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Devin: What is your superpower?
Cal: My superpower really is creativity.
Great filmmaking doesn’t require a Hollywood-sized budget. Sometimes, the most compelling stories emerge when creative people learn to work within their limitations, collaborate with others and make the most of the resources available to them.
Cal Barnes, CEO, Head of Creative, Director, Producer, Writer and Actor at Nineteen Films, has built his career around that idea. His latest project, The Influencer House Massacre, is a horror thriller that brings together a timely cultural premise and the potential of independent filmmaking.
The film follows a group of young female influencers trapped in their Hollywood Hills mansion and terrorized by two burglars. Barnes wrote the screenplay as his 21st feature screenplay, drawing on his interest in Gen Z culture and his desire to direct another horror film.
As Cal explained, contained thrillers offer filmmakers a particularly interesting creative challenge.
“You take the story and you put it in a sandbox,” he said. Without numerous locations or a massive studio budget, filmmakers must find creative ways to tell their stories. He believes that sandbox can be where some of the best and most compelling films are created.
The Power of a Story Worth Telling
Cal learned an important lesson about storytelling through his award-winning play Rise, which he wrote at age 24. The play won the Hollywood Fringe Festival and was optioned for a six-figure screen deal.
That experience taught him the importance of workshopping, rewriting and layering a story. Even a promising first draft needs development to become something exceptional.
“The most important thing is story,” Cal told me. “More than cast, more than locations, more than budget.”
That philosophy informs his approach to filmmaking. Rather than relying on expensive production elements, he focuses on strengthening the story and bringing together talented collaborators who can help realize his vision.
Making Independent Film Investment More Accessible
Cal is also using regulated investment crowdfunding to help finance The Influencer House Massacre. Nineteen Films is raising capital through Wefunder, giving people who love movies an opportunity to explore investing in an independent film.
This is Cal’s second Wefunder offering. His first supported The Astrid Experience, his first feature film, which he produced on an exceptionally limited budget and shot on an iPhone.
Cal and his collaborators designed that production around locations they could access without paying rental fees. The experience demonstrated how resourcefulness and modern technology can make filmmaking possible with limited financial resources.
He sees crowdfunding as an innovative way to open film investment to people who might otherwise have little access to the industry.
Creativity Turns Constraints Into Opportunities
Cal’s journey illustrates an important principle for entrepreneurs and filmmakers alike: limitations don’t have to determine what is possible. A strong idea, a committed team and a willingness to revise the plan can create opportunities that initially seem out of reach.
With The Influencer House Massacre, Cal is bringing that philosophy to a new project while inviting potential investors to explore his offering.
Independent filmmaking will always involve risk, but creative thinking can help make ambitious stories possible. Sometimes, the most important resource isn’t a bigger budget. It’s the imagination to make the most of what you already have.
tl;dr:
Cal Barnes introduces The Influencer House Massacre, a contained horror thriller exploring influencer culture through independent filmmaking.
His award-winning play Rise taught him that strong storytelling requires workshopping, rewriting and creative collaboration.
Cal uses regulated investment crowdfunding through Wefunder to help finance independent films and broaden access to film investment.
His superpower is creativity, demonstrated by producing The Astrid Experience with limited funds and an iPhone.
Cal encourages sharing ideas, listening to collaborators and refining first drafts while pursuing ambitious projects that give back to children.
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How to Develop Creativity As a Superpower
Cal Barnes identifies creativity as the superpower that has helped him build a career in Hollywood despite arriving from small-town Oregon at age 21 with very little money and no insider connections. “My superpower really is creativity,” he explained. For Cal, creativity means starting with an idea and developing it into meaningful work while continually asking whether it can be better. He emphasizes that the process involves more than individual talent: “It’s all about the team and it’s all about finding people to help you think differently.” Through writing, directing and producing, he has learned to combine imagination with collaboration, resourcefulness and a willingness to revise his work. His ambitions also include giving back, with a commitment to direct 10% of his Son of Neverland intellectual property toward improving children’s lives.
