often-indifferent world.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day, even if it’s just scribblings on a napkin. Write, write, then re-write, re-write, re-write. Be prepared to go through dozens of drafts of a screenplay, even if you think it’s perfect, because guess what? It isn’t! Writing is re-writing, and screenwriting in particular is a collaborative effort between the writer, studios, production companies, and countless others.
One of the biggest pitfalls of screenwriting is writers who are too stubborn or proud to take notes and criticism from others. You have to have a thick skin to stay afloat in this industry, and you have to be willing to listen to others who have advice or critiques of your work. You’ll get a lot of bad notes, but you’ll also get a lot of good ones, and if you want to grow as a writer, you have to be your own worst critic. Always be willing to listen to the suggestions of others, even if you disagree, because it’s all in the service of a better script.
Lastly, management is hard to find, and all writers are looking for it. The best way to get a manager or agent is to keep writing and develop a portfolio of consistent, well-written material. Networking and connections matter, but nowhere near as much as quality work.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
People with Issues is currently available on DVD and VOD throughout the world, including on Amazon Instant Video.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.keymasterfilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peoplewithissuesfilm/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pplwithissues/
- Other: https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2018-07-06/local-comedy-people-with-issues-takes-the-long-path/
Image Credit:
Patrick Rusk (People With Issues Behind-The-Scenes photos).
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