Set in a white world between science fiction and performance art, Terms & Conditions consists of seven scenes and seven characters whose roles and relationships skirt the line of the abstract and absurdity of our present day. Stitching together these seven scenes is the reoccurring role of “X,” a younger female narrator around whom the story may orbit.
Written and performed in legalese (the technical language of the legal profession which is typically indirect, overly complex and littered with jargon) and inspired by Big Tech corporations’ user agreements, Terms & Conditions is part cinema, part theater and 100% experimental commentary on the tenuous social contracts that bind us.
Imagine if you will, that small moment in time when you signed up for a new online service and your cursor briefly hovered above an “Accept” button. You hesitated, maybe even clicked to open the company’s 100-page, fine-print document with intentions to read the details. Perhaps you rapidly scrolled through 20 of those pages and then thought, “That’s good enough, I get it, I don’t have time for this right now, ‘everyone else’ is using this service so it’s no big deal,” and you hurriedly clicked your agreement.
I too am guilty of this. But I also believe, at times, our rush to accept or agree to certain ways and means has had a cumulative destructive effect in accepting, tolerating and enabling the presence of more destructive behaviors. I am not proclaiming to have the answers, I am simply holding a mirror to my world and asking viewers to find their own answers. Complicated times call for complicated measures and I hope the complicated dramatic mess which is Terms & Conditions will inspire you to consider your thoughts, actions and their implications while we ride a hopeful wave out of the pandemic and mess of recent years.
– Jon D. Steinhorst, Writer/Director
CAST AND CREW
As a very indie film produced during the pandemic, it cannot be overstated enough that this project would not have been remotely possible without the generous time, attention, and professional collaborative spirit of the small cast and crew that supported the vision.
CAST
(In order of appearance)
Reyna Rios-Starr as X
Sean Dooley as The Man
Charla Marie Bailey as The Boss
Ava Saunders as The Assistant
Emily Dooley as The Woman
Rod Kasai as The Therapist
Alexander Michuda as The Boy
Tyra Ramsey as The Girl
CREW
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Jon D. Steinhorst
PRODUCERS: Matt Roy, Don Horsely
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: J.A. Collopy, Hens Pensfer
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ryan S. Johnson
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Peter Dahl
EDITOR: Mike Kolloen
COMPOSER: Jefferey Thomas
COSTUME DESIGNER: Deborah Fiscus
AC: Timothy Schrader
SOUND MIXER: Seth Pioske
GAFFER: Laura DeShane
KEY GRIP: Thomas Vandendolder
GRIP: Matt Muegge
HAIR & MAKEUP ARTIST: Summer Rose
PROPMAKER: Jinny Jacobson
ART ASSIST: Rachelle Randle
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: Chris March
POC/CCO: Janey Klebe, Madeline Hendricks
BTS VIDEOGRAPHER: Gabriel Broderick
TECH ASSIST: Nicholas Swedlund
POST SOUND DESIGN & MIX: Owen Brafford
ADDITIONAL ENGINEER: Nick Broste
THANK YOU: Josh Allard, Judith Ann, Nathan Armstrong, Carolyn Collopy, Bill Cooper, Cine Cowboy, Cinequipt Inc., Todd Cobery, Conduit Sound, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Gilbert Brothers Insurance, Michelle Gilstead, Headwaters Entertainment, Haley Jacobson, Daniel Lindsay, Stephanie Long, Moore Creative Talent, Bea Murray, Rwild, Dan Rybicky, Julia Schaffer, Mitch Thompson
Dedicated to the memory of Ronald “The Rooster” Steinhorst.
PRODUCTION TIMELINE
As remembered by Jon. May contain opinions and memories of the author.
2008 - I bought my first iPhone while attending graduate film school at Columbia College Chicago and like a digital hoarder, saved my first Terms & Conditions agreements on my computer, imagining possibly dramatizing the language.
2009 - Created and performed a series of Joems (Junk Email Poems) in Chicago which were comparable in form to the art of writing and performing T&C.
2011 - Moved from Chicago to Minneapolis and started a new freelance identity in the Twin Cities production community.
2015 - I read/perform/record an iTunes agreement via Mac Photo Booth.
2018 - I audition a variety of T&C performance concepts to Minneapolis friends - as if doing a live stage reading of a Verizon user agreement.
SPRING, 2019 - I decide to apply for a State Arts Board grant as motivation to produce new original work, choose T&C to be the angle and develop the characters, story, structure seen here in the film.
JUNE, 2019 - I submit the MN State Arts Board, Artist Initiative grant.
JANUARY 15, 2020 - A Washington state resident is the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Covid-19.
JANUARY 23, 2020 - Honored to be awarded a grant to produce T&C as it was presented in the grant application. After attaching some key collaborators, we tentatively plan to shoot in June, 2020.
MARCH 11, 2020 - The World Health Organization declares the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. A lockdown soon goes into effect. Production plans are indefinitely pushed.
MAY 25, 2020 - George Floyd is murdered in the street by police officers not far from my South Minneapolis home.
THE FOLLOWING WEEKS AND MONTHS - Local, national and global protests result in an unprecedented amount of unrest and destruction. George Floyd’s killers are arrested, two autopsies deem his death a homicide.
JULY, 2020 - General production resumes in the Twin Cities under new pandemic protocols. Producer, Matt Roy and I plot a course to shoot T&C in August. I adapt and revise my “natural dialogue” scripts into the language of T&C. Casting and pre-pro begin.
AUGUST 6-8, 2020 - We prelight for one day and shoot for two on the Cinequipt stage in North Minneapolis.
SEPTEMBER 2020 - NOW - The slog of low budget, indie, pandemic-era remote post production begins, slows, starts-stops, resumes and maybe finishes.
NOVEMBER 3, 2020 - Joseph R. Biden is elected as the next President of the United States.
NOVEMBER 10, 2020 - My father passes away in Wisconsin. The timeline to finish and publicly release T&C is pushed (again).
JANUARY 6, 2021 - Donald J. Trump and prominent supporters incite the storming of the US Capitol in a failed coup attempt. A direct result and hopefully the pinnacle after years of enabling the spread of misinformation and lies.
FEBRUARY 2, 2021 - T&C is completed.
FEBRUARY 5, 2021 - T&C premieres online at Show&Tell.film.
Originally from small town Wisconsin, and by way of Germany, Portland and Chicago, Jon D. Steinhorst is an independent and freelance Director, Assistant Director, Producer and Writer currently residing in Minneapolis with his wife, son, cat and dog.
Jon D. Steinhorst is a fiscal year 2020 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.