"Time to Kill" (2014) by director Justin Rettke is a short film about the long wait of a hitman as he spends all night inside his target's apartment anxiously anticipating his return home. The film most recently screened at the prestigious 2014 Palm Springs International Shortfest.

Interview with Cindy Hong, Justin Rettke, and Christopher Wood on 'Time to Kill':

ME: You are a producer of the film. How was it brought to you and what made you feel you wanted to help realize it?

Cindy: Justin Rettke and I met on set a couple years ago and we were already good friends and roommates, and I knew Christopher Wood through him. When Justin decided he was on board to direct, he brought the script to me. Even in its early stages, I think we all knew we had a gem that we could stand behind. Low budget projects have their limitations, but I knew we could do it. The rest was our motivated and talented team pulling together and working day and night to get it shot.

ME: Who is the hitman there to kill and for what reason?

Justin: Harris, the hitman, is on a contract job to kill Shekky. It isn't really a mystery. Shekky is one of those losers who perpetually pursues a hopelessly flawed scheme. Somehow he banks on his charisma to borrow money from every single person he meets. Unfortunately for Shekky, he's pushed his luck too far and borrowed too much from the wrong person. Now, Harris has been hired to kill Shekky to send a message to other would-be welchers.

Christopher: The boss called him and said someone needed killing. That’s kind of how it works.

ME: How did you manage to shoot the film entirely in one location, the apartment?

Justin: Shooting most of the movie with one actor in one room was one of the most important challenges of the entire project. The key to overcoming that challenge was the realization that the room was a character, a physical embodiment of Shekky's tawdry existence. Once that was established, the comedic irony of a fastidious hitman trapped inside a filthy, sticky, and likely contagious apartment gave us our bearings for telling the entire story.

Christopher: With great difficulty. Honestly, that is where the action takes place. The apartment is where Harris’ mind starts to wander.

Cindy: We saw the benefit of using our own apartment. This allowed the art department to start dressing it for the five days leading up to our weekend shoot, and we were able to plan lighting and store rentals in our garage. As Justin mentioned, the apartment becomes a major character, and it made it worthwhile to live around a hot set for a week.

ME: What made you turn to writing and producing? Is it something you will be doing more of?

Justin: In all honesty, Christopher T. Wood deserves the lion's share of credit for the script. It was important for me to have some distance from the writing process. I read every draft and gave notes, but I reserved most of my creative energy for the set. I collaborated with Chris on a previous project in which I was just the director. It was wonderfully liberating to not feel beholden to my own writing. I was able to make hard choices fast, without apprehension. I wanted that again and Chris delivered a fantastic script.

Christopher: For me, it is a necessity as an actor. This career isn’t looking for me. I have to find it.

Cindy: I produce because I love the logistics of filmmaking. It's especially gratifying when you can bring an excellent crew together to create a film we can all be proud of.

ME: You had your film in the Palm Springs Shortfest. What was that experience like and how have audiences responded to your film?

Justin: Screening at the Palm Springs International Shortfest was the top of my wish list before we were officially selected. My work schedule prevented me from attending the entire festival, but my experience at the festival was far better than I ever could have expected. The staff was friendly and helpful. The screenings were flawless. We attended several forums which proved vastly superior to typical forums. I learned a great deal and I met a lot of people. The other filmmakers seemed as pleased to be there as I was and that helped break the ice on countless conversations. It was an excellent experience.

Christopher: It was very strange to be performing, yet not in control of the performance. Laughs are always nice to hear.

Cindy: I was also unable to be there for the entire festival, but it exceeded my expectations. The roundtables and panels became invaluable resources, and the screenings made me so proud to be among such talented filmmakers.

ME: What is your next project?

Justin: I’m developing several projects with my producer, Cindy Hong: a short, a spec commercial, and the largest potential project on the horizon is shooting a trailer for a pilot script I’m writing.

Cindy: Justin and I have been discussing those projects, and I'm really excited about them. A short I produced around the same time should be screening in festivals soon, keep an eye out for Apartment #3.

Christopher: I just wrapped on a short that I wrote with a working title of “Her First Black Guy”. It was shot entirely in The Formosa Café. The director is Sam Auster whose last feature was Meet Joe Rich.

A personal note from Justin Rettke, the director:

Justin: It took seven years for me to return to directing after the abysmal failure of my thesis project. I did not enter this project lightly. Scott D. Frank had a wonderful idea for a short film, but it took the encouragement of Christopher T. Wood to convince me to direct again. After working in the camera and lighting departments for five years as an independent freelancer, I had a mental checklist of the mistakes I would not make and I stuck to my guns. Directing this movie has been a cleaning experience for me. I recovered a love for storytelling that I thought was lost forever. That will remain the greatest personal achievement to come out of this project and I owe thanks to the people who worked so hard to wake me up.

Justin cont'd: The Magic: Time to Kill owes its success to creative collaboration. A $2500 budget makes it very difficult to lock down a crew. Knowing that we had a solid script drove Cindy and I to search night and day until we had the right people for the job. There were several disappointments along the way, and we were less than a week out from shooting before we secured all our keys. Regardless, I am desperately grateful for each and every one of them. It was a magical combination. Our Director of Photography, Michael Pessah, and our Production Designer, D.L. Vallone brought so much to the project that it would be unrecognizable without them. Our Editor, Jack Price, and our Re-recording Mixer, David Bondelevitch, cut their way down to the bone and built an Adonis from that skeleton. Our composer, Brandon Vaccaro, created whole new dimensions to the story by incorporating disparate elements into cohesive themes woven through the entire movie. Christopher T. Wood’s performance is the fulcrum on which the arc of this story swings. Last but not least, Cindy Hong continually facilitated the development of the project with courage and professionalism in a way that enabled everyone to do their best work.

Interview by Vanessa McMahon