Back in March, the new fan production STARSHIP REPUBLIC tried to raise $16,000 in an Indiegogo campaign. They came up pretty short (like only 15% of the way there).
Crowd-funding campaigns can be a funny thing. Sometimes they catch fire, like the recent Deep Space Nine “What We Left Behind” documentary campaign that has taken in nearly $650K (with an initial goal of “only” $150K). On the other hand, the currently-active Industry Studios campaign, which set a goal of $60K, has barely managed to crack $20K. (Of course, Starship Republic would have loved to have reached $20K…so it’s all relative.)
The late, great, legendary Yogi Berra once famously said (when fan attendance at Yankee Stadium had dwindled): “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.” Such can often be the case with fan films. They try, they fail, they give up. It’s not a happy result, but sometimes the dog just doesn’t hunt.
But there’s no rule against hitting the crowd-funding “reset” button, and Starship Republic show-runner RAY TESI is doing just that! Ray asked me to share the following message with all of you…
First and foremost, all of us here at Starship Republic wish to thank you all for your support! The fact that you thought enough about the material we displayed goes a long way towards offering the Star Trek community something worthwhile. Unfortunately, we did not collect enough funds to begin filming as we had originally scheduled. As a result, we are planning to launch a second crowd funding campaign. In order to do this, our production staff will be creating a series of new teasers using both live action and CGI effects. This will allow us to relaunch a campaign at a fraction of the cost.
We here at Republic think there are a lot of factors in play here. In this post-Axanar and CBS guidelines era, we’re hoping that people have not been put off on contributing to fan film productions. As an example, Alec Peters of Axanar has a new Indiegogo campaign for his studio, “Industry Studios – The First Fan-Funded Movie Studio.” Even with his huge fan base that enabled him to raise $1MM for Axanar, he has only raised $20K of the $60K he’s looking for. The DS9 documentary “What We Left Behind” is a whole different animal and a good example of a professional production that can exist outside the guidelines. As a documentary, they were able to use DS9 actors, Adam Nimoy, and a professional staff, as they were NOT a fan film. Nor did they need to follow any of the perk guidelines either.
Regardless, whatever the reason, with over 8,600 views of the Indiegogo page and over 10,000 views of our vignette, ultimately we did not give the fans what they wanted.
This relaunch will see a number of changes to Republic that we believe will make it a lot cooler and more exciting—and combine elements form different Trek timelines that have not been seen before. And while our vignette was designed to “hide” many elements of the story from the fans, our new teasers will give a glimpse into each of these storylines!
Our vignette and all of our videos can be seen here in our Star Trek Channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2HtMR04wHsxark5YcmJzKA
You may have seen our cross-over teaser bridging TOS and Star Trek: Enterprise (Starship Republic – Teaser #2 – OFFICIAL 2017). The sphere that the Republic finds on the planet (while not exposed in the vignette) is a downed Xindi weapon. We will explore the backstory of the weapon and the fate of the ship NX-07 in our story.
But we don’t stop there! Republic begins further in the future with Captain St. James in command of an Excelsior-class starship. He and his crew encounter the Constitution-class U.S.S Republic seemingly abandoned. A temporal agent provides St. James with a glimpse into the future and warns of possible repercussions that his actions in the present might create.
The revised Republic story will be visually inspiring as well. We’re incorporating sets and uniforms from Star Trek: Enterprise, TOS, The Wrath of Khan, and TNG. We are excited about these changes—and hope you will be too!
We’re hoping that you will join us during this second campaign. We have some very exciting plans in store for Republic, and you can be among be the first to know!
To get the latest updates on Republic 2.0 and find out when we launch, please join us on here on Indiegogo:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/starship-republic-2-0-a-star-trek-fan-film/coming_soon
Again, thanks for your support on this first campaign, and we hope you’ll like our new teasers!
All the best!
Ray Tesi
Executive Producer
Starship Republic
ray (at) starshiprepublic (dot) com
Imagine all the good this money would do for people that needed help…sick kids, etc. Instead hundreds of thousands are raised so adults can play dress up.
What makes you so certain that money donated to fan film campaigns was otherwise earmarked for children’s charities and not just money that would be spent on a night out or at a dealers table at a convention?
Ok…
Money that might have otherwise have been earmarked for a night out or at a dealers table, money laying around the house; instead donated to help charity.
Imagine if Trek fans did that…instead of paying for adults to play pretend.
What is more in the spirit of Trek? Millions given to a subpar fan film…or millions donated from legions of Trek fans to help make the world a better place?
Seems that if fan films is your answer you’re missing the point of what it means to live in the spirit of Trek.
Nah, I think there needs to be a little perspective provided here. I’m doing our taxes right now, and my wife and I have donated a few thousand dollars to charity this past year. I’ve personally donated a few hundred to fan films. I think that’s an acceptable balance. We just got back from a week’s vacation with our 6-year-old son where most of the hotels were about $200/night give-or take. There’s $1,400 right there. Plus gas, eating out, Jayden’s first-ever boat ride (where he got to steer). A couple of sweatshirts and trinkets from Pismo Beach. Let’s say we spent two grand. Should that have all gone to charity, as well? My wife works very hard and barely gets to see our son for a few minutes each night before he goes to bed (she gets home from work at 8:15 most nights). This was a full week for her and Jayden (and me) to spend together as a family.
Where do we draw the line? Sure, we could have used that $2,000 to help feed starving kids in Africa. But we decided to have a family vacation and drive up the California coast instead. I’m sorry we didn’t give more to charity, but it’s not like we gave nothing. Each person needs to find their own balance. Maybe yours reaches a higher threshold than mine or Dave’s. That doesn’t give you a right to criticize others for their choices any more than I should criticize you for yours, Brady. That’s also part of the spirit of Trek: IDIC and tolerance.
And who’s to say that folks who donate to fan films also don’t donate to charities or other causes?
Damn it, you’re right! Let’s just donate every penny we have in our pockets that is not needed for our bare necessities to ::insert whatever cause will make you feel guilty::! Let’s never again spend a single dime on watching a movie, or seeing a play, or going to a concert, because you are PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY SUFFERING PERSON IN EXISTENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad part is that many people who say we should support (insert cause here) also say we should do more to support the arts. Isn’t that kind of what we’re doing here?
Good point.
Big difference between grown men playing Star Trek dress up and the Arts.
Says who…besides you, that is? My son likes to play dress up, too, and pretend to play all sorts of roles. And sometimes I video tape him. Should I discourage him from doing that because he’s not a classically-trained thespian? Who are you to decide what qualifies as “the Arts,” Brady?
Frankly, I think you’re just trolling, to be honest, but there’s a chance you really do believe what you’re saying. Just in case it’s the latter, I’m still playing along. But you’re obviously in the slim minority, dudem and this conversation is getting kinda redundant and pointless. Just sayin’…
I guess maybe you’re just a bit too grown up for some of us, then, Brady. Some Trek fans have never lost their dream of being on the Enterprise or some other Federation starship, or their desire to have the experience of playing a character in a film, or even another life form.
If you obviously aren’t a fan of fan films, why are you even here at Fan Film Factor? Aren’t you taking time away from GQ or Barron’s or something else a real grown up might read instead?
“If you obviously aren’t a fan of fan films, why are you even here at Fan Film Factor?”
THAT!!!!…was the equation!
Also,Jonathan, if anyone should set that type of example. In fact lead by that example, it should be #45. Needless to say, he is NOT.