Cal’s first feature film, The Astrid Experience, demonstrates how creativity can turn limited resources into an opportunity. Frustrated that screenplays he had sold were not being produced as he envisioned, he decided to take greater control by directing and producing his own work. Working with his friend John Thatt and a small team, Cal had very little money available. He made a list of accessible locations, including houses, apartments, cars and free public spaces, then wrote a screenplay around those resources. The team shot the film on an iPhone, which also helped them film in public without attracting much attention. Cal learned that creativity, willpower and desire can make a compelling project possible on a very small budget.
Actionable Tips for Developing Creativity
Start with what you have. List your available resources, skills, contacts and tools before deciding what you can create.
Treat limitations as creative challenges. Set a realistic budget or other constraint and develop an idea that works within it.
Push beyond your first idea. Ask yourself whether your work is as good as it can be and identify ways to improve it.
Accept that the first draft is not the finished product. Revisit your work repeatedly and be willing to rewrite, edit and refine it.
Share your ideas. Don’t be afraid to show unfinished work to people who can offer useful perspectives.
Build a collaborative team. Seek out people whose experience and skills complement your own.
Listen to constructive feedback. When a suggestion feels right and improves the work, be willing to adopt it.
Use available technology. Explore affordable tools that can help you create something that previously required much greater resources.
Connect creativity to a larger purpose. Consider how your work can create opportunities or benefits for other people.
By following Cal Barnes’s example and advice, you can make creativity a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.
Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!
Guest Profile
Cal Barnes (he/him):
CEO. Head of Creative. Director. Producer. Writer. Actor, Nineteen Films
About Nineteen Films: Inspired by the award-winning, art house, American cinema of the 1990’s and 2000’s, Nineteen Films is an independent production and sales company focused on creating meaningful, impactful films that we would like to watch ourselves — films that are story and performance driven, with additional attention to cinematography, lighting, color, and music. in 2011, Nineteen Films was formed by actor and filmmaker Cal Barnes, with the purpose of creating inspired cinema, and although our industry has changed substantially since then, our reason for storytelling hasn’t. We just love making films. It’s that simple. We create projects that focus on the heart of what we believe filmmaking is — an inspired script, a talented cast, a hardworking crew, and a visionary director with a relentless passion to tell a story — with these elements as our focus, we can create films that preserve and enrich the timeless treasure that is the American cinematic experience.
Website: nineteenfilms.com
Other URL: wefunder.com/theinfluencerhousemassacre
Biographical Information: CAL R. BARNES is an award-winning American actor, writer, filmmaker, and novelist. After studying creative writing, journalism, and drama at Portland State University in Portland, OR, Cal moved to Los Angeles in 2009 where he immediately began acting and writing screenplays. Barnes began acting professionally in 2011 when he landed his first agent and began booking theatrical and commercial work. At this time, Cal began producing films as well, enjoying all aspects of the creative process. At just 24 years old, Barnes’s first stage play Rise won “Best World Premiere” at the 2012 Hollywood Fringe Festival, and scored a six-figure option/purchase deal for screen development. As of January 2025, Cal has acted in dozens of on-screen projects, including the hit film Unfriended (Blumhouse, Universal Pictures) and Krispr (Orenda Entertainment). Barnes to date has written 21 feature screenplays, and had two of those screenplays optioned and produced into films. Between acting jobs, filmmaking, and writing scripts, Cal runs his production company, Nineteen Films, in Los Angeles, CA. He recently wrote, directed, and starred in his feature film directorial debut, The Astrid Experience, which released in 2023, opening in seven film festivals, and winning the audience award for “Best Feature Film” at the Los Angeles Lift-Off Festival. in 2025 FandomWire Magazine ranked The Astrid Experience as the 5th greatest film of all time shot on an iPhone behind Sean Baker’s Tangerine. Cal’s current, immediate goal in the entertainment industry is to direct and star in his sophomore effort, The Influencer House Massacre, slated to be produced in 2026.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/calbarnes
Instagram: @CalBarnes
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