Fan Film Factor – Exploring the world of Star Trek fan films.

TIME AND TIME AGAIN from STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL is a cosplayer’s dream come true! (interview with DAVID CHENG)

If you want to see impeccable TOS movie-era uniforms in a Star Trek fan film right now, there’s really only two places to look. The first is FARRAGUT FILMS, whose recent FARRAGUT FORWARD from last year and the upcoming FARRAGUT 2024 due out in the next few weeks feature dozens of carefully-crafted, cosplay-quality recreations of the beautiful monster maroons from the early Trek feature films.

Of course, when you’re talking cosplay-quality Starfleet, why not go right to the source…actual cosplayers! You see them walking around Star Trek conventions looking so dapper and elegant, and in the past few years, many of these same cosplayers have portrayed characters in fanthology films released by STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL and its main showrunner, Southern California-based DAVID CHENG. But David hasn’t limited himself solely to movie-era. Since 2019, his fan film releases have included The Motion Picture-era uniforms, TOS, and both 24th and 25th century styles. Here’s a list…

THE HUMAN ADVENTURE (2019)
LOOK FORWARD TO THE DAY (2020)
I AM SPOCK (2020)
UNREST (2020)
PEACE AND GOODWILL (2020)
OUTRAGED (2021)
BORG HUNTERS (2022)
SPARE THE FUTURE, SAVE THE PAST (2024)

Back in June, David and company released their latest project, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, which took the idea of using cosplayers to a whole new level. Filmed at an actual Star Trek convention in private hotel rooms, small conference rooms, and elsewhere, you can count nearly two dozen different cosplayers in the cast—many of them familiar faces to those of us who regularly attend conventions, especially here in America. Cosplayers played Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, plus Admiral Nogura and Vulcan Ambassador Soval. Take a look…

Although it’s been a few months since its release, I didn’t want Time and Time Again to pass by unblogged. So I tracked down David Cheng for a short interview…

A very special fan film: SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT from TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE… (part 2 of a 2-part blog)

Last week, I discussed how I came to be the primary editor of the newest fan film from the “fanthology” series TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE. Titled SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT, the story begins as most TOS-era fan films do, with a captain and crew on a mission and then a mystery leading to a threat. But in this very special fan film, something unexpected happens halfway through to turn the story into something completely different. And if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth watching first without any spoilers…

Assuming you’ve just watched the above video, I can now share that the lead actress who stars as Captain Fairchild/Cathy, SARA McCARTNEY, is herself on the autism spectrum. Indeed, Sara’s mother, RUTH McCARTNEY, wrote the story as a quasi-biographical/autobiographical remembrance of the struggles that both she and her daughter have faced during their respective lifetimes. In both cases, Star Trek became a sanctuary, as it has for numerous fans over the decades. As such, this production has a very wide appeal.

Second Star to the LEFT was one of the final fan films to be shot at the Kingsland, GA location of NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS before their amazing TOS set recreations were packed up and moved 900 miles north to a new location in a shopping mall in Sandusky, OH. You can read more about that move here. Ruth, a long-time volunteer at the Kingsland location, asked set owner RAY TESI for permission to shoot Second Star before the sets were disassembled, and Ray happily agreed.

JOSHUA IRWIN of AVALON UNIVERSE Productions, who has directed multiple episodes of Tales from the Neutral Zone, agreed to drive down to Kingsland from his home in northwestern Arkansas (a trip he has made MANY times!) to direct not only Second Star but three different fan films all being shot during the same manic three-day weekend. Later, Josh asked me to help edit my choice of one of the multiple fan films he was working on, and I decided upon Second Star, as I discussed in part of of this blog feature.

I consider this fan film to be particularly important, as Sara’s performance shows what an individual with neurodivergence can accomplish. At a time when autism is being stigmatized by divisive rhetoric and wild theories as to its causes, Second Star to the LEFT humbly reminds us that being on the spectrum isn’t a disability so much a simply a different ability.

When Second Star debuted on the Avalon Universe YouTube channel, Josh hosted a livestream discussion with several people who were involved with the production, including Ruth and Sara, myself, Ray, Tesi, KEITH HAMILTON (who did some of the VFX), and MICHAEL SEAN CARTER, who is one of the volunteers coordinating the studio move to Sandusky. With Josh’s permission, I’m including that video below to finish off this 2-part spotlight on the film.

