Two Brothers, A Girl and A Gun: while the title presents a succinct image of the film, an apt description of bringing this low-budget feature to fruition might read, Two Producers, No Money and a Visa Card.

Spring 1990: Edmonton-based filmmaker William Hornecker, having completed two short student films (Valley of the Moon and Senessence) and now limboing through development hell on a film script that he realizes is well beyond his capabilities as a first-time feature director, starts looking around for a simpler project. He comes across Edmonton-based playwright Grant Dryden, who has an idea for a play that Hornecker is convinced would make an ideal low-budget film instead. It has a small cast, limited locations and a controllable budget.

Hornecker describes the film as a dysfunctional family road movie, a classic tragedy with a wry twist of humor set in the desolate Prairie badlands of southern Alberta that examines the bonds that tie a family together and the dark memories that rip it apart.

Spring 1990: Hornecker sees actor Shaun Johnston in the Brad Fraser play Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and asks him if he will workshop Hornecker’s Two Brothers, A Girl and A Gun. For lunch and a case of beer, Johnston agrees and eventually signs on for a lead role, working on deferal.

Summer 1990: Hornecker joins Dryden as a cowriter, drawing on his experiences growing up on a farm in Alberta to complete the script. Hornecker applies for a Canada Council production grant.

While waiting to hear back from the council, he submits the preliminary script to several experienced filmmakers – Jack Darcus, Andy Thomson and Jack Clements – for their feedback and potential participation. They all express interest and support, but no tangible commitments.

October 1990: Canada Council approves the grant – $25,000 of the requested $40,000. Hornecker, however, budgets the completed project at closer to $100,000 cash, so he continues to shop the project around.

June 1991: He meets Kim Hogan, a retired actress cum producer, at the Banff Television Festival and introduces her to the project.

The film flounders for almost a year and a half.

Spring 1992: Hornecker is back where he started, but now under the gun from Canada Council to use the grant pronto or give it back.

Loathe to return the money, he decides to revamp the budget and the scope of the project, shoot the film on super 16mm and to move into production even though they don’t have enough money.

He decides not to go after major agency support to assure control of the script and the project. Just before going into principal photography, a $4,000 Alberta Culture Foundation for the Arts grant comes through. Superchannel rewrites a development loan, giving them another $10,000, and the crew comes to work for 100% deferrals.

June 1992: Hornecker brings on Kate Holowach as production and locations manager. He again sees Hogan at the Banff Television Festival and she agrees to come out of ‘retirement’ to take the role of the girl, Ruby.

July 1992: Shooting is to begin with only one week of prepping. The script is barely roughed out. First ad extraordinaire Ehud Ellman joins the crew and cleans up the script in record time to start production.

Jan Rofekamp of Montreal-based Films Transit, who had expressed interest in the project since its inception, commits $25,000 for foreign distribution rights to help production. However, the money doesn’t arrive in time.

Canadian distributors and funding agencies shy away from the project because of the darkness, the hint of family violence and its unvarnished approach. There’s no question, says Hornecker, it’s not politically correct.

Aug. 7, 1992: Principal photography begins. One week into the shoot, Hornecker is already perilously near exhaustion, handling directorial and art direction duties by day, production concerns in the evening and rewrites at night. Holowach takes over production.

Through a combination of financial wizardry, blind faith and a terrific credit rating, Holowach interim finances the picture on her Visa cards.

Aug. 15, 1992: Three days before shooting a critical flashback scene, an actor backs out. The producers are left scrambling to recast.

Aug. 17, 1992: It’s snowing in Alberta! The schedule calls for a full day of exterior shots. A crucial scene envisioned for two years as an exterior must now be shot inside a barn. Apart from the snow, they luck out with weather.

Aug. 31, 1992: Principal photography wraps.

The National Film Board helps out, providing printing and film processing through its Program to Assist Filmmakers in the Private Sector program. Only problem is, they don’t receive rushes until 10 days after shooting.

Two weeks into the shoot, they get word from the nfb that their film has been ruined by camera or generator problems. Luckily, dop John Tarver had spotted the problem and switched equipment, averting a near disaster. Only a day of pickup is required.

November 1992: Money from Films Transit comes through, allowing the producers to rent super 16 editing equipment and pay down some of Holowach’s credit cards.

Mid-February 1993: Editor Ken Berry, working on his first feature film, completes the fine cut.

Hornecker approaches Telefilm looking for money to blow the film up from super 16 to 35mm and to complete the sound mix and prints.

April 1993: Rick Youck of Calgary’s Midnight Audio, who has never done a dialogue edit, agrees to do the sound edit for enough cash to cover the equipment rental.

The Imagineers, a local Edmonton band which Hornecker says sounds like Ry Cooder with a sour twist of lemon, scores the film, with additional dramatic underscoring by Mike Shields of Midnight Audio.

June 1993: Hornecker leaves Edmonton to attend the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto while feverishly working on the answer print in order to have it ready for a screening for the Toronto Festival of Festivals.

Mid-July 1993: Cineplex Odeon agrees to pick up Canadian distribution rights and kicks in $45,000 to blow the film up to 35mm.

Mid-August 1993: The sound edit is completed. Still desperately low on cash, Hornecker approaches John Taylor of Telefilm Canada’s b.c. office, who has just announced a new program supporting low-budget filmmakers.

August 1993: Despite a screening from hell, complete with the longest projector meltdown on record, Hornecker’s film is accepted by the Festival of Festivals.

September 1993: Two Brothers, A Girl and A Gun screens in the Perspective Canada section of the Festival of Festivals.

The Visa bills keep coming in.