Jonathan Lane – Page 89 – Fan Film Factor

The former STAR TREK CONTINUES sets are now OPEN for FAN FILMING!

Back in February, the fan film community was ecstatic to hear that RAY TESI of Florida had purchased the TOS sets that had been previously used by the fan series STAR TREK CONTINUES and STARSHIP FARRAGUT.

Prior to that, fans had been very worried since these incredible sets—used for nearly two dozen fan productions—were costing VIC MIGNOGNA a reported $5,000/month in rent to house and maintain. Nobody wanted the sets tossed into a dumpster, but with a price-tag of $60K per year and no way to monetize them because there’s already a licensed Star Trek Set Tour in upstate New York, it was unrealistically expensive to keep these sets around.

Enter Ray Tesi, who had funded and produced a fan film vignette called STARSHIP REPUBLIC “Serpent of Yesterday“back in 2017. Ray bought the sets, and will be using his retirement savings to pay the rent (Ray tells the behind-the-scenes story in this audio interview). Keeping the name STAGE 9 STUDIOS (previously used by Star Trek Continues for the Kingsland, GA facility), Ray has announced his intention to open the sets up to other fan filmmakers in much the same way that STARBASE STUDIOS had been doing since 2011.

There were, however, a couple of big unknowns. The first was a reaction by JAMES CAWLEY reported on Trekzone Spotlight (at the 18:10 mark) that James was concerned that Ray’s offering the Stage 9 TOS sets for fan use would compete with James’ exclusive set tour license. The second unknown was how CBS would react. They are okay with Star Trek fan films as long as they follow the guidelines. And so far, CBS has been okay with Starbase Studios offering their TOS sets in exchange for fan productions paying only for the electricity they use while shooting there. But would CBS continue to look the other way for a second studio full of TOS sets? Ray didn’t want to take a chance, so he contacted CBS directly.

This weekend, Ray has taken a few of the set pieces to MegaCon in Orlando, FL to display publicly and announce that Stage 9 Studios is now open to fan projects. So what did CBS say? And what are the logistics for fan films to use these sets going forward?

Time for another Fan Film Factor interview with Ray…!

Continue reading “The former STAR TREK CONTINUES sets are now OPEN for FAN FILMING!”

Filming RESUMES at STARBASE STUDIOS (audio interview with KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS)

It was quiet…too quiet. At least, that’s the way it’s seemed lately when it came to STARBASE STUDIOS in Arkansas…an amazing fan film resource of TOS sets including the Trek community’s only 360-degree USS Enterprise bridge. Since 2011, Starbase Studios has been used to shoot scenes for literally dozens of various Star Trek fan projects.

Starbase Studios has had a rather turbulent nine months, beginning last August when a significant number of props and set pieces were removed from the warehouse where the sets were being stored. This was followed by a lawsuit where one of the owners, GLEN WOLFE, sued the other owners, SCOTT JOHNSON and KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS, for ownership and monetary compensation. Fan filming there all but screeched to a halt for several months while both sides tried to negotiate a compromise.

With some outside assistance, a settlement agreement was signed earlier this year, and the sets are now owned by Glen Wolfe (50%), Scott Johnson (25%), and GLENN MILLER (25%)…although many of the items removed have not yet been returned. With the exception of a one-day video shoot with Parkview Elementary School students this past January (which had been reserved six months earlier), no filming has happened on the Starbase Studios sets since the new year began.

That changed this past weekend when a “who’s who” of Starbase Studios personnel got together in Marble Falls, Arkansas for a very special video shoot. Among the participants were Glen Wolfe and Scott Johnson, seeing each other in person for only the second time since the lawsuit was settled. Would they find a way to get along? Would that old feeling of camaraderie from fan filming Star Trek rekindle their friendship? Or had things been pushed too far for healing to happen?

Needless to say, I was dying to find out! And fortunately, Kent “Words” Edwards, who organized the weekend production, was nice enough to call me from the road and do a quick audio interview.

So let’s check in on Starbase Studios and see what’s up and what went down this past weekend…

THE EXPANSE might get a FOURTH season after all!

Well, it’s not “mission accomplished: just yet, but just 10 days after Syfy announced the cancellation of the critically-acclaimed and deeply-loved space sci-fi series THE EXPANSE, word has come down that Amazon is in discussions to pick up the show for a fourth season to air on Amazon Prime! It’s still too early for fans to pop the champagne corks, but we’re definitely in a much more optimistic place than we were last Friday when I posted this urgent blog.

