Fans gave a sigh of relief in early February when it was announced that the STAR TREK CONTINUES sets in Kingsland, Georgia had been purchased by a fan filmmaker who intended to make the sets available to other fan filmmakers to create their Trek fan productions. The new owner is a fellow by the name of RAY TESI, and his own fan project was STARSHIP REPUBLIC, which had released the 9-minute “Serpent of Yesterday“ vignette in February of last year.
But I was curious about something: how was Ray affording all this?
Y’see, after releasing his fan film vignette, Ray launched an Indiegogo campaign to try to raise $16,000 to continue the production of his fan series. That campaign only made it to $2,351, and the project was shelved indefinitely.
Now, I didn’t know whether Ray had purchased the sets from VIC MIGNOGNA of Star Trek Continues or had gotten them for free (turns out Ray bought them). But I did know that the rent for the warehouse where the sets reside is tens of thousands of dollars per year!
So how is a guy who needed $16,000 in crowd-funding a year ago suddenly able to afford thousands of dollars a month in rent? Did he win the lottery? Rob a bank? Blackmail a rich politician?
It turns out, fortunately(!), that it was none of the above. In fact, when you hear the actual story behind Ray’s purchase of the STC sets, I think that you—like me—will gain a new respect for Ray Tesi and feel truly inspired and positive about the future of this wonderful fan resource.
Here’s the interview…
And for anyone wanting to see how awesome these sets are, here’s a walkthrough from a few years ago (before they added Engineering, which makes it all even MORE awesome!)…
Great interview! I met Ray at Treklanta 2017 and found him to be a dedicated and gracious Star Trek fan and I wish him the best of luck in this endeavor.
Thanks for a very interesting interview. Best wishes to Mr Tesi on Stage 9 Studios; also looking forward to Starship Republic.
It would be good to credit Starship Farragut for the original construction of the bulk of these sets, and especially Michael Bednar and his team.
Star Trek Continues was a brief owner.
In my “History of Star Trek Continues” blog series, I did just that, Phil. This interview wasn’t about the history of the sets so much as the purchase of them.
I fail to see the reason to ask where Ray obtained the funds to purchase the sets..The real issue is what he is going to do with the sets…Its terrific that he saved them and they are going to be used again.
I asked mainly because I was curious and thought other people would be, as well. I asked Ray, prior to the interview, whether it was okay to inquire about that. Had he said “no,” I would have respected his wishes. As for what he’ll be doing with the sets, the intention is to open them for use to the fan community. Fingers crossed!
It was extremely rude to not only ask about the money, but to continue to press about it after he demurred.
I’m not sure why you thought it was rude. Perhaps you didn’t know that I discussed with Ray asking him about the money matters prior to starting the interview, and Ray was okay with it. I would never ambush anyone like that in an interview. So no, not rude…not by a long shot. 🙂