A slight change of plans for my fan film INTERLUDE, which will be set in the Axanar Universe and will be crowd-funding soon!
The majority of the fan film will be shot on the amazing bridge set of the USS ARES in Lawrenceville, GA. Initially, the plan was to film there for two days in late September and then drive down to Kingsland, GA for a third day of filming on the TOS sets at Neutral Zone Studios. There are two scenes that take place in my fan film—one in sickbay and the other in engineering—that are brief but still very important to the story.
The new plan, instead of filming in Kingsland, has the sickbay scene being shot in Arkansas at WARP 66 Studios, which is run by GLEN WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS. Those TOS sets have been used for episodes of THE FEDERATION FILES as well as recent Avalon Universe productions from my Interlude directors JOSHUA IRWIN and VICTORIA FOX. In fact, Josh and Victoria live relatively close to Glen and Dan, so the change of location actually makes things quite a bit more convenient for them.
It also trims about $1,000 or so from our budget…YAY! Without the need to drive 5 hours across Georgia, I won’t have to rent a car in Atlanta for the weekend. Plus, we won’t need three or four hotel rooms in Kingsland for the night.
Glen is already coming up with ideas for altering his TOS sickbay set into looking more like the earlier sickbay from the second Star Trek pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” If so, that’d be totally AWESOME(!!!), since Interlude takes place during the Four Years War, two decades before Kirk’s 5-year mission. So Glen has my undying appreciation (that’s a subtle Kharn reference for all those Axanerds out there)!
As for the engineering scene, WARP 66 doesn’t have that set as yet. However, the engineering scene in Interlude is so brief (like, maybe, 10 seconds) that we can easily “fake” it with a green screen composite. And there’s a bunch of engineering backgrounds available out there for our VFX guy to use.
In the meantime, I’ve been working hard on a really fun “ask” video for the crowd-funding campaign, which will launch in just a couple of weeks! The opening VFX sequence is being scored right now, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you. My team is excited, I’m REALLY excited, and I hope that soon you’ll be just as excited, too!
I am excited about another fan film but why this story that doesn’t fit with canon? (We now know there was no Four Years War during the time Axanar was supposed to be set and honestly don’t even know if Axanar had anything to do with a war.)
As far as I’m concerned, there are many Star Trek universes. Obviously, we have the “prime” timeline (which supposedly includes TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, and DSC). We have the Kelvin timeline, which branched off when Spock and Nero went back in time. We have the mirror universe. We have all of those alternate realities from TNG’s “Parallels.” And we have a bunch of novels and fan films that don’t fit into “continuity” (if such a thing even exists anymore!). So why not an “Axanar Universe” where it’s in line with TOS, inclusive of the Kelvin style of technology, but without all of the Discovery contradictions in tech and uniforms and Klingon appearance, etc?
In my mind, the Four Years War happened and Garth strategized a victory that happened at Axanar…as opposed to Starfleet and Section 31 burying a bomb on Qo’Nos and essentially holding the Klingons hostage to peace. But, hey, that’s just my head canon. Yours might be different. 🙂
Glen is a great guy who really wants to help others. I’m glad you’re going to be working with him, Josh and Victoria on your film!
Glen is awesome, and I can’t thank him enough for stepping up!
Wow already trimming the budget and saving money. What will the detractors ever have to say?
They’re just waiting for me to order sushi. 🙂
I love the win (costs less)/win (convenience etc) here.
I am disappointed about not being able to see the Kingsland sets, though. It’s tough for me to get across country (money and time), especially being a stay-at-home dad. Someday, I’d like to take Jayden there, but there’s travel costs and missed school days to consider. Filming there would have given me the perfect excuse to visit Kingsland AND to have had full access to every set without the crowds. But oh well…life goes on.
I think it’s sad. I feel your pain and Neutral Zone could have done with the money I’m sure. Whoever instigated this should feel ashamed, it goes against the spirit of the TV programme (I know you need to be diplomatic but I choose to exercise my freedom of speech). Looks like you’ve already overcome this hurdle thanks to some good people and you’ve turned it into a positive. I’m rooting for you and your team more than ever. God speed!
Thanks, Alastair.
That’s great!
It’s been a while since I visited here last. I’m really happy to see you making your own fan film Jon, and in the Axanar universe (canon as far as I’m concerned) at that. Will happily donate towards the project. One question though. I thought crowd funding was effectively banned by the fan film guidelines. Have I missed some news? I saw Ares studios is crowd funding, but that’s only for the studio itself to break even on running costs, and Alec is funding the two short films himself if I understand correctly.
Here’s a link to the fan film guidelines, Chris:
https://www.startrek.com/fan-films
Note the first bullet point under #6:
CBS and Paramount Pictures do not object to limited fundraising for the creation of a fan production, whether 1 or 2 segments and consistent with these guidelines, so long as the total amount does not exceed $50,000, including all platform fees, and when the $50,000 goal is reached, all fundraising must cease.
As for Alec, he is not allowed to publicly crowd-fund using Kickstarter or Indiegogo or GoFundMe, but he is allowed to raise money privately through direct donations. That’ll happen later this summer via a dedicated donation page behind a password-protected firewall for supporters to sign up and donate privately and directly.
Ah I see. I must have getting confused between the guidelines and the settlement agreement Alec reached with CBS/P.
Cheers.