Annie Lobert, who plays herself, is a former call girl and sex industry worker who was trafficked on the Las Vegas strip for over a decade. She founded the survivor-led outreach program and recovery program (Destiny House) for women looking for an escape from the sex industry. Destiny House and the victim interviews featured in Beyond the Neon is real documented footage from real survivors.
This project was developed over three years of undercover research in the Las Vegas area consulted by law enforcement, anti-trafficking organizations, and an advisory committee of American sex trafficking survivors.
Financed by cryptocurrency, Beyond the Neon is the first movie to launch NFTs for charity via a partnership with Phantasma blockchain, which will fund initiatives assisting those affected by American trafficking.
Based on true accounts, this film combines real documentary footage with a scripted narrative.
The unique film style was designed to resemble unedited YouTube content and match Joeys Salads' social experiments. A variety of cinema cameras, consumer cameras and surveillance equipment were used for realism and authenticity. To create the illusion of a social media film crew, during production cinema rigs had to be replaced or broken down to skeleton rigs anytime camera operators would be seen holding gear in frame. Every camera angle needed to serve the story while also justifying why the "crew" would be recording in that moment. Even obstacles like full memory cards and dead batteries were creatively used to motivate camera cuts. Combined, these elements take audiences behind the scenes as one of the crew members filming a dangerous social experiment.