Private Project

Step Strangers

This southern comedy takes place in the late 1980s, on the day two step sisters meet for the first time, and 15 year old, aspiring rock star, Agnes coerces 8 year old, painfully shy, Geraldine to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night for an outrageous Rock ‘n’ Roll adventure.

  • Thomas Wade Jackson
    Director
    Dancin' Down the Aisles of the QuickCheck
  • Thomas Wade Jackson
    Writer
    Dancin' Down the Aisles of the QuickCheck
  • Ruth Hernandez
    Writer
  • Thomas Wade Jackson
    Producer
    Dancin' Down the Aisles of the QuickCheck
  • Everett Phillips
    Producer
  • Erin Yoffee
    Key Cast
    "Agnes"
  • Melody Jackson
    Key Cast
    "Geraldine"
  • Thomas Wade Jackson
    Key Cast
    "Clifford"
    Dancin' Down the Aisles of the QuickCheck
  • Ashlee Weber
    Key Cast
    "Rhonda"
  • Trevor Jackson
    Key Cast
    "Jerome"
  • Deputy Ingram
    Key Cast
    "Jeff Hoh"
  • Courtney Walker
    Key Cast
    "Johnny Johnson"
  • Liam Bennett
    Key Cast
    "Ronnie"
  • Walter Pasco
    Key Cast
    "Darrin"
  • Tabby Getsy
    Key Cast
    "May"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Rock&Roll
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 31 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 30, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4k Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Thomas Wade Jackson

Thomas Wade Jackson received his Masters from Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts, where his thesis film, Slow Dancin’ Down the Aisles of the QuickCheck, won both the Student Academy Award and the Student Emmy Award, as well as 20 other awards and honors. He is the founder of The Compassion Project, a multi-media production company, and director of the award-winning, feature-length documentary, A Prayer for Compassion. Thomas is a vegan and animal rights activist and lives in the woods of North Florida with his daughter Melody (Geraldine) and their cat friend Obi Wan.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Having grown up in a small southern town, I’ve always enjoyed stories about big dreamers stuck in little worlds. As a teenager, I shared the same rock star dream that the main character, Agnes has, and challenging myself to write and produce several original songs for the film, was one of the things that attracted me to the project.

With the story I wanted to explore the idea of how children are at the mercy of their parents’ bad choices; and I thought what better way than having two polar opposite characters, who are total strangers, forced into sisterhood by the marriage of their parents. And because Agnes‘s mom has made so many bad choices around men Agnes can’t see that Clifford (her new stepdad) might actually be a good guy.

The decision to place the story in the 80s had some what to do with my teenage experience happening in the 80s and my love and nostalgia for music of that time; though the main reason to set it in the 80s was that that was before mobile phones, which would make it more scarier when Agnes sneaks out of the house at night with her new 8 year old step-sister, who has a phobia about strangers.

The best part about the experience was being able to give my daughter, who had acted in a few local youth theater plays, her first glimpse of what it was like to act in in front of the camera. And for her to witness just how much it takes to make a short film, all the time and effort. Letting her know that anything is possible you just have to work hard for it.