The Circuit – Fan Film Factor

Got a DOLLAR? THE CIRCUIT will host a 24-HOUR PLEDGE DRIVE this SATURDAY!

The new sci-fi professional/fan film hybrid series THE CIRCUIT started off their Kickstarter with a goal of $50,000. And with just 5 days left, they’re at nearly $84,000…and that’s great.

But now they’re trying to reach a stretch goal of (are you sitting down???) $200,000! Impossible, you say? Preposterous? Never happen? Perhaps. But $200,000 will allow them to fund an entire season—ten full episodes—and so they’re gonna to make a run at it!

And here’s how…

It all happens this coming Saturday, May 20, for twenty-four hours starting at midnight Pacific Time. The CHALLENGE is for 100,000 fans to each donate at least $1. A buck is almost nothing these days (especially at Starbucks!). I’ve already donated $80 to this campaign, so I’m going to up it to $81. (See? Only 99,999 fans to go!) Their message is being sent out far and wide, and YOU can help send it!

Also on Saturday, beginning at 10am Pacific Time, members of the cast of The Circuit will be streaming a LIVE CHALLENGE SHOW via their Facebook page for 14 straight hours until the challenge ends at midnight! Confirmed guests on the LIVE CHALLENGE SHOW include:

Tim Russ
Walter Koenig
Armin Shimerman
Robert Picardo
Olivia d’Abo
Cody Saintgnue
Manu Intiraymi

…and more will likely show up, as show-runner Manu Intiraymi (Icheb from Star Trek: Voyager) is trying to coordinate everyone’s schedules (there’s 20 actors in the cast!). There will also be new videos and new trailers as the cast tracks the pledges on their tote board.

Fans will be helping out, as well. In fact, it was a fan who suggested the 24-hour challenge and another fan who suggested the live show! And now folks like me (and you!) can help spread the word. Here’s what people need to know:

WHEN: All day Saturday May 20, 2017 – midnight PDT to the following midnight

WHERE: The LIVE SHOW is at https://www.facebook.com/thecircuitmovie/

WHAT TO DO: Donate $1 here and ask other people to do it, too!

Tweet! Post! E-mail! Shout! Send smoke signals! If this works, it’ll make fan film history!

To learn more about THE CIRCUIT, listen to this audio interview with MANU INTIRAYMI:

Manu Intiraymi – show-runner for THE CIRCUIT

Watch WALTER KOENIG and TIM RUSS both do HAPPY DANCES for THE CIRCUIT!

With just ONE WEEK left in their debut Kickstarter campaign, THE CIRCUIT is about to cross the $80,000 milestone on their way to their next stretch goal: $100,000!

I recently spoke to show-runner MANU INTIRAYMI (Icheb from Star Trek: Voyager) about this intriguing and exciting project, a hybrid of a fan film with professionals (or is that a professional indie film with fans?). You can listen to that fun interview here.

Having originally set a goal of $50,000 and achieved that in just one week(!), the next stretch goal was $75,000, which will allow the team to be able to afford incredible CG VFX showing fans more of the city of “Urbiessa” in all its glory. Now the next stretch goal of $100,000 will fund the following (according to their Kickstarter page):

We NEED amazing PRACTICAL VFX to make a film quality series! The best film quality entertainment is a blend of practical effects and CG. Only the best directors of the day know this, and practical FX can be just as expensive if not more expensive then brilliant computer generated VFX sequences. Ask Thomas E. Surprenant—he only worked on X-Men, The Grinch, Donnie Darko, Halloween, Star Trek: DS9, plus he was kind enough to kick butt for us on 5th Passenger and now he’s down for “The Circuit: Urbiessa.” He makes humans aliens, builds creatures, and does the incredible when it comes to things on camera that are actually ON CAMERA. We need him.

When we REACH our next stretch goal everyone that pledged $25 or more will receive a Limited Edition Mini-Poster! If you pledged $35 dollars or more it will be signed by the cast!!!!!

So tell you’re friends to pledge, up your pledges, and let’s start reaching for more episodes!!!!!

In the meantime, every time the campaign crosses a $10,000 milestone (starting with their goal of $50,000), they release a video of someone from the cast doing a HAPPY DANCE! So far, they’ve had dances by WALTER “Chekov” KOENIG, TIM “Tuvok” RUSS, CODY SAINTGNUE from MTV’s Teen Wolf, and MINDY ROBINSON from King of the Nerds (her video is DEFINITELY worth a look!). And with $80,000 just a few hundred dollars away…we’ll learn the identity of the next happy dancer VERY soon!

To watch all the happy dance videos and/or to donate and help THE CIRCUIT reach $100,000…CLICK HERE!

What is…THE CIRCUIT? An audio interview with MANU INTIRAYMI

What is THE CIRCUIT…and why are fans so excited by it that the project’s Kickstarter campaign surpassed its initial $50,000 in just ONE WEEK??? (They’re now up to $64,000!)

Is it a fan film? Kinda. Is it a professional independent film? Well, yeah, it’s that, too.

Is it Star Trek? No. But on the other hand, just take a look at this cast…

Walter “Chekov” Koenig (Star Trek)
Terry “Jadzia Dax” Farrell (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Robert “Chakotay” Beltran (Star Trek: Voyager)
Armin “Quark” Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Robert “EMH” Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager)
Ethan “Neelix” Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager)
JG “General Martok” Hertzler (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Robert “Gowron” O’Reilly (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Hana “Molly O’Brien” Hatae (Star Trek: TNG/DS9)
Tim “Tuvok” Russ (Star Trek: Voyager)
Doug “Lt. Saru” Jones (Star Trek: Discovery, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth)
Manu “Icheb” Intiraymi (Star Trek: Voyager)

But wait! There’s more…

Ryan Eggold (The Black List, The Black List: Redemption)
Sylvester McCoy (The Hobbit, Doctor Who)
Gigi Edgley (Farscape, Rescue Special Ops)
Miltos Yerolemou (Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Valerie Leslie (The Paranormal Hour, 5th Passenger)
Corin Nemec (Stargate SG-1)
Rob Archer (Lost Girl, Pixels, Kick Ass 2)
Jai Koutrae (Death’s Requiem)
Mindy Robinson (V/H/S/2)
Olivia D’abo (The Wonder Years, Conan The Destroyer)
Cody Saintgnue (MTV’s Teen Wolf)

Interested yet? Well, guess what? YOU might even be able to work on this project! Yes, YOU, Mr. or Ms. Fan! And it isn’t even just one fan film; it’s TEN—all linked together in…The Circuit!

But what is…The Circuit?? (Didn’t I already write that?)

I recently sat down with MANU INTIRAYMI (the actor who played the Borg teenager Icheb on Star Trek: Voyager) for one of Fan Film Factor’s first-ever audio interviews. And I asked him to help fill in the mystery of what is……The Circuit??? So let’s find out the ANSWER…

MANU INTIRAYMI as Icheb on STAR TREK: VOYAGER (left) and today.

To learn more or to donate, click here.