Exploring Life & Business with Alex Richard Thomas of Lonely Art Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Richard Thomas.

Alex Richard, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started training as an actor in the Atlanta area in high school where I developed a love of classic film, literature, and plays which led to my attending film school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. My love of old Hollywood inspired me to direct numerous period piece films, one of which, ‘Jukebox Girl’, screened at the Atlanta Film Festival. This experience made me realize the lack of movies that talk about the underrepresented histories and experiences of living in the South.

During the pandemic, I had time to refine my voice as a writer, choosing to focus on Southern stories and combining them with lessons I learned from my love of classic literature. I felt isolated and devoured books by Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky. I found their characters and prose reassuring in a time of uncertainty. Using what I learned, I was accepted in the University of Georgia Film MFA, where I began to adapt the works of famed playwright, Anton Chekhov, into the world of North Georgia where I grew up. Giving these classically structured works an Appalachian voice brought a new vitality to them and wound up adapting six of Chekhov’s short stories into short films.

As our filmmaking team continued to grow, we realized that we could make a feature length anthology of these movies and completed filming our feature film, ‘Mountain Cries’ this summer. “Mountain Cries’ is about a writer to comes to a small North Georgia town in the Appalachian mountains looking for the subject of his next novel, only to find it when he stumbles across a murder. The movie was shot across North Georgia in historic locations with a team of over sixty people. We were able to source vintage costumes and props from local antique stores. We are currently in post-production and look forward to submitting it to film festivals in the spring.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our movie had a limited budget which limited the number of shoot days we could have. We wound up fitting fifteen days worth of filming into eight. In those eight days, we were constantly up against the weather, planning for rain forecasts to find days of 90+ degree weather. We had to deal with costumes ripping, props breaking, in addition to prosthetics, night time shoots where we nearly ran out of time, and actors dropping out at the last minute.

Fortunately, we had a team that was always willing to pivot. Anytime something went wrong, we would handle it calmly and come up with a plan to adjust to our new circumstances while maintaining the story. This led to me playing a role in the film as the town preacher.

I am also grateful I had a script that was based on Anton Chekhov’s work. It gave me a North Star to refer to through the production. My training and research of him from years ago as an actor informed how I approached the work and helped the team focus on how to tell the story. Just as his characters go through challenges and find ways to persevere, so did we.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Lonely Art Productions was founded by a group of University of Georgia MFA alumni. We offer a fresh examination of the Southern experience in our work and are committed to creating high-level, thought-provoking content that presents untold narratives with authenticity and passion. Our focus on uplifting southern stories has led us to making a series of award winning short films, commercials, and music videos. Readers can find out more at: https://lonelyartproductions.com

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The ability to pivot. You can plan as best you can, but if fate throws a wrench in your plans, you can’t give up. You have to think on your feet and come up with a new plan. That’s the only way to continue moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mountaincries.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/mountain.cries
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087266914509
• Other: https://lonelyartproductions.com