PSOA alums Quinn Hester (BFA 2021, Film), Kurt Ravenwood (BFA 2011, Film), and Ryland Tews (BFA 2014, Film) are the creative forces behind Hundreds of Beavers. The black-and-white slapstick comedy has become one of 2024’s most successful independent films.
The film was shot under a modest budget of $150,000 across 12 weeks, nine of which were in sub-zero temperatures in northern Wisconsin. Tews, who wrote and starred in the film, discussed this in his recent interview with Variety Magazine.
“A lot of the green screen shooting was just outside…on a green tarp,” Tews says. “We did some green screen days, like in an actual studio. But a lot of the green screen stuff was still in the frigid cold.”
The self-distributed independent film has doubled its budget at the box office, making it one of the most successful indies of 2024 according to Variety.
Hester, director of photography on the film, and Ravenwood, one of the film’s producers, discussed the film further in a recent interview with Awards Radar.
Reporting by Jason McCullum ’25