The debut effort from writer/director/star Allan Piper, Starving Artists is a romantic comedy about the trials and tribulations of young creative people trying to get their foot in the door. Zach (Piper) is a struggling playwright rehearsing a new comedy who falls for a graphic artist named Joy (Bess Wohl), but he annoys her more often than he impresses her. Elsewhere, two of Joy's friends, Jay (Joe Smith) and Doris (Sandi Carroll) are making an independent crime film in their apartment building, though at least one of their neighbors thinks the noises they hear are the sounds of a real murderer. Piper helped raise financing for Starving Artists by promising that anyone who donated more than a dollar to the production would have their name appear onsreen in one way or another.