After his mother’s sudden death, Nicholas Buck knew he had to make a choice: follow his passion for filmmaking — or wish he had.
He chose his dreams.
Buck’s newest screenplay, “Storage Fees,” is derived from personal experience and follows a young man navigating loss, homelessness and the associated shame. The film is meant to challenge how people typically think about homelessness and presumptions about those suffering through it, he said.
The short feature will be screened at the upcoming Lone Star Film Festival, a seven-day gathering that gives up-and-coming filmmakers an opportunity to network and spotlight their projects.
The film’s origin traces back to a poem Buck wrote, derived from raw grief and compounded trauma he experienced. He gave the poem to Norman Buckley, his mentor, friend and an accomplished director. After reading Buck’s poem, Buckley could not let all it evoked go — insisting they adapt it into a short film.
“Watching my mom die so young and before she even got to retire, that was hard because she worked so hard in her life,” Buck said. “Then she died. … There’s no guarantee about when or how you’ll die.”
After the loss of his mother, Buck and a friend took off across the country, traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles. They spent over two months on the road in an old Ford truck overcoming obstacles and facing hardship. They couch surfed and camped to avoid hotel expenses. When he finally arrived in LA, Buck almost had to take refuge in a rented storage unit.
If you go:
What: “Storage Fees” at Lone Star Film Festival
When: 11:45 a.m. Oct. 30; find complete festival schedule here
Where: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St.
Admission: $10 per screening; $175 movie-only pass; $300 all-access pass
“I was very moved by the idea of homelessness being a problem that affects many people, not just the types of people we tend to imagine — the people who are drug addicted or schizophrenic — that it can happen with someone who’s very middle class,” Buckley said.
Buckley is the younger brother of Tony award-winning actress Betty Buckley. He has directed episodes of “Pretty Little Liars” and “Gossip Girl” and is currently producing the Netflix series “Sweet Magnolias.”
Buckley is one of five filmmakers based in or native to Fort Worth to be featured in this year’s Lone Star Film Festival.
Norman Buckley smiles for a photo in downtown Fort Worth on Oct. 21, 2025. (John Forbes | Fort Worth Report)
The short film was different from his typical work, Buckley said. He saw the film as an opportunity to express art in its rawest form.
“One of the reasons I was drawn to it is because it wasn’t necessarily something that was aspirational, but shined a light on something that we tend to ignore,” he said. “The idea that we could all fall upon hard times, and the disgrace of that — the perceived disgrace of that — is something that really needs to be understood.”
John Forbes is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at john.forbes@fortworthreport.org.
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