How Quibi's When The Street Lights Go On Inspired Sophie Thatcher To Dream Bigger

Sophie Thatcher first auditioned for When the Street Lights Go On several years prior, once it was still set to be a full-length series. It was one of her earliest auditions, so she thought she had the role on lock. She wasn’t although used to the frequent rejection that comes with being an actor, and she remembers being delighted of her efficiency. Right now, she can look back with a laugh at her naiveté.


The earliest iteration of When the Street Lights Go On came in 2011, then a feature film that was picked up, then dropped, turned into a series in 2016, and picked up, then dropped again. Finally, it made its way to the newly launched streaming app Quibi and was condensed into the short-form, iPhone-ready mystery thriller it is today.


Any time Thatcher derived the script for a second time, even in its reworked format, she remembered the self-tape she sent in years before. “The story already has a very familiar feeling to it. It has this nostalgic feeling to it, the '90s, almost like a Stranger Things,” she tells MTV News. “But, just reading the scripts, it just struck me right away, and I looked it up. I looked through my emails back in 2016. I was like, ‘Oh my god.’” It felt like a good sign.


This time around, Thatcher landed the leading role of Becky Monroe, sister to popular girl Chrissy (Kristine Froseth), whose murder shocks their small town and launches a local investigation set to uncover more secrets than anyone is prepared to hear.


Playing Becky was a treat for Thatcher — not just because Becky is a cool, option ‘90s girl, nevertheless because while in the series, viewers will learn she’s so much more than that persona. “She goes through so several different phases, and is modified by so several different people, and just to do those slight alterations in the character is usually a challenge.”


And then there was the added draw of working on a series that would launch Quibi, the mobile-optimized platform allocating complete episodes for all its programming in 10 minutes or far less. It seems like all of Hollywood was getting in on the trend, with Sophie Turner, Keke Palmer, Zac Efron, Nicole Richie, and more stars jumping at the possibility to take part. It makes sense: In this era that’s seen proper celebrities made out of YouTubers and TikTok stars, we crave bite-sized content.


“I think each person is so connected to their phones,” Thatcher says. “Even [watching] just last night, it felt more obtainable, like I might go back and just rewatch it at any point.” Plus, she adds, the short format packs each episode with tension and conflict, speedily driving the story forward in with little effort digested segments. As well as a feature that permits for either landscape or portrait viewing gives the show a video-game feel, “like you’re in control, or you’re more connected to it,” she says.


It’s a good distraction from our current apocalyptic reality, which sees our entire nation socially distancing because the novel coronavirus rips through communities. Thatcher is staying put in her family member house in Chicago, where she’s finding comfort in fellow female creators, working her by means of the “Women Filmmakers” collection on the Criterion Channel’s streaming platform — a current fave is the minimalist stylings of Kelly Reichardt. She’s also reading Radclyffe Hall’s groundbreaking novel The Well of Loneliness and Viv Albertine’s memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Gentlemen, Males, Boys. (Thatcher is a big fan of Albertine’s post-punk musical group, The Slits.)


When The Street Lights Go On seamlessly fits with her current inclinations, thanks in large part to director Rebecca Thomas. “It's a very different energy on set with a lady [director],” Thatcher says. “It's almost like there really is much less tension. It feels a little more relaxed and people can be themselves and comfortable and speak their minds.”


“It makes me more confident and yes it inspires me aspire to be a director, especially with Rebecca,” she adds. “I felt like we just had so much in regular. I would spend time envisioning myself just doing the same things that she was doing with all that confidence.”


Thatcher is also lucky to be isolating with her two sisters, whose creativity lights a fire under her own. She recently collaborated on a short with her older sister, Emma, and she draws inspiration from her twin sister Ellie’s claymations. “She’s so good,” Thatcher says. “I’m warning you, it’s really dark, although it is insane. She’d spend two months hibernating in the basement.” Surrounding herself with girls and work from ladies has pushed Thatcher to be efficient while in her time inside. In self-quarantine, it’s music that’s keeping her going.


Thatcher began making her own music last year, sharing her experimental vibes on Bandcamp. A classically trained vocalist, she tones down her vibrato for a more effortless sound. “It’s very atmospheric, a little more ambient,” she says of her sound. Her compositions often incorporate piano, the bit of guitar she understands, and also a minilogue.


She mostly makes music for herself, reveling in the fact that she answers to no one while she’s recording, and she can dive into her current emotions. It’s the opposite of acting. “With my music, I attempt to prepare it as relevant to what I'm going through as possible, and as sincere, and if it doesn't feel sincere, then I can't continue working hours on a song, it just doesn't feel right,” she says. “My preference artist is Elliot Smith, and he just goes into vivid detail about what he's been through, so you just feel like you're there with him. I hope I can do that one day and be that sort of storyteller with music.”


Becoming the sort of creator she admires is one of Thatcher’s long-term objectives in both music and film. So far, though, she’s really happy with where she’s at in her career — back with the project that began it all.