NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS holds its final shoot in KINGSLAND, GA…so what’s next? (interview with JOSHUA IRWIN, part 2)

In part one, I reported on the dismantling on the TOS sets at NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS in Kingsland, GA, beginning this past weekend. The disassembly is in preparation for a planned move to a new facility, likely somewhere in central Florida (significantly closer to where set owner RAY TEST lives in Baca Raton). A final location has not yet been decided upon, but Ray has narrowed down the choices. Numerous considerations go into the decision, including size of the space, electrical capabilities, A/C and other amenities, safety and accessibility of the new location, etc.

The move was necessitated when the previous next-door tenant at the Kingsland location moved away, leaving half of the building vacant and requiring significant repair costs for the roof on the empty side. The landlord, not wanting to cover the roofing expense while simultaneously being unable to generate half of the rent revenue for the building, has decided to sell it. The landlord is being very kind to Ray, not specifying any particular move-out deadline. Ray is nevertheless expediting the move, taking advantage of the hot summer months when Neutral Zone Studios typically closes for filming anyway.

Two weekends ago, fans and volunteers assembled at the facility for a final two-day shoot for a new episode of TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE, directed by JOSHUA IRWIN. In the conclusion of our two-part interview with Josh, we’re going to shift our focus to the shoot itself and the people who were there…

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JONATHAN – Let’s move on to the weekend of the final shoot. What were you filming?

JOSH – It’s actually ironic that we ended the run of Neutral Zone Studios in Kingsland, GA by working on a fan film that was not set in the 23rd century! We were shooting a film called History Never Forgets, and as you can probably infer from the working title, it has something to do with the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” A few years ago, we did a fan film called DOOMSDAY that expanded on the story told in the TOS episode “The Doomsday Machine.” Similarly, this fan film will chronicle events surrounding “Yesterday’s Enterprise” without touching anything that was specifically in that TNG episode.

JONATHAN – Intriguing!

JOSH – The difference, I think, with this film is that we’re gonna go a lot deeper into those surrounding events and those surrounding characters. In Doomsday, we didn’t really get to know the characters all that well. We saw what they went through in their encounter with the doomsday machine. But what I wanted to do with History Never Forgets is that I wanted you to get to know the crew, and I wanted you to understand these surrounding events so that the tragedy would have more impact.

JONATHAN – Okay, I need to ask the very obvious question. The Enterprise-C is an early 24th century Ambassador-class starship. You’re shooting on sets that depict a mid-23rd century starship. How is that gonna work?

JOSH – We only shot in the briefing room/mess hall and in auxiliary control—which are both multi-purpose sets—and not on the more iconic sets like the bridge or transporter room or sickbay. In that way, a table is a table, a desk is a desk, and a food replicator is just a slot in the wall. So we basically redressed those two sets to the best of our abilities to somewhat match the later time period.

JONATHAN – Can you provide some examples?

JOSH – Well, one of the things that really defined TOS was the flamboyant colors. So we repainted the food replicators, we repainted some doors, and we lit the sets differently. One interesting thing we did was we had “glowing” tables in the mess hall. Because, y’know, if you look in Ten Forward, the tables glow. So one of my first questions to the design team was, “Can we find a way to make the tables glow?” And it was actually Ray Tesi himself who figured out how to do it, and he came up with this genius idea of wrapping portions of the tables with LED tape. And it worked out great! So every character who is sitting at those tables has a Next Generation-style glow coming from the table itself.

JONATHAN – That sounds totally cool! So have you now shot all of the footage for the fan film?

JOSH – Essentially what we shot was the beginning of the film and the end of the film. So what we have left now is what’s in between—the real “meat” of the story.

JONATHAN – And where is that gonna be filmed?

JOSH – That will be filmed at FRANK PARKER, JR.’s studio in North Carolina. Frank is being very gracious about allowing us to come to his place and film. As you know, his set-up is more conducive to a “lost era” film. He’s got movie timeline displays and LCARS.

And then GLEN WOLFE of WARP 66 STUDIOS is building us a 24th century conn and ops panel to take with us from Arkansas when we shoot at Frank’s. He’s also making us some railing to better match the bridge of the Enterprise-C. And another craftsman is building us a TNG-style captain’s chair.

JONATHAN – That is so awesome! I so love it when fan filmmakers come together to collaborate!

JOSH – It doesn’t stop there. We needed a 24th century style tabletop viewer for one scene. And the person who loaned it to us was…ALEC PETERS.

JONATHAN – Oh, really?

JOSH – He let us borrow a screen-used Deep Space Nine prop.

JONATHAN – That is REALLY cool!

JOSH – He also loaned use the huge Klingon captain’s chair from AXANAR.

JONATHAN – Seriously??? That thing is massive! How did you get it from ARES STUDIOS in Lawrenceville down to Kingsland?

JOSH – We have PAUL OSBORNE to thank for that. He rented a trailer, drove over to Ares Studios, loaded the thing, and drove it four hours down to us. And then he even helped us lift and carry this very, very heavy chair inside. The man was a godsend.