The first segment of the video deals with the latest news from Avalon Universe. So I’ve queued up the video to begin at the 20-minute mark when the topic shifts to Second Star. Feel free to back it up to the beginning if you’re curious about other current and future Avalon projects…

How I ended up editing SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT from TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE… (part 1 of a 2-part blog)

This is going to be a different kind of blog today. Usually, I write from the perspective of being on the outside looking in. This time, however, I stepped in as film editor on a very special Star Trek fan film starring a courageous young actress who is on the autism spectrum. And therein lies a tale…a tale from NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS.

It was the spring of 2024, and my friend JOSHUA IRWIN was feeling quite overloaded…and no wonder! Ever since branching out beyond producing his series of AVALON UNIVERSE fan films, Josh has been one of the most in-demand filmmakers in the entire community. He gets asked to direct, do lighting, camera, cinematography, special FX, sound, and editing on what seems to be an endless parade of projects ranging from fan films like FARRAGUT 2024 and fan series like DREADNOUGHT DOMINION to fanthologies like THE FEDERATION FILES and TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE. And as the year began, Josh had no loess than SIX different fan films that he helped shoot, produce, wrote, and/or directed…and he needed to edit each of them.

Some of these were major projects, like the series finale of the 23rd century run of Avalon Universe, an upcoming release to be titled THE ONCE AND FUTURE CAPTAIN. Others were mid-size projects, like a story for Tales from the Neutral Zone called HISTORY NEVER FORGETS (still unreleased) about the crew of the Enterprise-C before its destruction. And then there were three “small” fan films with minimal raw footage that had each been shot in about a day or less with run times of maybe 15 minutes or so. With work life, family life, and fan film life commitments piling up, Josh asked me if I’d be willing to help him edit one of these three shorter fan films.

This request didn’t come out of left field. Josh and I had worked closely on the edit for my AXANAR Universe fan film INTERLUDE, and even though I drove him nuts (and maybe a little vice-versa), we actually worked quite effectively together—finding some compromises when we didn’t agree or else one or the other of us putting our foot down—and wound up with a very nice final cut. Josh understands that I don’t know a hundredth of what he does about the finer points of film editing like levels and color optimization, but he knows I have a good feel of which takes work the best and how to piece together a good rough edit.

“If you can just assemble the cuts in the timeline, Jonathan, I can do all of the rest,” Josh told me. “And even if you edit only one of these shorter films, it’ll really help lighten my workload.” And I was happy to do it. I actually enjoy editing a film, at least on a basic putting-the-pieces-together level. Now the only decision I had to make was which of the three fan films to tackle.

Announcing the 2025 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARD WINNERS!

It’s that magical day again, folks! Yes, it’s the 59th anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966. AND it’s also the day we learn the winners of this year’s Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS…our fourth consecutive year!

One of the things about the Showrunner Awards that makes me the most proud is that the results are determined by members of our community who truly understand what goes into making a successful and impressive Star Trek fan film. For lack of a better term, our judges are “experts,” experienced at the challenges involved in producing quality fan films with limited resources and funds. And it’s for this reason, I sincerely believe, that our results make sense to people.

This year, we had 24 Star Trek fan films entered with a total runtime of nearly ten and a half hours! That’s a LOT of commitment from each of our judges to watch so many fan films, and I truly appreciate their dedication to the task. Sadly, one of our twelve judges for this year, LEE GARTRELL of THE ROMULAN WARS fan series, had to regretfully step aside at the last minute due to a family health emergency. Unfortunately, it was too late to bring in a replacement judge (ballots were due in less than two weeks from the date he contacted me), but we all send our best wishes to Lee and his family for a speedy and positive resolution to this crisis.

