Writing the Lost Highway That Represents Life: Alex Ullom talks ‘It Ends’
Alex Ullom discusses the inspiration behind It Ends, how long it took him to write the script, and the challenges of filming the debut feature.
Filmmaker Alex Ullom’s debut feature It Ends caused a buzz at SXSW 2025. Despite it getting positive word of mouth, perfectionist Ullom still has reservations about it. “I actually thought that I’d ruined it. I thought that I did not get what I needed and I could not look at the footage for a long time,” he says. The 27-year-old Florida native told Script Magazine, “We reshot the film three times. I was 22 then and wasn’t quite ready to make the movie.”
It Ends, with its $30,000 budget, joins Southbound (2016), Lost Highway (1997), and Dead End (2003) in the pantheon of movies about endless highways. The open road can be the road to redemption or in Alex’s case a metaphor for “self-discovery”. “I also just love driving,” Alex mentions.
Sonya Alexander: What would you do if you were in that car?
Alex Ullom: I would hang out with my friends forever. (laughs)
Sonya: You wouldn’t have an issue with that?
Alex: I'd probably be weirded out because I would realize that this was a script I wrote, so that would probably mess with me more than being on the endless road.
Sonya: How long did it take you to write the script?
Alex: I guess with rewrites and reshoots, probably 4 years?
Sonya: And how was this idea born?
Alex: Probably from surviving my teenage depression. And being supported. This was the kind of thing that got me off the endless road I was on.
Sonya: How would you define horror?
Alex: I love that this interview is just boom, boom, boom. Straight to the point.
Sonya: Thanks.
Alex: How would I define horror as in the genre of film, or horror, the word itself?
Sonya The word itself. You want me to come back to that one?
Alex: No, I just want to give you a really good answer.
Sonya: Okay!
Alex: It's confronting some sort of…it’s extremely heightened instinct and conflict.
Sonya: Who would you say are some of your filmmaking inspirations?
Alex: Richard Linklater, Terrence Malik, and Instagram Reels.
Sonya: Do you have some favorites you follow?
Alex: No, just love the brain rot. (laughs)
Sonya: How do you feel your YouTube film sketches prepared you for your first film?
Alex: Not at all.
Sonya: Why do you say that?
Alex: I guess it was just a different beast, but I almost see It Ends as my first thing that prepared me for movie making.
Sonya: Makes sense. What were the challenges of filming outside?
Alex: It's very hot in Florida. And the woods are dangerous there, with the poison ivy and snakes. It's very easy to have a really good frame and have a really bad frame when you're playing with the sun.
Sonya: Did you have any say in the casting?
Alex: Yeah, I did the casting myself. I read 500 people online and ended up with a really, really talented cast.
Sonya: They were excellent.
Alex: Yeah, they are the reason that this movie works at all.
Sonya: And how would you say music affects the mood of a film, and did you have any say in the music?
Alex: I got a really beautiful score that Eluvium cooked up. The droning noises really help with the feeling of the liminality and infinite space that's going on. I think he knocked it out of the park.
Sonya: Do you have a writing process?
Alex: I would say most of the scripts I've written have come from very intense moments in my life where it just kind of falls out over the course of three days, and it's really messy, Then it gets honed. But process-wise, no. I should probably figure out a process. I don't like to take credit for any of my ideas, I think I'm just channeling something, and when I do that, it's a very intense thing.
Sonya: What's your dream project to do?
Alex: I don't want to say it out loud because honestly, I think there's a chance it happens. Also, right now I’m making a dream project and it’s coming out better than what I could have imagined. My second film is pure maximalism and visual overload.
Sonya: What did you learn from doing your first film?
Alex: Genuinely, this was my film school.
The It Ends cast is Mitchell Cole, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Phinehas Yoon. The Neon film rolls into theaters in wide release on August 28, 2026.
Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
