Alas, it was not meant to be…
TOMMY KRAFT, who rocketed to fan film fame with his amazing Star Trek: Horizon full-length feature, was called by CBS and told not to proceed with announced plans for a sequel he intended to call Federation Rising. Instead, Tommy and his production partner Ryan Webber decided to create an original project titled PROJECT DISCOVERY, examining mankind’s earliest forays into manned interplanetary spaceflight in the mid-21st century.
Tommy and Ryan launched a Kickstarter campaign in late April with a 2-month time frame and an ambitious goal of $250,000. Although they got off to a strong start, just short of a month into the campaign, pledges had stalled in the $17-18,000 range…barely 7% of the way to the goal while approaching the half-way point.
Yesterday evening, Tommy and Ryan announced the cancellation of their project and its Kickstarter. Here was the message they sent out to donors:
Attention fans of Star Trek – Horizon and Project Discovery: After nearly a month of fundraising for Project Discovery; producers Tommy Kraft and Ryan Webber have decided to cancel the fundraising campaign effective immediately. We appreciate the support and pledges we’ve received, however, it’s clear that we will not come anywhere near our campaign goal. Behind the scenes, we’re very passionate with the product we were developing but understand that we cannot make the movie we want at a smaller budget level. No one has been charged for their pledges, nor would they have been if the Kickstarter failed to meet funding goals. Rather than continue pursuing marketing efforts that ultimately weren’t succeeding, we’ve decided to move on to other projects that may have more appeal to our fans and new audiences. We appreciate your support and hope you’ll join us again after we regroup…second star to the right…and straight on ’till morning. – Tommy & Ryan