Nicky Rudolph Calloway was our Fall 2024 Short Film Fund Grand Prize Winner with I AM A GENTLEMAN, which he wrote and directed. The film is set in a society that rationalizes violence against women, and follows high schooler Max, who faces the harsh reality and consequences of his new, hormonal compulsions when he has his first crush on a girl after taking the school’s mandatory sexuality test.
Nicky completed principal photography in November 2025 and shared some insights into the development, pre-production, and production of this bold dark comedy.
Did you end up developing the script further after winning the Short Film Fund and prior to going into production? If so, what were some of the goals in doing so, and do you feel you were able to achieve them?
We had to shorten the script for practical reasons: we were filming in a public school, and it was cost-prohibitive to rent for more than one day. I condensed multiple scenes into one so that we could make two shooting days instead of three.
What was your casting process like? How did you find your cast?
We hired a casting director, Jane Flowers, through a referral from our producer, Andrew Carlberg. She was a great asset and had a keen eye for finding all of our speaking-role talent. We held in-person chemistry reads for the leads, and I cast Charlotte from them. I cast Max from a self-tape and a Zoom call – we ended up talking for 45 minutes about the themes of the script and how he tied it to his personal experience. I offered him the role then. Everyone else was done purely on self-tape and talking through email beforehand.
Did you rehearse with your cast? If so, what was that process like?
First, I had a “chemistry” Zoom call with Nathan Becker and Valerie Luevanos, our actors for Max and Charlotte, to have them get to know each other. We then had an in-person rehearsal with our intimacy coordinator, Channing “Tony” Dane. I’ve never worked with an intimacy coordinator before. Her presence enabled our actors to ask questions and explore blocking that will tell the best story, while still setting boundaries for what is and isn’t comfortable for them. There’s a very intense scene towards the end of the film that’s both taxing emotionally and physically, and while my greatest concern was their well-being, I’m glad that I had Tony in the room with us because, naturally, my attention was being split between a dozen things happening on set.
Who was your DP, and how did you bring them on board? What did you end up shooting on? What were the deciding factors in the camera, format, aspect ratio, etc.?
My DP is Dice Rose, we met in an acting class back in 2019. We reconnected in 2024, and I shared the script with her. She donated her time as both cinematographer and co-producer. Thanks to Shore Scripts, we shot on the ARRI Alexa 35, and sourced Lomo Anamorphics from Old Fast Glass. A big deciding factor on shooting anamorphic was our locations – our school scenes were filmed at Virgil Middle School, which has really colorful, old school interiors. The classrooms were the same, they had a lot of character and interesting imagery, so it felt criminal not to capture that. Anamorphic also saved us in tight spaces, like Max’s bedroom.
What was the process like for you working with ARRI Rental?
I’m giving an answer from my producer Cathy McCann here, because she handled a lot of the correspondence between our production and ARRI! They answered all of our questions very quickly and thoroughly, providing everything we needed gear-wise for the camera department (sans anamorphic lenses, since we were searching for a particular look). It was a great relief to our budget, and enabled us to play with a dolly shot for the opening scene of the film.
How many days did you shoot for? Were you able to stay on schedule? Did you get everything you hoped to capture?
We shot for two and a half days. Our schedule was ambitious and tight. That we captured everything that we needed and more is thanks to our first AD, Mitchy McGhan, and the readiness of our actors. Every actor in the film was stellar in terms of working within our tight parameters of time, and gave us great options to work with in post.
Did you film on location, in studio, or both? Can you talk a bit about how you found your locations and obtained permission to shoot there?
We filmed one day at a school, one day at a house, and a half day at a studio. We worked through Film LA to obtain a permit for the school and house. We found the studio through our first AD’s recommendation. I can proudly share that our Film LA monitor said that our school clean-up was the best he’d seen, shout-out to our production designer Joanna Cabalquinto and our team of PA’s!
What was the most challenging part of pre-production and/or production for this short?
Fundraising. Even with the grant from Shore Scripts, we had a large cast and a difficult location (the school) to procure. Those were non-negotiables, necessary to create the realism that the film needed, so we raised the remaining funds on Seed&Spark, reaching 80% of our goal. I also cashed in my Gerber life-insurance policy (thanks Grandma)!
We love hearing serendipitous stories. Did anything happen during production that was initially a “problem” or obstacle that ended up being the best possible thing for the project?
The weekend of November 15-16th decided to be one of the very few days in Los Angeles when it not only rains, but storms. Our school day started with multiple outdoor scenes. We changed one to an interior hallway and the other to a breezeway. My DP Dice and I decided to embrace the rain with the breezeway and it was a great decision. It added to the mood of the scene. Who can pass up free special effects from nature?
How is post-production coming together?
Easily and quickly, I’m happy to report. My editor Donnie Mathias is a friend, so it’s cool to just hang and watch him put the film together. We’re working to get it ready for spring festival submissions.
Do you have any advice for filmmakers embarking on their first short film?
What has worked for me is paying attention to my own timing. In the past five years, I’ve written a lot and built up my portfolio of work, until I felt strongly enough about putting a script to screen. For me, writing is pleasurable and directing is taxing, so I’m glad I waited until I received support from Shore Scripts and my team of producers to bear some of that load. A lot of the inspirational advice I see on the internet, particularly targeting young people, is to rush into making films. There’s a needless time stamp on inspiration, I think, perpetuated by online self-comparison to Boomer-era auteurs. But we live in a very different time, economically and socially, and our artistic progress, no matter how slow, should be celebrated.
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The Spring 2026 Short Film Fund is now open! This season, we’re awarding a $15,000 cash production grant to one unproduced short script, and $4,000 in finishing funds to one short film in post-production. Learn more and submit here.
