LOS ANGELES — Award-winning independent filmmaker Mark Starks and Starks Films LLC have completed production on 'The Neon Ghost', a gritty, avant-garde cyber-noir short film. Marking the production company’s first official SAG-AFTRA project, the 14-minute thriller achieved a $0.00 production cost, relying entirely on creative resourcefulness, open-source visual assets and an ensemble of Hollywood veteran voice talent who deferred their salaries.
On its first day of release, the project secured 100% entry-fee waivers from seven independent film festivals as it begins its circuit run.
Told entirely from a claustrophobic, faceless, first-person perspective, 'The Neon Ghost' follows a desperate father named Elias as he descends into the glowing shadows, subway tunnels and industrial storm drains of Los Angeles to find his missing daughter. Because the camera remains anchored in Elias’s point of view, the narrative forces the audience to inhabit his psychological headspace while the voice cast delivers the film’s emotional core.
To achieve a total production cost of zero dollars, Starks engineered the film’s entire visual, musical and sound-design palette using free stock assets from Pixabay — a masterclass in modern micro-budget editing and directorial discipline.
The union voice cast includes Wally Wingert ('Batman: Arkham' series, 'Bleach') as Ghoul, Spencer Lacey Ganus ('Frozen', 'South Park') as Laura, Paul Ganus ('The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim') as Elias, John Malone ('Fallout 76: Skyline Valley') as Carl and Deanna Rashell ('NCIS: New Orleans') as Peaches.
“'The Neon Ghost' is proof that the traditional financial barriers to cinematic storytelling have completely collapsed,” said Starks, whose previous documentary work is preserved in the Academy Film Archive. “By marrying world-class union acting talent with a strictly stylized POV and open-source sourcing, we were able to protect our actors under SAG-AFTRA guidelines while creating a high-caliber cinematic experience out of pure creative engineering.”
About Starks Films LLC: Starks Films LLC is an independent production company founded by Mark Starks, a multi-hyphenate creator with more than 200 festival awards and honors. His work includes 'Glaciers: Nature’s Resilient Water Towers', which was inducted into the Academy Film Archive and selected as a flagship media partner for the United Nations.
