Hello, my name is Thom Steinhoff and I am going to make a movie in my hometown of Middleton Wisconsin!

I moved to Hollywood 23 years ago to break into the movie business.  Though I worked as a writer for a while, and directed a few things, I got a bit sidetracked over the years with work and family and, though I made an award wining film a few years ago that actually made it into Blockbuster, I can't really say I am "in the movie business."

Since, Retiring Tatiana, a movie I directed for a dear friend of mine, Tony Winters, in 2000, I knew I wanted to make another movie, it was just a matter of time.

I could give you a list of excuses of why it has taken me so long, but they would all be just that—excuses.  Kids, work, procrastination, fear of failure, blah, blah, blah.  Tony, on the other hand, had the same list of excuses but has written and produced several other features since.

I learned so much doing Tatiana and watching it go from idea to casting to production to film festivals to theaters and into Blockbuster and the entire process has given me a respect for the business that I never had in my armchair quarterbacking days. 

Tony, the one who took me off the couch and sent me into the game, really carried Tatiana the entire way from writing the script to casting it to starring in it to locking up the finance, getting it into the film festival and eventually into Blockbuster.  In many parts of the process, I was really just along for the ride but it was a trip on which I learned a tremendous amount—most of all a respect for what it truly takes to get something produced and into theaters and into your local video store.

I have learned so much from him in this process, but the thing I learned the most was his passion for making his own future—not to wait for that big studio deal, or big time financing, but to start down the road, banging on a big base drum and make your movie no matter what the obstacles.

Prior to Tatiana, all of my experience in movies was with writing.  I have long had a passion for writing—but it was always writing for big studio deals with big studio budgets.  I was hired to adapt a novel, hired to write, hired to rewrite complete with big time agents and lawyers, have had scripts optioned and several came awfully close to production with big stars attached but none ever made it over the edge.

Some would say it was fate, but from what I learned from Tony, I would now say that all of the scripts I wrote in the past were hoping that someone else would make my future—rather than taking charge of my own future.

So I decided to try writing a low budget movie.  It seems obvious, but for me—it wasn’t.

In the Robert Rodreguez school of film making, he says that you write a film around what you have.  If you have access to a school, then write about a school. If you have access to a police car, write with a police car.  Don't write a scene that involves things you don't have and then you won't have to worry about trying to buy it or rent it.  This is very obvious advice that most indie film makers (including me, before) seem oblivious to.

So here we are.  In "The Amazing Finkles" There will be no specialty locations, no specialty music, no animals, no sunsets, no seasons, no special effects, no car crashes, no pyrotechnics, just a pure, fun comedy.   We would spend the bulk of our budget on great equipment and crew and not on big fancy sets, or signature locations.

This idea led me to take inventory: What locations do I have access to?  Living in Los Angeles, the list is pretty short--people keep pretty much to themselves.  Home, office, etc.  Even there, if the production gets to any size at all the permits and jaded locals get to be pretty overwhelming.

Then something hit me: why not go back to the city I'm from, a place I love, and enlist the help of old friends to get high value locations for the fun of making a movie?  My parents still live there and are very involved with the community.  I started making a list.  Could I get the church I took first communion and was confirmed in and my parents are still very active in?  I think so.

In Los Angeles we were forced to rent a chuch where we had access to it for only a few hours.  We also had no access to the congregation, we just had to call the few people we knew to fill the church with extras--and were stuck with moving around the same group of people from side to side to make the church look full.  In Wisconsin, could we put the word out at church and fill the aisles with real church goers from across the community?

I kept going down the list.  Friends with big houses, big farms... Maybe I could get access to my old High School?  My old Grade school?  It is worth a try!!

I knew I was on to something.  I pitched it to one of my best friends and partner in Rocket Baby, Ronnie Silos.  He always wanted to make a movie, and vowed to help make it happen.  We decided to make it a "Rocket Baby Picture".

I called an old friend, my old next door neighbor, my old room-mate when I first came to Los Angles, Mike Mercury.  He said, "Tommy, I've been waiting for this call my entire life!  What took you so long?!"  Mike is a comedian who moved back to Wisconsin to raise his family and can help make things happen on that end.

So here we are.  We're making a movie.  If you want to help or get involved--please let us know!