In the meantime, here is a list of our remaining judges:

JOSE CEPEDA – NATURE’S HUNGER
SAMUEL COCKINGS – TREK SHORTS and TEMPORAL ANOMALY
JOSHUA IRWIN – THE AVALON UNIVERSE
JONATHAN LANE – INTERLUDE and AN ABSENT FRIEND
MARK LARGENT – STALLED TREK
VANCE MAJOR – CONSTAR
BRIAN W. PETERSON – THE LOST STARSHIP
IAN RAMSEY – STAR REKT PARODY MUSIC VIDEOS
DAN R. REYNOLDS – THE FEDERATION FILES
BENJAMIN SCHULZ – LORELEY
RANDY WRENN – DREADNOUGHT DOMINION and other series

Every judge ranked their top five selections in each of 22 categories, with their top choice earning 10 points, second choice earning 7 points, then 5, 3, and 1 points for choices three through five. A judge was not allowed to vote for a fan film they themselves submitted as any of their top three selections.

As often happens with this scoring system, we had a fair number of ties, both 2-way and even a few 3-way—something that I think of as more of a feature than a bug, as it just means more folks get to celebrate wins, and I love to make people happy. There have even been some years, including this one, where a single category had multiple 2-way ties. But this year’s Best Actress category featured what I can only refer to as a “full house”—both a 2-way and a 3-way tie! That’s SIX winners in one category….out of 11 nominees, so it wasn’t just a “participation trophy”).

Announcing the WINNERS of the 2nd annual TREKS IN 90 SECS contest!

The whole idea behind TREKS IN 90 SECS was to challenge the assumption that it was impossible to make a decent Star Trek fan film that was 15 minutes or less in length (a limit set by CBS and Paramount’s fan film guidelines). Not only did fans quickly prove that it was possible, fan films have thrived these past nine years despite this limit. So if fans were clever enough to cut things down to 15 minutes, could they be even more clever enough to cut things down to just 90 seconds???

Last year, nine groups of fan filmmakers took up the gauntlet to submit ultra-short films to our inaugural contest. This year, we had ten submissions (although one was previously submitted from last year…which is allowed for a short film that wasn’t in the top three previously). This year’s submissions were due at the end of July, and voting was open on Fan Film Factor from August 3rd through 24th.

Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place have now been given to the top three vote-getting fan films who now get to brag and copy-paste their “certificate” graphics onto their YouTube, Facebook, and social media pages. Amusingly, this year we had a tie for second place, with the same fan filmmaker getting the same number of votes for both of his submissions.

But all of the submissions are winners in my book—for taking up the challenge in the first place and finishing their super-mini-fan films! And that’s why I’m including all ten submissions on this page, along with their final vote totals (as everyone got at least some votes), so fans can see each of the submitted films…

1st Place – THRONE OF ZEUS (28 votes)

2nd Place – THE BIGGEST FLAW IN STARSHIP DESIGN (23 votes)

2nd Place – WHEN YOU’RE NOT A MAIN CHARACTER ON A STARSHIP (23 votes)

3rd Place – TOUGH TO KILL (20 votes)

TASK FORCE-78: BREAKAWAY! – A 90 SECOND MUSIC VIDEO (13 votes)

TASK FORCE-78: MISSION POSSIBLE – A MUSIC VIDEO MASH-UP (13 votes)

SHIPS OF THE NIGHT – SALISBURY COLONIAL DEFENSE FORCES (8 votes)

WRATH REDUX (7 votes)

COMING HOME (2 votes)

GIFT OF THE MANTICORE (1 vote)

Time to VOTE for your favorite TREKS IN 90 SECS fan film!

We have a total of TEN entries for our second annual TREKS IN 90 SECS contest—one is a returning entry from last year—and since each fan film runs between 90 and 120 seconds, you can watch all of them in less than 20 minutes!

You can vote for up to three of your favorite videos, and once you make your selections and click the “VOTE” button at the bottom, that’s it and your ballot is locked. So choose wisely!

Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, August 24. Then the three ultra-short films with the highest number of votes will be declared the winners, and results will be posted at the end of this month.

Click here to cast your ballot!

