Crash course

JIM CUMMINGS IS a writer. A director. An actor. A producer. An editor. And a composer. Yet before his debut film, Thunder Road, a slow-burn, pitch-black, funnier-than-it-sounds dramedy about a small-town cop having a breakdown in the wake of his mother’s death, he was none of those things. Now, he’s keen to inspire others to follow in his footsteps. So here, exclusively for Empire, is Jim Cummings’ guide to how you — yes, you — can become the next Jim Cummings.

1 PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

“The first hurdle to get over is inadequacy.a story to tell. I put pen to paper.’ It takes making short films or sketches to build up the confidence to say, ‘I can make something that’s a feature.’ I made ten short films as a writer, director and actor, including a version of , before embarking on my first feature as a writer, director and actor. And all that was slowly chipping away at the wall of anxiety and inadequacy.”