Jon Russell Cring

Director, Producer, and Screenwriter Jon Russell Cring's contention is that all of our journeys are an epic tale. As he's apt to say, "Everyone's life is Ben Hur." Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1971 to creative powerhouse parents, Jon grew up around the arts. Traveling and performing with his family, presenting music and drama on stages from coast to coast. There was nothing abstract about entertainment. It was a business to enthrall and he would get on the phone to book their traveling gypsy show as young as fourteen. His interest in film, besides rabid fandom, began when he met his future wife and muse Tracy Nichole. Writing a variety show together, Streetwalking, Tracy started editing and contributing and an unstoppable team was born. Jon and Tracy made their first short film, Hank's Place, which was immediately accepted into film festivals, told them they were on the right path. After completing a string of fifteen experimental short films, Jon decided to do the same with feature-length films and the idea for the ExtraOrdinary Film Project was born. In 2007, traveling across the country from Nashville, Tennessee to San Francisco, California, Jon pumped out one feature film after the other, in every genre from a Rock Musical, Four on the Floor, to a Psycho Thriller, Lenders Morgan, and even a kids' movie starring puppets, Too. "This was my film school," says Jon, adding "Twelve micro budget features is a hands on education like no other, I've seen it all." The ExtraOrdinary Film Project films went on to premiere all over the US, win awards, and solidify Jon's career path. In 2010, the couple moved to New York. "I found fertile ground for my renegade style of filmmaking there," says Jon. Jon has also written scripts and optioned some to Producers and kept some to make himself. Having Directed over sixty projects, he's not slowing down. "I'm looking for the next great story, I want to be in the middle of the next film movement."