UNFINISHED BUSINESS and UNDERCOVER show off California’s wilderness and much more! (video interview with MATTHEW BLACKBURN)

I’ve got UNFINISHED BUSINESS to discuss with California fan filmmaker MATTHEW BLACKBURN. I’ve also got UNDERCOVER to cover. I am referring, of course, to Matthew’s latest two Star Trek fan films in what I used to call the “Survivor” saga because his first three releases all had the word “Survivor” in them…

STAR TREK: SURVIVOR (2010)
SURVIVORS (2017)
LAST SURVIVOR (2018)

But then Matthew threw me a curve, as the next two releases (like the third one) started with the letter “L” but didn’t have “Survivor” in the title…

LEFT BEHIND (2020)
LOST AND FOUND (2021)

However, then we were back to the “Survivor” concept with Matthew’s next fan film…

ULTIMATE SURVIVAL (2022)

Matthew tends to release approximately one Star Trek fan film per year, but I missed his 2023 production, titled appropriately enough Unfinished Business. Take a look…

And then late last year, Matthew came out with Undercover, which you can watch here…

So I guess that means we’re now doing “U” titles, right? Well, not exactly. About three months later at the very end of 2024, Matthew released a second Star Trek-related fan film, although this one was a mash-up with Indiana Jones titled RAIDERS OF THE LOST TREK…

As you can see, Matthew’s fan films aren’t exactly high-budget. But he is yet another filmmaker who does a lot with a little. Most times, Matthew just goes out on location with enthusiastic friends, his wife and camera operator Katie, and occasionally one or more of his students (Matthew is a high school teacher). Indeed, in Unfinished Business, Matthew actually let one of his students—dressed in a Gorn mask—trash Matt’s classroom!

And when Matthew does go out on location, he has a wealth of “alien” terrains to choose from. This is because Matthew lives in the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base. This puts him within fairly easy driving distance of both desert and rock formation locations as well as lush forest land in the mountains north and south of the Antelope Valley. And as an added bonus, in the springtime when there’s been enough rain in southern California, areas of the Antelope valley can fill with a kaleidoscopic blanket of wildflowers, which have actually appeared in a couple of Matthew’s previous fan films.

In fact, during a super-bloom back in 2023, I invited Matthew to come along with my son Jayden and me on a wildflower trip through Matthew’s neck of the woods, and he brought along his Starfleet uniform. At multiple stops, Matthew would change into his DS9-era tunic and jacket, and I would film clips of him performing scenes amongst the colorful scenery. Matt was also the reason I was able to get this awesome shot of Jayden and me (one of the last times I was still taller than my son!)…

I’ve been looking forward to doing a video interview with Matthew because he’s just so much fun and really interesting. And here it is…

Four bridge sets, three shooting days, two centuries, and two fan films… (Blog Feature #2: AVALON – GHOST CRYSTAL)

Yesterday in Part 1, we covered the first two days of a three-day shoot on the bridge set of what director JOSHUA IRWIN has dubbed FARRAGUT STUDIO 3 (as Studios 1 and 2 were located in southeastern Georgia…with Studio 2 ultimately becoming NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS many years later).

What made this particular three-day shoot so significant is that it was one of the few times in the history of Star Trek fan films that the same sets were used during the same weekend to film scenes for two unrelated fan SERIES. While multiple fan FILMS has been shot in the same studio or location in a single weekend, those are typically associated with a single fan series, using the same actors playing the same characters for separate episodes.

But this weekend featured two separate casts utilizing mostly the same production crew and and set, but with significant changes to flip a series of 23rd century TOS movie-era starship bridges on Friday and Saturday for the upcoming FARRAGUT 2024 into a TNG season 2 era starship bridge for GHOST CRYSTAL, the first of three new AVALON UNIVERSE fan films set in the 24th and 25th centuries.

Josh Irwin is directing both fan films and is the showrunner for Avalon. JOHN BROUGHTON is the showrunner and star of Farragut 2024. And together, the two men ran not just one smooth ship but four over a three-day weekend. The first three ships were the USS Farragut, USS Constitution, and USS Decatur. But Sunday was reserved for a trip to the Avalon Universe and the bridge of the USS Excalibur NCC-1705-B.

The Avalon Universe fan series has been going strong since late 2018, having released more than a dozen fan films ranging in length from short to full-length two-parters. You can view them all here. Each of these takes place in the 23rd century, and that series of fan films will conclude later on this year with THE ONCE AND FUTURE CAPTAIN.

