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By Shannon Sturgis Chris Wilks, writer and director for his film Insomniac. + Enlarge

LITTLE ROCK — George Lucas has his multimillion dollar Skywalker Ranch with his clever toys and expensive doodads. Christian Wilks has his yellow-trimmed, red-brick ranch-style home tucked in an ordinary neighborhood in south Little Rock with a computer and off-the-shelf editing software. Lucas is the billion-dollar mind behind the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, but Wilks is the few-grand mind behind Insomniac, a locally produced, low-budget feature film edited completely in a back bedroom of Wilks' home.

Maybe it's not Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it proves anyone with a camera, computer, talent, patience and time can create movies nowadays. And let's face it: Sight unseen, Insomniac is probably better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Well, maybe, as long as aliens don't show up.

An 86-minute digital film shot in Little Rock and Hot Springs with an all-Arkansas cast and crew, the film was written, produced and directed by the 34-year-old Little Rock native whose entertainment pseudonym is Christian Neil (his middle name). It's his first feature film, adapted from a short film screenplay written in 1997 while Wilks worked as a hotel desk clerk for a couple of local Hampton Inns.

"Insomniac is a story about bad choices and the consequences of those bad choices," Wilks said. "It's a very personal story to me."

A graduate of McClellan High School and 1996 graduate of Arkansas State University with a degree in radio and TV, Wilks caught the creative bug from his former band director at McClellan, Dave Massey.

"He really had us thinking outside of being in Little Rock our whole life," Wilks said. "He opened our eyes to the fact that we needed to create and leave something behind."

While he acted and played in a garage band (Submission) in high school, completed class projects in TV while at ASU and wrote a handful of screenplays, Wilks only toyed with the idea of acting on his creative impulses. He finally began the actual filming of Insomniac four long years ago, following a conversation with co-worker Leon Tidwell at the Arkansas School for the Blind, where Wilks is the gifted and talented coordinator, and a vocational instructor. ("I love my day job," Wilks said.)

"I was sitting at his house talking about this script that I had, and he said, 'Let's just make it,'" Wilks said. "I had actually, shortly after graduating college, been an intern for a short film. I just thought I could do it so much better."

Possessing a camera, Tidwell joined as director of photography, producer and actor, and the duo assembled a crew of like-minded artistic Arkansans - associate producer and actor Russell Hoffman, producer and actress Rebecca Jones, editor and actor Leif Hassell, editor Lee Wood Thomas and others. After a few false starts, including some miscast roles, filming began in earnest in 2006, mostly a couple of times a week for a few hours a night. Using what he had read in screenwriting and filmmaking books - Syd Field's works, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices - looking toward his film idols - Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sergio Leone - and remembering what he had learned in college, Wilks slowly cobbled together his film.

Locations for the film were secured through friends and relatives - White Water Tavern, Downtown Deli and Wilks' grandmother's house in west Little Rock make an appearance in the film. Finished with filming in late 2007, 2008 was spent on post-production work, including adding music from local acts such as WishTribe, J-Mac, Sam Whiskey, and Josh the Devil & the Sinners

"The best way to learn to do something is to get out there and do it," Wilks said. "One of the reasons it took so long to finish is because you never have a second chance to make your first feature. I'm proud of it."

In the beginning, Wilks saved his receipts, believing he might spend enough to get a tax credit. After a few years with around $4,000 spent and realizing no tax credit was possible, Wilks ceased keeping track of receipts, but assumes he spent around $5,000 on Insomniac.

"I could do it for less now and have a better experience," he said. "For [Insomniac] I used 10 or 11 locations, and there was an awful lot of people and planning. One thing that came out of this experience is I learned I need to be tighter with my writing."

A dry-erase board in Wilks' back bedroom headquarters is spotted with Post-it notes, each bearing an idea in black magic marker. The working title of his present endeavor is there - Back in the Day - along with clues to future projects: the greatest generation, housekeeping, Temp Service.

"I got a couple of scripts I'm working on," Wilks said. "I hope to have something ready to go by summer or fall.

"I'm almost finished with the first draft [of Back in the Day]. It's a little less ambitious."

Insomniac has been submitted to the SXSW Film Conference and Festival ("I expect my rejection in mid-February," Wilks said.) and Wilks has plans to submit it elsewhere, including the possibility of touring the film in living rooms across the country through friends met via the Internet.

"I kind of describe it as postpartum depression," Wilks said of being done with the film. "This project at times has taken a very heavy toll on me. It's been a heavy sacrifice, especially on my social life.

"It's cool to finally have it come together. It's exhilarating to have this team of talented individuals come together. Now that it's all over I'm sweating bullets. I want to have a good screening."

Sidebar:

Imaginary Friend Films is holding a special advance screening of Insomniac at 2 p.m. Sunday at Market Street Cinema. Tickets for the screening are $10. A portion of ticket prices can be used to purchase DVDs and merchandise, which will be available for purchase after the screening.

"I'm happy to have it showing at Market Street," said Chris Wilks, a Little Rock native and the film's writer, director and producer. "It's one of the few theaters where every screen is playing something good. I'm really excited to see my movie on a screen at a cinema where I have seen so much really, really good stuff."

The 3rd Degree with Christian Neil

What would your superpower be?

"I'd have the power to TiVo people at will. It can think of many instances where the ability to pause and fast-forward lengthy conversations would come in handy."

Who would play you in the movie about your life?

"Bruce Willis. He has the right haircut."

When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

"A scientist or engineer. That lasted until eighth grade when I took my first algebra class, and then I switched to rock star. Still working on that one."

What would you eat for your last meal?

"Prime rib with lots of horseradish and au jus, with a loaded baked potato, and a really good Cabernet."

If we went out on a Saturday night where would we find you?

"Most likely at the movies, or at Juanita's watching my buddies in WishTribe performing."