-Who is Tommy Anderson?
Besides being an independent filmmaker, Tommy Anderson is a multiple best-selling author and screenwriter. Tommy Anderson also enjoys his role as a motivational speaker and Host of “The Real Tommy Unleashed” on the IQ Podcast Network in San Diego and streamed over 10 stations. For example Tommy’s show is heard on multiple streaming platforms, Itunes, iHeart, Spotify, Apple Play, and more.
An accomplished screenwriter he has written and is a Producer on the award winning short film “Life After Oblivion,”, based on his award winning adapted screenplay. Tommy’s first feature film screenplay PTSD-A soldier’s Revenge is currently in production by Panther Trail Films – Hollywood.
Tommy also received his first directing credit on the pilot series “The Tale of Richard Pic”. Since then Tommy has directed and produced several award winning short films. In addition, Tommy is also routinely cast as an actor in commercials, television, and film.
Tommy is a founding member of VetPics Film Productions in San Diego, California. This is an all-veteran independent film production company which produced “Life after Oblivion.” Most recently Tommy was seen as the face of the national Spotify commercial as the man with the dancing dog.
His best-selling novel Haboob Wind is now a screenplay, and recently won Best International Screenwriter by 8.5 Film Awards. and his new novel Two Million Steps was released in March of 2021 and went to Best Seller on Amazon in two weeks. Tommy has recently adapted this to a feature screenplay and in addition Tommy has written another feature screenplay called “The Flight of the Deborah K”.
Before moving to the Los Angeles area, Tommy lived in Madison Wisconsin and had a full career as a firefighter/medic with the Madison Fire Department and later retired from the U.S. Air Force Air National Guard. Tommy is a member of various organizations, including the Hollywood American Legion Post 43, Veterans in Media and Entertainment, the U.S. Press Association, and has served as a photojournalist for ABC7LA News along with being a member of the California American Legion Press Association.
-What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
The transition to filmmaker didn’t come overnight. After I left the fire department I went into professional photography and worked as a freelance photojournalist. After working on several events in the Los Angeles and Hollywood area I was asked if I could do production photography and I did while I also did photography for ABCLA TV news. While doing this I wrote several books in addition to several published magazine articles. There was interest in my first best selling novel “Haboob Wind” and I was told it should be a screenplay. I completed that and several others and have been pitching them. The screenplay that I had written was called PTSD a Soldiers Revenge. It should be wrapping soon and I had a small role in the film. I was contacted by a talent agency in LA who wanted to sign me and as a result I was cast in several television shows, films, and commercials. This was a constant progression of advancement through the ranks, and relationships that I had forged in the industry.
-Do you think the cinema can bring a change in society?
I believe film has always connected people, given an escape into fantasy for some, pushed social change, and there is nothing like a good drama. I believe with all the tensions in the world this is the one medium everyone can enjoy and with that develop better relationships between strangers.
-What would you change in the world?
If I could accomplish anything I would eliminate the negative feelings towards individuals and others that social media does create. Social media, once a promising form of research and communications, has been so abused by some it truly threatens our creative mission.
-Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?
I wish I could say, I feel the rise of AI could cause the destruction of the thing we love, films, if not regulated responsibly. There is a great fear that AI could replace actors with computer generated stars of yesteryears and eliminate roles for current actors. AI threatens those of us who are also creative and write the screenplays for a film. AI itself has no heart, empathy, or caring to fully express those characters into an audition. We really need to stay on top of this.
