A week and a half ago, I announced the 27 Star Trek fan films competing in the 2024 SHOWRUNNER AWARDS. And we certainly have some heavy-hitters this year! In fact, as I was assembling the online ballot form for our 12-judge panel, I was marveling at how many amazing actors and actresses (40 in all!) would be vying for our best leading and supporting categories. This is gonna be super-tough to judge this year, and those fan films that win in each our our 23 categories should feel like they’ve really earned something special. And as I’ve said before, I only wish that more fan films could win—but in the end, there’s only three award levels in each category.
Speaking of categories, this might end up being the final year for the Best Short Scene category. I’ll need to discuss it with the judges, of course, but unlike most of our other categories, Best Short Scene has been somewhat anemic when it comes to submissions. Last year, only five entrants included short scenes as part of their submissions. And this year, that number has decreased to four, each of which you can view below.
Initially, I thought the idea of choosing one particularly engrossing and dramatic scene (of 2 minutes or less) from a fan film was a unique and exciting concept for a category. I got the idea from watching an Academy Awards broadcast a couple of years ago with a similar collection of short scenes from each of the ten nominees for Best Picture. I figured the same kind of thing might be cool to do for the Showrunner Awards, and so I suggested it to the judges, and they agreed.
However, your typical Hollywood motion picture is 2+ hours long, so there’s a lot to choose from. Your typical Star Trek fan film is 15-30 minutes long, and doesn’t have as many dramatic scenes of 2 minutes or less. And that’s why I don’t think we’ve seen many submissions in this category.
Also, now that we have the new TREKS IN 90 SECS contest going on, the Best Short Scene has become somewhat redundant as well as potentially confusing. As such, this could be the last year for this particular category.
That said, Best Short Scene is still very much a part of the Showrunner Awards, and we’ve got four excellent submissions this year. So please take a look, and good luck to each of our entrants…
CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS (AVALON UNIVERSE)
FALLEN HEROES (TREK SHORTS)
KNIGHTS OF THE VOID (AVALON UNIVERSE)
THE LOST STARSHIP (TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE)