Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas is the writer and director of Electrick Children, a 2012 American independent film. The plot involves a 15-year-old girl from a fundamentalist Mormon community in Utah. After learning that she is pregnant, she believes her conception came miraculously through listening to a song on a cassette tape. She used research on fundamentalist Mormon communities, her own Latter-day Saint upbringing, and the story of the Virgin Mary for her inspiration.

Thomas began writing the script in April 2011 while studying at the Columbia University School of the Arts. She and her producer, Jessica Caldwell, planned on making the film with a budget of $25,000 that they hoped to raise through Kickstarter. Producer Richard Neustadter read the script and asked the two if he could help produce the film with a larger budget. The new budget of $1 million enabled them to hire professional actors. Thomas was nominated for the “Someone to Watch” award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards.

Thomas also directed an episode of Stranger Things, all episodes of Limetown, and When the Streetlights Go On. Her short film “Nobody Knows You, Nobody Gives a Damn” premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Thomas served a full-time mission in Japan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is married to Mark Garbett.