Hey, I love a challenge..
The real world is seldom actually pitch black, and a black screen is just not cinematic.
Light spills in from outside street lamps.. the glow of the old school LED alarm clock in the corner, the little "tale tale" lights on every electronic appliance. Smoke alarm blinking battery light.. the cozy glow of a burning cigarette tip.
Try for motivated lighting. For example, you don't REALLY have to have a street light out the window you just have to have a motivation for what looks like street light spilling in from out side... If you take an external nigh shot of a neighborhood street with lots of street lamps.. then the viewer will assume, if the light coming in the window is the same color, that the light is coming from street lights.
Write your scenes to have motivation for lighting.. if you need to show something in detail with good lighting, maybe the actor opens the fridge and the light spilling from the fridge illuminates the thing you need to show..
The phone screen light bounced from mirrors or reflective surface might provide motivation for some interesting light setups..
Get creative..
I have many free ideas, post a bit of your script and Ill make some suggestions.
Fancy equipment is definitely not a requirement. I bought 10 of these battery operated lights at harbor freight
And used them in several instances..
All the setup "lighting" in this spot (one of my best) is from these..
https://vimeo.com/97638186
The ambient light is from real street lights in the area, the lighting in the car is from those LED lights.. also the "sweeping" car head lights are from those as well. I used 5 of them stuck to a board as a panel light for a few of the shots..
Also.. dont forget that SOUND can motivate light. The sweeping car head lights illusion above is really sold by the SOUND design of the spot.. there were no cars, it was very late and there wasn't really any street where the light was coming from.. its all an illusion!