The Art of the Reshoot: How the 'It Ends' Team Saved Their Indie Horror Feature

Writer-director Alex Ullom and producers Carrie Carusone and Evan Barber break down the unconventional path behind It Ends, their micro-budget indie horror feature about four friends trapped on an endless road. They explain how they raised their initial financing, leaned on their filmmaking community, turned production limitations into creative advantages, and used multiple rounds of strategic reshoots to transform an early cut that wasn’t working. The team also shares how they cut a Jeep in half to shoot on an LED volume stage, navigated an expensive and complicated post-production process, premiered at SXSW, and generated enough grassroots momentum through the online horror community and Letterboxd to ultimately land a theatrical release with Neon.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guests Alex Ullom, Carrie Carusone, and Evan Barber discuss…

How graduating from film school during the pandemic pushed the team toward making an independent feature

Raising the initial micro-budget through unconventional investors, personal connections, and community support

How Florida State University’s alumni equipment package made a $30,000 feature possible

Why paying crew something—even on an extremely limited budget—was important to the producers

Discovering in the edit that the first version of It Ends wasn’t working

Why indie filmmakers should stop thinking of reshoots as a sign of failure

Using test screenings to identify pacing problems, missing emotional beats, and scenes that needed additional coverage

Designing a contained film that could be affordably reconstructed for multiple rounds of pickups

Balancing the film’s horror and hangout-movie elements through pacing and visual language

Cutting a Jeep Cherokee in half to get it onto an LED volume stage