Now, as much as I’d like to believe this move was the result of fans hiring a place to fly a banner over the Amazon Studios in Santa Monica saying #SaveTheExpanse and sending Jim Holden-inspired coffee care packages to employees at Amazon, there’s actually quite a bit more going on.

First, Syfy canceled the show because, quite frankly, they had a terrible deal. The series is very expensive to produce. Syfy didn’t own the show and only had the ability to make money from selling advertising on the airings of The Expanse on their network in the U.S. Netflix has the international rights, and Amazon has the SVOD (streaming video on demand) rights for the U.S.

And that pre-existing deal that Amazon had for the SVOD rights meant they already had some skin in the game on this series. But add to that the fact that, reportedly, Amazon CEO Bezos is a big fan of The Expanse book series. Back when the TV series was first being shopped around, Amazon lost the bid to Syfy (owned by NBCUniversal). Bezos was apparently furious and told his people he wanted them to go out and find a Game of Thrones-level show like The Expanse for Amazon Prime. And now Bezos might finally be getting exactly what he wanted…along with a last laugh at the company that outbid him for The Expanse in the first place.

In the meantime, folks, please keep watching The Expanse within three days of its first airing on Wednesday nights at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central) on Syfy. The more profitable we make this show look, the better!

YOU have FOUR CHANCES left to appear in THE ROMULAN WAR!

At the end of last month, the eagerly-anticipated new fan project THE ROMULAN WAR extended its Indiegogo campaign for an additional 30 days. The move seems to be working out quite well, as an additional $2,200 in donations have come in since then…leaving the production just $1,810 short of its $10,000 goal (as I type this) with two full weeks left to attract donations from fans.

By far the most exciting of the perks being offered was an opportunity for donors to actually APPEAR in this fan film! For a $100 donation, you have the option to record your voice, reading a line or two from the script, and having that recording be included in the finished film. That’s the perk level I donated for, by the way, and there’s still 38 of those voice-over options still available.

The other opportunity offered a few lucky fans (who wanted to donate $250) the choice APPEAR in the film if they so desired. Donors at this level would be asked to film themselves at home using a camera or smart phone according to instructions, possibly say a few lines, and upload the footage, which would then be edited into the film.

Initially, there were only five of these “Commodore Access” on-camera perks available…and they disappeared very quickly. By the time the Indiegogo was extended, they were long gone.

But last week, show-runner MARK NACCARATO added five more “Commodore Access” on-camera perks to the list. Already, one has been snatched up, leaving four. So HURRY if you want to be in an actual fan film!

Assuming each of these perks is snatched up, that’ll leave the campaign within spitting distance (just $810 away) from their $10,000 goal, which should be quite doable in 14 days.

To learn more or donate (and get this great perk!), click here.

And now, please enjoy the latest video offering from THE ROMULAN WAR featuring some behind-the-scenes photos from last summer’s shoot in Nashville, Tennessee…

Save THE EXPANSE by NOT binge-watching it! (URGENT!)

I admit it: I got THE EXPANSE canceled by Syfy.

I didn’t mean to. It’s just that I’ve fallen so far behind in my TV watching that I’m still on stuff that first aired back in April! I’ve been collecting the season 3 episodes The Expanse on my DVR to binge-watch over the summer at some point when I have more time…something I did for the previous two seasons, as well. I mean, if I’m going to invest in what I think is the best DVR on the market, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to use it for its purpose.

And that’s why the series just got canceled!

The Expanse, based one the Hugo Award-winning book series by the same name, debuts new episodes each Wednesday night at 9pm (8pm Central) on the Syfy Network. While the series is more complex than most other sci-fi series out there—it’s been called “Game of Thrones in space” (which is pretty spot on)—it’s amazingly well-produced with great acting and awesome visual FX that show outer space and zero-G physics incredibly accurately.

It’s rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and those fans who, like me, have stuck with the show consider it to be one of the finest television space sci-fi series on the air.

That’s why we were dumbfounded last week when Syfy announced that this critically-acclaimed, fan-favorite series would be canceled after its third season. Supporters immediately mobilized, starting an online petition (which already has over 110,000 signatures), creating a website and #SaveTheExpanse, and posting this very well-edited video reminding fans why The Expanse is so good and worth saving…

By this past Tuesday, thousands of fans had raised enough money on GoFundMe to hire a plane to fly a banner over the Santa Monica, CA offices of Amazon Studios trying to convince Jeff Bezos to pick up the series on Amazon Prime…

There’s also been a concerted letter-writing campaign to Netflix executives trying to convince them to pick up the beloved space science fiction series.

With time running out and the Toronto-based Expanse sets already being taken down (some possibly being purchased by Star Trek: Discovery), fans have been working overtime in a valiant attempt at a last-minute rescue of the series.