Ghost Crystal feature a number of both set-based and outdoor on-location scenes that will be filmed in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. But Josh saw an opportunity to utilize the Farragut Films bridge to create a 24th-style starship. This required some customizing, of course, and included a fourth command chair (in addition to the three constructed for the three Farragut 2024 starships), this one built by RODNEY GARRETT, who was still sanding it down and putting the finishing touches on the set piece outside on Saturday in 90+ degree heat. But the extra effort was worth it, as the chair came out looking awesome…

Less than FOUR WEEKS LEFT to submit your ULTRA-SHORT fan film to this year’s TREKS IN 90 SECS contest!

We now have five official entries, so it’s a horse race, folks! But I would like a few more ponies at the starting gate if possible.

Just a quick reminder that submissions for this year’s TREKS IN 90 SECS contest are due on or before July 31, 2025 if you want your ultra-short fan film in the running. That’s less than four weeks away!

And if you didn’t place in the top three Treks in 90 Secs films last year, FEEL FREE TO SUBMIT YOUR ULTRA-SHORT AGAIN.

As a reminder, here are the very simple rules:

The fan film doesn’t need to be “exactly” 90 seconds. It can be less or even a little more. But if you run over two minutes, it’s not gettin’ entered.
The fan film needs to be Star Trek related in some way.
The fan film must be a complete “story” (however you want to define that term). It can be funny, dramatic, sad, exciting, all dialogue, no dialogue, whatever you’d like. But what it can’t be is a segment from an existing fan film. It needs to be 100% new.
A maximum of three fan film submissions per entrant.
Deadline to enter is midnight Pacific Time, July 31, 2025.

To submit your entry, post it to YouTube and send me the link either via e-mail at jonathan (at) fanfilmfactor (dot) com or message me on Facebook with the link.

The three top winners get to brag, so send me those links!

Four bridge sets, three shooting days, two centuries, and two fan films… (Blog Feature #1: FARRAGUT 2024)

During the second-to-last weekend of June, the town of Frederick, Maryland was the site of a complex and challenging shoot of not just one Star Trek fan film but TWO! The location was a facility that has been dubbed by some FARRAGUT STUDIO 3, and the fan films were FARRAGUT 2024 (a 23rd century TOS movie-era fan film and sequel to last year’s FARRAGUT FORWARD) and GHOST CRYSTAL (the first of three new AVALON UNIVERSE episodes episodes set in the 24th and, eventually, 25th centuries).

But before I continue, let me briefly mention that both productions have active crowd-funding campaigns that, while having met their original goals, are still in stretch goal mode…

To donate click to Farragut 2024, click here.

To donate to Avalon Universe, click here.

And now, let’s talk about this amazing fan film shoot!

Many of you may have seen photos posted online by various members of the cast and crews of both productions. But what you probably don’t know is everything that went into making this 3-day shoot happen and what went on behind-the-scenes to make it all come together.

Let’s start with the two men behind these projects: Farragut showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON and Avalon showrunner JOSHUA IRWIN. Josh serves as director for both of these fan films, and John, in addition to starring in Farragut as Captain (Admiral?) Jack Carter, also specializes in meticulous costume-making and set construction…and he will be moving forward to direct the upcoming FARRAGUT FINALE.

Some fan films require minimal preparation and planning. Farragut 2024 is NOT one of those. Other productions require moderate preparation and planning. Farragut ain’t one of those either! Nope, Team Farragut has been meeting weekly for more than a year and half, with the various department heads gathering virtually via Microsoft Teams to discuss every aspect of this project: make-up, CGI, costumes, sets, direction, line production…everyone was expected to attend these weekly meetings, hosted by John (who runs a pretty tight ship both in the 23rd century and also in the 21st!).

You might be thinking that having weekly meetings for over a year for a Star Trek fan film is overdoing it a bit, but the fact remains that most of these folks have known each other as friends and colleagues for years or even decades, and many of them come from community theater backgrounds where regular production meetings are pretty standard.

Fast forward to this past April, and Farragut had an outdoor location shoot planned. Unfortunately, the weather made other plans, and rain was forecast throughout Washington, DC and the surrounding areas. But that was okay. A studio shoot had already been planned two months later for the weekend of June 20-22 (Friday-Sunday), so the team could simply tack on a short Thursday afternoon shoot and film the two outdoor scenes within walking distance of the studio, as neither scene required recognizable scenery—unlike their previous location scenes, which were shot in and around famous DC landmarks.

But once again, fate and the weather weren’t cooperating…