Walking into their first day of the 2022 Texas Student Television incubator program, three freshmen, Madison Lehew, Alex Mathison and Jacob Arango, sat down together to create their dream TV pilot. After working together for over two years, they finished producing their nearly two-hour thriller feature film “Writer’s Block.”

Radio-television-film senior Mathison said he felt a strong connection to both his co-director Arango, an RTF junior, and executive producer Lehew, an RTF senior. 

Mathison said he believes their bond came from their similar cinematography aspirations and ideas. 

“That’s why we work well together,” Mathison said. “Because we have similar taste as far as what we want in cinema, especially the genre (thriller)… So we decided that’s the direction we would take.” 

Lehew said they kept imagining their one-episode TV show could transform into a fully self-funded feature film.

“We first made a TV pilot freshman year,” Lehew said. “I was thinking about (how) we could put the exact same amount of time and energy into a feature film instead of just filming a couple episodes a semester… That’s really when the whole idea took off.”

Director of photography Liam Larriviere, an RTF alumnus, said working on a film as elaborate as “Writer’s Block” proved not only mentally challenging but time-consuming. 

“It was intense,” Larriviere said. “Me, Jacob and Alex spent 10 to 20 hours each week re-storyboarding (and) finalizing what’s going to happen when we get on set.”

Actor Kayne Khoury, a government alumnus, said he had a similar experience with the time commitment of producing a long film. 

“The time commitment to get into the role is really important,” Khoury said. “At the end of the day, it’s a job, and you have to be professional about it… and put in the time and effort to get the quality (demanded) from you.”

Lehew said self-funding the project was their hardest and most rewarding challenge, staying within their budget of $4,000 with an original plan of $10,000. 

“I had to make sure we could get the locations for the right price, feed our crews (and) buy equipment,” Lehew said. “It was a fun challenge, trying to manage all of that money and then seeing it finally click into place.”

The “Writer’s Block” crew hosted a private screening for friends and family last Sunday. The cast and crew anticipate submitting the film to competitions such as South by Southwest and Dallas International Film Festival. 

“I want the whole world to see (Writer’s Block),” said Arango. “But it’s going to be a long process, (and) we’re just getting started.”Larriviere said he believes “Writer’s Block” will do well in festivals because of the amount of care every person in the cast and crew put into the creation and planning. 

“I shot the movie, but without the 50 other people helping nothing would have happened,” said Larriviere. “The amount of people that put in blood, sweat (and) tears into this project definitely have to be acknowledged… (They) really glued it together.”