And then this video got posted…

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The ENTERPRISE, the DISCO-PRISE, and the GOLDEN RATIO! (mind-blowing editorial)

Don’t get me wrong: I actually like some aspects of the new old U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 that briefly appeared in the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. (For convenience, I’ll be calling it the “Disco-prise” since “Second-prise” is just plain silly!)

Now, the J.J. Abrams version of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the 2009 reboot Star Trek movie, that one I hated. I think it is a visual travesty, and we shall not speak of it further.

But the Disco-prise, it’s mostly okay with me. I don’t even mind those strange “tail fins” that seem to have been added to the back of the nacelles for no apparent reason (you all realize that there’s no air resistance in space, right?) I sorta like the design…but I definitely don’t love it.

On the other hand, the original U.S.S. Enterprise, designed by WALTER MATT JEFFERIES in 1965 (and altered slightly in 1966 when the Star Trek TV series was picked up for broadcast)…now THAT ship I LOVE. There is not an angle of that magnificent space vessel that I can’t look at for hours or draw from memory. In my opinion, that iconic starship is perfect, a profoundly elegant work of art! (I feel the same way about the refit U.S.S. Enterprise first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979.)

So why don’t I love the new Disco-prise? It’s not a bad design, but for some reason I couldn’t put my finger on, it just didn’t seem like the work of art that the original was. And about three weeks ago, I finally discovered the reason…

Continue reading “The ENTERPRISE, the DISCO-PRISE, and the GOLDEN RATIO! (mind-blowing editorial)”

STARSHIP DEIMOS releases TWO fan films in FIVE days!

POTEMKIN PICTURES now produces five active fan series (even though they don’t call them “fan series,” since the guidelines don’t allow those) plus another two with episodes in post-production, plus the 36 episodes of the completed Project: Potemkin fan series.

You might remember back in early March when Starship Tristan released two new episodes (their 11th and 12th productions) within a week of each other. Now its time for Tristan‘s sister series, STARSHIP DEIMOS, to have two releases, this time just five days apart! In this case, it’s Deimos’ 6th and 7th episodes.

Prior to these two, the last fan film to come from the Deimos Production Crew debuted nearly a year ago. The reason for the delay, followed by the quick double release, was that show-runner and main editor RANDY LANDERS (who also directed both of these latest releases) had quadruple bypass surgery last August, and much of the work had to be pushed back.

These latest two episodes could not have been more different from each other. The first, “Prodigal Daughter,” takes place mainly on a Klingon battlecruiser and features “action” fight scenes (hey, those aren’t as easy as they look!), and it focuses on a single member of the Deimos crew. At the end of the episode, we are told there is also a new captain on board, even though we don’t meet him yet. The previous captain, Jeremy Quinn, was played by actor TERRY SELF. The new captain, Mark Stone, is played by TONY ANDERSON, taking his place as one of the few black actors to command a starship in Star Trek fan films.

The second episode, “Shattered Sky” (which actually shows the new captain), had scenes filmed on location at a historic landmark in Birmingham, AL, other scenes filmed on their bridge and lounge sets, and still others in front of green screen with composited backgrounds. Nearly all regular members of the crew were featured throughout. So it was a pretty ambitious production, all things considered.

Also, Potemkin Pictures has begin to use ADR (voice dubbing) to record dialog separately into a microphone after a scene is filmed. The process results in clearer sound quality, but sometimes the words don’t synch perfectly to the lip movements. Oh, well…it’s a fan film, the The Avengers.

You can view all of the Potemkin Pictures releases on their website.

And here are the latest two adventures of the crew of the USS Deimos…

STAR TREK STUNT DOUBLES – the power of ONE! (audio interview with MrBonk85)

How many people does it take to make a Star Trek fan film? Five? Ten? Fifty? A few have listed over a hundred cast and crew members in their credits.

But what if there’s just ONE guy? One guy doing all the camera work, costuming, make-up, writing, direction, lighting, sound, editing, compositing, visual FX…and even playing all of the roles?

Meet MrBonk85 (that’s his YouTube handle) and his STAR TREK STUNT DOUBLES fan series. I first discovered this fellow a few months ago when he released his version of the TOS episode “Spectre of the Gun” (see below). It compressed the classic episode down to just 5 minutes, a mix of recreations of scenes using original dialog with unexpected flourishes of humor. And this one fan was was playing all of the roles himself! It was very surreal.

This initial fan film effort was followed a couple of months later by a similar take on “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and about a week after that by “This Side of Paradise.” Again, one guy appeared as every character—even female characters—green screen composited against TOS backgrounds with TOS music.

