G.I. Joe-Writer Larry Hama Teams With Filmmaker for Kickstarter

Ghost Source Zero will be made in collaboration with longtime G.I. Joe comic writer Larry Hama.

When you get down to its core, Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general is built on the idea of giving people a shot at fulfilling their dreams. That said, according to Mark Cheng his Kickstarter is already “a dream come true.” Cheng earned the acclaim of G.I. Joe fans back in 2011 with his fan film Operation: Red Retrieval. Now, he’s aiming to fund a feature-length film –Ghost Source Zero– that will employ professional stun teams and props to create an exciting, serialized action experience. What makes it uniquely special for Cheng, however, is the participation of comic book legend and G.I. Joe-writer Larry Hama.

“[G.I. Joe] left an indelible imprint on me and served as a foundation for so much- mythology, escapism, storytelling, loyalty, service,” said Cheng. “Working with the man who created all that is such a cool feeling.” That being said, Ghost Source Zero won’t just imitate G.I Joe. The film, with Hama helming the story, will tell an original story with new characters, that follows the futuristic but underfunded “Cyber Crime Division” as it battles to stave off “the ‘bots and ‘borgs” threatening humanity.

The collaboration between Cheng and Hama began as a result of Cheng’s work on Operation: Red Retrieval. Cheng sent a copy of the film to Hama who then decided to meet with the young filmmaker. “We immediately hit it off talking about action movies we both loved,” said Cheng. “After an hour of just talking film and storytelling, Larry asked how I made Red Retrieval, and how specifically I made the production value look so good. So I told him about the micro budget approach I used, the camera, the digital effects I did myself. So after talking nonstop through lunch and realizing that we obviously had the same tastes, I asked him, ‘What would it be like if we made a movie together?’ And that kind of kicked it all off.”

According to Cheng, projects like Ghost Source Zero could represent a potential future for “genre fans to transcend” the “Hollywood system” which he believes to be stifling creativity. In Hama’s case, he’s just excited to be working on a private project driven by “passion and personal integrity” rather than mere profit. “They believe they can do it, and I believe I can help it along.” Ghost Source Zero has currently raised nearly $15,000 of its $65,000.