Episode 2 of the RAW behind the scenes for my horror short film “Late Fees” is day two of a two-day shoot, and it’s basically you being a fly on the wall while we problem-solve in real time. We shot the whole thing at our Prism Lens FX video store in Los Angeles, which helped a ton because we could leave the set up overnight and not waste 1–2 hours the next day rebuilding. The tricky part is the story takes place at night, but we didn’t want to only shoot at night—so we’re blacking out windows, prioritizing rooms with no windows, and then saving the front for when it actually gets dark. This was also a big directing challenge for me because there’s a lot of dialogue—like 7–8 pages initially and most of it is straight dialogue—so blocking, pacing, and coverage mattered. You’ll see us shot-listing inserts, dialing exposure/ND to match previous setups, and making choices like using slow zooms to shift the visual language at the end (I’m a fan—slow zooms feel eerie and creepy, and they’re a low-budget win with a simple servo zoom). We also get into practical effects with our SFX/makeup moments—grungy, strobey, dripping VHS tape stuff—then we push through the overnight and wrap around 3 a.m. Huge shoutout to FearPix for funding the short and helping bring the idea to life.