P.J. Starks on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with P.J. Starks and have shared our conversation below.

Hi P.J., thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Have you ever been glad you didn’t act fast?
Yes, with out recent film New Fears Eve. Right out of the gate this project felt different, but once the trailer landed we knew we had something special. On past films we’ve typically have to shop the movie around or reach out to specific distributors for them to look at the movie. We were getting inundated with interest from companies all over the globe wanting to see NFE. We got dozens of offers but none of them felt right. I spoke with my producing partner about holding out to make sure the film received the biggest and best opportunity to shine. Over a year of holding off and waiting finally paid off when Cineverse told us they loved and wanted New Fears Eve. This was the same company who released Terrifier 2 and 3, the recent Toxic Avenger remake and the upcoming Return to Silent Hill. So yea, for us that was a huge deal. It was a time when patience truly paid off when we simply could have taken so many other lesser offers.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a writer, producer, director and co-owner of Blood Moon Pictures, a genre centered production company based in Owensboro, Kentucky. I’m also the Director of Media Arts for the law firm Foreman, Watson, Holtrey, LLP where I’m part of the marketing team as well as produce and co-host their weekly podcast Law Lite. I have an extensive filmography where this past year alone I served as a producer on The Barn Part III, Half-O-Ween, The Boy from Below, and The Last Sleepover. I love networking and collaborating with other creatives. Recent I, along with my producing partner Eric Huskisson, signed an agreement with Cineverse and Bloody-Disgusting to release our holiday slasher comedy New Fears Eve which hits Screambox, Roku, Amazon Prime, among others on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
When I was younger, even into my early twenties, I was positive my destiny was to run off to Hollywood and be the next Spielberg. In 2004 I even quit my job, grabbed my ex-wife, my new born Logan and went to Florida to attend Full Sail. Owensboro was left with the promise that it would never be seen again with my middle finger fully extended. Inexperience, irresponsibility, and a lack of foresight defined those decisions. After our home was destroyed by a hurricane, a mere two months later, I tucked tail and moved back home. It was a solid lesson in reality where I had to focus on what was truly important. Looking back twenty years later, that moment marked the start of countless lessons and an unexpected, incredible journey, one that only began once the arts were taken seriously, better choices were made, and the understanding grew that failure isn’t a dead end. It’s the start of a new and exciting direction. That unrealistic belief to be “the next Spielberg” has long since been put to rest and replaced with a new belief that I was meant to be filmmaker I am today.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
Prior to writing the script for New Fears Eve, a lot of life changing events took place. I lost my grandmother, the person who first ignited my deep love for the horror genre. This was eventually followed by a long and nasty divorce that changed the landscape of my everyday, This was followed by mom being diagnosed with double lung cancer. Needless to say my anxiety was at an all time high. Once it was decided New Fears Eve was going to be our next project, the narrative needed to be fully fleshed out. What was originally intended to be straight forward horror wrought with tension and atmosphere, became an exercise in emotional resolution. I used the screenplay as a catharsis to work through inner turmoil. Writers write what they know, therefore New Fears Eve gained deeper themes of loss, grief, traumatic change, gain, reconciliation and what it means to move on. While all of this sounds very serious, and it is, comedy is coping mechanism. It’s also a slasher film, so the film is full of blood, gore, heart and fart. Using all these unfortunate scenarios as a way to tell a more layered and compelling story helped turn the anguish into a more powerful means of facing the pain.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Believe it or not, yes. I’m an open book. I sadly rarely have a filter. You can ask my wife or my hetero-life mate Eric. What’s the point of living if you can’t be your authentic self? Now, are there times where I hold back? Absolutely. I love the word “fuck” but I won’t use it when I talk to a room of school kids. I’m also a little weird in the bedroom, probably most of us are, but unless you’re intimate with me you’ll never know. Unfortunately for my wife, she gets to experience all of that first hand job.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What will you regret not doing? 
I spent twenty years of my life holding on to a strong regret of having broken my now wife Leslie’s heart in high school. After my divorce, I was given a second chance where I was able to say “I’m sorry” but also, “I love you.” I’ve learned life can and will course correct. My Disney level romance with Leslie is very much proof of that. This second chance alleviated that regret and now her and I both are living the life we were intended to have so many years ago. If you had asked me this question prior to my divorce you’d have gotten a different answer. The moral of the story here, don’t live with regret.

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Image Credits
Alex Clark and Brandon Scott Hanks

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