Leo Gabriel raised $50K, made it union, and built his own break.

Leo Gabriel graduated from NYU Tisch early with no plan. So he wrote one.

The plan became Running Through The Void, a short film that Gabriel wrote, directed, produced and starred in, on a $50,000 budget he raised on his own.

“When you make your own things, you take back the power other people can have over your career.”

Leo Gabriel

Into The Void

Running Through The Void follows an anxious young man whose panic attacks throw him through time. He relives every past relationship until he's pulled into The Void, a surreal realm between space and time.

Gabriel built it to feel like an arthouse film first. By the time the sci-fi kicks in, you're in too deep.

Union on purpose

Gabriel didn't wait for someone else's production to make him union. He made his own short SAG so he could earn his own card.

Raising the money himself and carrying the film on both sides of the camera came at a cost, and he says so.

“A lot of nights that felt like the dumbest decision I've ever made, and a few nights it felt like the only one.”

Leo Gabriel

Just ask

Then came the cast. Gabriel had 30 seconds at a meet-and-greet with 300 people, and he used them. That pitch got comedian Troy Bond on board.

A cold email with the script brought in actor and comedy creator Audrey Trullinger.

“I'd been a fan of their comedy for years, and improv is a big part of how I work. You truly never know if you don't ask.”

Running Through The Void is headed for the festival circuit in 2027.

The lesson

Nobody handed Gabriel a slot, a budget or a union card. He raised the money himself, made the film union on purpose and pitched the people he wanted to work with, one 30-second window and one cold email at a time.

That's the whole idea behind Clubs: if you have the project, you shouldn't need the connections. Post it, say who you need, and ask.

Adapted from the Clubs Instagram feature on Leo Gabriel (@clubs.create).