Neil Drumming

Neil Drumming is a journalist, filmmaker and producer for the radio show, This American Life. He wrote and directed the 2014 film Big Words.

Early life

Drumming attended the University of Southern California.

Career

Journalism

After graduating from college, Drumming went to work for the Washington City Paper in 1996. He was part of a group of hires by editor David Carr[1] that included several young black writers who went on to become voices of their generation: hired alongside Drumming that year were eventual New Yorker magazine staffer and history professor Jelani Cobb, MacArthur Genius Ta-Nehisi Coates, and performance artist and playwright Holly Bass.[2]

From 2002 to 2007,[3] Drumming worked as an editor and music critic for Entertainment Weekly,[4] later moving to Salon.[5]

Film

Drumming's first feature film, Big Words, premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in January 2013.[6] Drumming wrote and directed.

Set on November 4, 2008, the night of Barack Obama's historic election as the first black President of the United States,[7] Big Words revolves around three friends who 15 years earlier had had "a promising hip-hop group and are now dealing with the challenges of being in their late 30s."[8] Selecting the film as a New York Times "Critics' Pick," Jeannette Catsoulis's review praised Drumming's "whip-smart screenplay" and "droll, insightful dialogue," describing the film as a "an engrossing, coming-of-middle-age drama."[9] Writing in The Independent, Darren Richman compared Drumming's filmmaking to Noah Baumbach, both in the directors' relationship to the characters their films depict—like Baumbach, "Drumming seems to love his characters because of rather than in spite of their flaws"—and in the films' subject matter, noting that a "sense that things haven’t quite gone to plan, reminiscent of Baumbach’s Greenberg, hangs over Big Words from first frame to last."[10]

The collective African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) distributed the film.[11] Big Words made its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[12][13]

This American Life

Drumming is a producer for This American Life.[14] He's also been on air for the show, reporting segments around themes of family and friendship.[15] In October 2019, he became the first black person to host an episode.[16]

Personal life

While at the Washington City Paper in the late 1990s, Drumming became a close friend of writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, then still a student at Howard University; Drumming eventually became godfather to Coates's son. In a 2015 segment of This American Life,[17] the two discussed the trajectory of their friendship over the next two decades of their personal lives and respective careers in media.[18]

References
  1. Wemple, Erik (13 February 2015). "David Carr, friend of journalism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  2. Cobb, Jelani (13 February 2015). "Postscript: David Carr (1956-2015)". The New Yorker. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  3. Horgan, Richard (January 15, 2013). "FIRST LOOK: Poster for Journalist Neil Drumming's SLAMdance Feature Big Words". Fishbowl LA. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  4. Brennan, Billy (February 15, 2013). "Five Questions with Big Words Writer/Director Neil Drumming - Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  5. Carr, David (24 November 2013). "Overlook the Value of Interns at Great Peril". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  6. Martinez, Vanessa (11 July 2013). "Review: Clever 'Big Words' Is A Well-Acted & Engaging Feature Debut By Neil Drumming". IndieWire. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  7. "Neil Drumming: In his own words". BBC. October 21, 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  8. Tiggett, Jai (11 July 2013). "Interview: 'Big Words' Director Neil Drumming Talks Hip-Hop, Career, and Influences". IndieWire. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  9. Catsoulis, Jeannette (18 July 2013). "Neil Drumming's 'Big Words' Explores Male Disaffection". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  10. Rich, Darren (2017-02-15). "Movies You Might Have Missed - Neil Drumming's Big Words". The Independent. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  11. Obenson, Tambay A. (4 May 2015). "Not Yet an AFFRM Rebel? Join the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement…". IndieWire. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  12. Nolan, Hamilton (February 6, 2013). "A Discussion With Neil Drumming, Writer and Director of Big Words". Gawker. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  13. "Big Words". BAM.org. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  14. Dreher, Rod (December 14, 2015). "If You Get Rich And Famous…". The American Conservative. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  15. "Radio Archive by Contributor: Neil Drumming". This American Life. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  16. "We Come From Small Places". 11 October 2019.
  17. Dang, Mike (1 December 2015). "Ta-Nehisi Coates on How Money Turned Him Into a Snob — The Billfold". The Billfold. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  18. Street, Paul (20 January 2016). "Race Without Class: the "Bougie" Sensibility of Ta-Nehisi Coates". Counter Punch. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
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