JONATHAN – So how many people were at that final shoot?

JOSH – Probably about 25.

JONATHAN – How many of them were in front of the camera versus behind the camera?

JOSH – Myself and RUTH McCARTNEY were the only two people who were truly behind-the-scenes. Everyone else was either in front of the camera or doing work on both sides during the shoot. I’d asked Ruth, who is a long-time Neutral Zone volunteer, to be my “number one” for the project, be my co-producer and help me, and she has been invaluable. She helped coordinate everyone’s schedules, she helped coordinate logistics, she helped with hotel rooms. She got everybody and everything we needed to the studio. She is absolutely amazing and fantastic. I worked with her previously on her own fan film, which is called SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT, which is a very, very special film that is going to talk about fandom and autism.

JONATHAN – That’s a very unique concept for a Star Trek fan film!

JOSH – Totally. And as I said, it’s going to be very special when it’s completed. And the experience of working with her was so great that I could not pass up the opportunity to work with her again.

JONATHAN – Are any of these volunteers planning to continue working with Neutral Zone Studios after it moves to central Florida?

JOSH – I think that everybody who can, will. I even offered to give TERRI STANFORD a ride down to central Florida if she ever needed that, since I’ll have to pass her way anyhow when I drive down to the new location.

JONATHAN – Sheesh, I just realized this is gonna add an additional TEN HOURS to your already thirty-hour round-trip commute from Arkansas!

JOSH – Yep, but I’ve done in before. I went to college in that area of the country, so I’m not too worried about it. I enjoy driving.

JONATHAN – You’d have to! So tell me more about the folks who were both in front of and behind the camera during the shoot. What were their jobs?

JOSH – Well, for example, MICHAEL SEAN CARTER is playing Lt. Castillo, but when he wasn’t shooting scenes, he was helping out as a grip. We have a wonderful actress playing Tasha Yar named KELLY HODGES, and Kelly was also doing everybody else’s make-up and hair. And Kelly’s girlfriend, MADDIE GUY, just rolled up her sleeves and got right in the thick of being a grip and helping us move lighting and all kinds of other gear.

And then, of course, JEFF STROUSE and Terri Stanford are my go-to assistants on the tech side of things. They helped on that, as they always do, but they also got the chance to be in Riva’s chorus. And just wait until you see the hippie guy who plays Riva! A bunch of us were talking in a Facebook thread, and I was looking at photos to see who might be appropriate for certain roles. And I looked at ZAC HURST and said, “Hey, you wanna play Riva?” And he jumped at it. He loved it! And I definitely have to hand it to Terri Stanford. She did a really good job of recreating the apparel of Riva and his chorus.

JONATHAN – With so many people crying on your shoulder during the weekend, what was the general mood on the set during filming?

JOSH – We took the opportunity to have the very best time while we were doing it. And there were great moments; there was applause; everyone had a great time and soaked it in. And there’s sorta this ritual at Neutral Zone that, whenever you finish a shooting day, a lot of the crew goes over to the Best Western. And they go to the pool—there’s a little gazebo over at the pool—ad everybody sits at this gazebo and just carries on until about one in the morning. And what’s cool about that is that the pool actually closes at eight o’clock, but Best Western’s staff knows us so well that they let us go out there anyway.

The problem was that, because of the summer heat, we were shooting in the studio entirely at night. We couldn’t start shooting until 9pm when the studio cooled down enough, and we wrapped at one in the morning. So you’d think it was too late to go out to the pool. But no! Nobody was phased. The group went out to the pool and stayed out there until almost four in the morning, carrying on. We were not gonna let each other down.

Luckily for us, Friday going into Saturday, we were not gonna have to shoot again until 9pm, so we could all sleep in. Unfortunately for me, we did it again Saturday night, and I had to be on the road at 8am Sunday morning in order to be back at work on Monday. So it was a challenging drive, to say the least!

JONATHAN – And finally, Josh, looking back at your last six years of shooting at Neutral Zone Studios, what thoughts are going to stick with you the most?

JOSH – Well, Jonathan, Neutral Zone Studios is known far and wide for some very specific things: STARSHIP FARRAGUT, STAR TREK CONTINUES, VIC MIGNOGNA, RAY TESI. But for me, the experience of Neutral Zone Studios was about the adventure of creating Star Trek fan films. And it was also about all of these wonderful, kind, grass-roots Star Trek fans that I met there and will be friends with for the rest of my life: DAN SCANLAN, ALLEN ANDERSON, Terri Stanford, Jeff Strouse, BRIAN W. PETERSON, RAY TESI…these are all good and wonderful people that, every time I went down there and worked with them, we had such an amazing time creating a tribute to this sci-fi series that we have all loved since we were children.

And I think about the fact that so many Star Trek fans in this world can’t say that they made their own Star Trek movies on an accurate replica of those classic and beloved sets. We dit it, again and again. And I don’t say that to brag but instead to simply say how grateful I feel for the opportunity I’ve had. It’s been an absolute dream that nobody wants to wake up from for all of the years that I’ve done it.