Nicholas Thurkettle on Calling in Favors for Low Budget Short Film

Film Title: Three Ninety Five

Length: 7:00

Status: Premiered at the Borrego Springs Film Festival, January 2023

Budget: ~$3,000 in currency and a LOT more in favors/donations

Shooting Location: California, USA

Logline: In a post-apocalyptic landscape, a nameless traveler has been upgraded by cybernetic technology to survive the elements as they search for other survivors; but can they withstand the loneliness after years wandering a silent world?

Synopsis: Three Ninety Five doesn't remember their name or their past, or anything before they woke up in their upgraded body and set out walking along a seemingly endless highway. They need only water and their solar-charged batteries to survive, and a cybernetic implant keeps their thoughts locked on their mission - broadcast messages through the energy currents of the Earth in order to find other people. But after ten fruitless years, their batteries are wearing down, and despair is eroding their dedication. How long can we force ourselves to soldier on without hope?

Actress Nikki Nina Nguyen as Three Ninety Five in Three Ninety Five

There are pros and cons to every type of film funding. We caught up with Actor/Writer/Director Nicholas Thurkettle to chat about his low budget short film, Three Ninety Five, to talk about what it looks like to shoot a short film on a shoestring budget. He even spills the tea about calling in favors!

Thinking about shooting something for (basically) nothing? Learn from Nick's experience!

How did you fund this low budget short film?

[Nicholas Thurkettle] My producing partners Elizabeth Serra and Nikki Nina Nguyen pooled money and resources with me. Without their generosity and faith in this project it simply wouldn't have happened.

Did you have funding in place before writing, or get funding together after you wrote the script?

[NT] The funding came together after the writing. I didn't set out intending to make post-apocalyptic sci-fi. What happened was that I'd worked with the same cinematographer on a half-dozen projects — it was a blessing since I come from a live theatre background and I wasn't as camera-literate as other filmmakers. But I knew I couldn't be dependent on him always showing up with his expensive camera package for less money than he's worth. So my first goal was to gain experience by operating the camera myself for the first time.

It was my friend Nikki who suggested we take a road trip through some beautiful locations and film her walking around in them. The whole story and the world it exists in sprouted out of that goal — to put the onus on myself to tell a story with visual splendor and no spoken dialogue. But suddenly that meant I needed to get some resources together!

What are some of the pros about funding this way? The cons?

[NT] Well, it certainly saves the labor of a crowdfund! So much of this was coming from an intuitive place and at certain stages I would have really struggled to articulate what I was trying to accomplish; which would not have worked out well for a pitch to donors. So I was able to continue chasing that hazy star. But crowdfunding is an important tool for community-building, so you lose that benefit. Plus when the budget is this small then literally everything becomes a scrape. Elizabeth, Nikki, and I were the entire production crew for three days and it took a LOT of ingenuity and lost sleep to get through the shot list; because if we didn't we might not be able to get all the needed gear together again. It was really an all-or-nothing proposition that asked for extra blood, sweat, and tears from them. You have to be mindful of burning the spirits of your collaborators; an offer to help isn't a blank check.

Writer/Director Nicholas Thurkettle working on Three Ninety Five

Did you learn anything when it comes to funding and budgeting that you will do differently on your next project?

[NT] Testing major project elements in advance is an invaluable investment. I rented our camera package for a weekend before production so I could get used to working run-and-gun with it. If I hadn't done that, the film wouldn't look half as good. Other elements went into production without proper testing and so they didn't work out as well as I hoped and that's a lesson for the future. We shot on a Lumix GH4 because that was the least expensive 4K camera package I could find at the time. I'm proud of what we got out of it, but now that I've had the chance to try other gear I know that even a couple hundred dollars more on the camera and lenses can make a transformative difference.

Were there any areas where you were able to call in favors/save money? What were those areas?

[NT] Basically everything in this production was built on favors and money-saving! We were true guerrilla filmmakers — no permits, no insurance, unsecured locations, a borrowed SUV that got VERY messy. Nikki's wardrobe came from a thrift store run. We found her walking stick in an alley. I had written the script based on memories of past road trips up and down the 395 highway, but we couldn't afford to scout them so we just set out and hoped we could adjust on the fly depending on what conditions we found. It's a high-wire way to operate but the film could have easily cost 10x what it did. 

Did you get any budget or expense surprises that you weren’t expecting?

[NT] We did not budget for having to call a tow truck when our vehicle got bogged down in snow! I also needed to re-capture one specific shot — me being a rookie camera op with no one looking over my shoulder, I had botched the focus. And that particular image was too important, which meant getting Nikki back into wardrobe/makeup and finding a location close to home that we could fudge months after production. We also had a painful post-production that required me to fire someone and replace the entire soundtrack, which was costly and time-intensive. But in independent film you need a certain psychotic willpower about getting to the finish line. 

Actress Nikki Nina Nguyen and Writer/Director Nicholas Thurkettle on location for Three Ninety Five.

Any fun anecdotes you'd like to share?

[NT] As the sun was setting on our first day of production, we were on the south shore of Mono Lake, among the tufa, these towering calcium carbonate formations that look like something from an alien world. It was one of the locations I was obsessed with getting into the project and we had made it there just in time to get it at magic hour for some of the most striking images in the movie. We had been working since 4am and now, finally, we had a moment to breathe and I watched the two of them exploring the area in awe. I laughed at the irony that I had got two of my dearest friends to one of the most beautiful places I know, but somehow I needed to concoct this whole filmmaking plan to do it instead of just inviting them to road trip with me.

What else do you think people will be interested in knowing?

[NT] We shot a scene at a splendidly-wrecked house that many photographers have documented along that highway. I had looked it up in advance to see who owned it and nobody seemed to know. Many graffiti artists had already passed through, and I knew that Nikki, who was carrying the whole emotional burden of this story with almost no acting experience, was getting stressed out. So I offered her the chance to take some of our spray paint and run wild inside for a bit while I captured some exteriors. It cheered her right up!

What is your long-term vision for the project?

[NT] People have responded with such enthusiasm to the world and the design of the character. I really have to credit Nikki and our co-designer Lark Arrowood for turning my extremely rough doodles into props and costume pieces that made a powerful impression, suggesting so much with so little. So I'm using this short as a demo for a feature version that picks up after the short ends. I've written the first draft and am gathering feedback to start the revision process. 

Thanks for sharing, Nick! Can't wait to see where this project takes you next.

Actor/Writer/Director Nicholas Thurkettle

About Nicholas Thurkettle

Nicholas Thurkettle’s short films have played over 60 worldwide film festivals, winning awards including Best Director and People’s Choice – Best Short Film. He also directed the web series pilot “Ass In Assassin” and the music video “Sitting on the Launchpad” for the band Freefall Rescue. A WGA screenwriter, he sold the comedy Queen Lara to Room 9 Entertainment (Thank You For Smoking) and optioned the thriller 7 Red and the comedy Sir Sandy to producers. He wrote the sci-fi anime “Children of Ether” for the Crunchyroll Network, which debuted on over 300 U.S. movie screens.

He was a producer on filmmaker Zeshaan Younus's supernatural drama feature "The Buildout," now available on streaming platforms through Ethos Releasing, and co-producer on Adam Stovall's horror/romance feature "A Ghost Waits," which was acquired by Arrow Video and streams on Shudder. He spent five years as a short film programmer for the Newport Beach Film Festival. He's also a SAG-AFTRA actor in film, theatre, and television, best known for his voice work in anime and video games.