Needless to say, I just had to know more. So I reached out to this gentleman and asked if he’d care to do an interview. I learned from his response that Mr. Bonk’s real name is Paul (there are no credits in any of the episodes), and he was happy to chat with me.

Our conversation took place a few weeks ago. At the time, there were only these three episodes, and—as you’ll learn in the interview—Paul/MrBonk85 wasn’t planning on doing more any time soon. Well, guess what? He just added a fourth Stunt Doubles episode, a quick 2-minute version of “Charlie X.”

All four of these vignette mini-episodes appear below. But first, for your listening pleasure, please enjoy this interview with the one-of-a-kind (well, often MORE than one-of-a-kind) MrBonk85…

And now, here are the four Star Trek: Stunt Doubles episodes that have been released so far…

UPDATE: Over the next five months, six additional vignettes were released. You can watch them here.

Plus, MrBonk85 has created a special Youtube playlist to hold all of the Stunt Doubles episodes, including ones that might be produced after this update.

THE ROMULAN WAR releases NEW VIDEO showing CGI model tests!

As you’ve probably noticed over the past five weeks, I’ve been very prolific in my support of THE ROMULAN WAR and its current Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. A week ago, show-runner MARK NACCARATO announced that he was extending out the campaign for an additional 30 days because they had not yet reached their $10,000 goal. (Yes, Indiegogo lets you do that now. Really!)

The extension has proven to be a real blessing, as the total raised has increased by nearly $2,000 in just six days to (as I write this) $7,785 from 66 backers…just 22% away from being fully funded.

To increase excitement and antici…

…pation for the fan production—and of course, to encourage more donations—I suggested to Mark that he “liberate” some of the special features that had, up until now, been hidden in a donor-only section. I joked to him, “That’s like showing a commercial for your restaurant only to people who are already seated at your tables eating their dinner!”

Mark agreed, and the first special feature was posted to the public earlier this week. It shows some CGI model tests for a few of the NX-era starships, Roumlan ships, Federation vessels, and space stations that will be appearing in this fan film. It also shows the mysterious Stormbird-class flying by…looking very much like a Klingon D-7. How did the Romulans and Klingons come to use such similar designs a century before Romulans started using Klingon designs? Mark actually answered that question in this awesome chat/interview we had a few weeks ago. Take a listen if you haven’t already.

Mark has also been on not one but TWO podcasts in the last two weeks:

CONTINUING MISSION: http://trek.fm/continuing-mission/46

THE FINAL FRONTIER: http://www.podcasts.com/the-final-frontier-b29b64d07/episode/The-Final-Frontier-Podcast-18-Interview-with-Mark-Naccarato-0e1a

Meanwhile, the video of the fly-bys looks AMAZING (see below). And what blows my mind most of all is that these aren’t even close to final sequences…they’re just test renderings! The finished VFX are, I’m told, going to look even better…incredibly better, in fact.

I don’t know—these look pretty awesome…

Click here to learn more and (if you can) to donate.

(And if you can’t donate, then please share the link with your friends.)

Get on board the SKY FIGHTER Indiegogo! (interview with LUKAS KENDALL)

I get a lot of requests to cover crowd-funding campaigns for fan films here on this blog. Many of those requests I politely decline because the projects have no connection to Star Trek, which is where I focus most of my attention.

So why did I decide to feature a non-Star Trek fan project like SKY FIGHTER? Well, there actually is a connection to both Star Trek and Trek fan films. First, show-runner LUKAS KENDALL produced many of the Star Trek music compilations on CD over the years. And second, Lukas is a close friend of ROBERT MEYER BURNETT and tapped him to edit the final Sky Fighter short film. Rob, as many of you know, was the editor of the highly popular Prelude to Axanar fan film and was, until recently, slated to direct the remaining two episodes of the Axanar trilogy.

But that wasn’t the only thing that intrigued me enough to want to bring this new Indiegogo campaign to your attention.

The first thing I noticed about the campaign was the tongue-in-cheek humor. While some projects take a somewhat light tone here and there, this one is going all-in with comedy. Lukas even calls himself “a highly qualified un-qualified person” and makes sure to mention that “I am not stupid!” He even included an illustration to hammer home that point…

Also really funny were some of the perks. Most of them are serious items of some value, but a few were eye-popping in their obvious outrageousness…

But it wasn’t just the humor that got my attention. Lukas also made the unusual decision to post his entire script for the short film for all to read (rather than keeping it secret, as most productions to). And it’s definitely worth reading, folks—I was very impressed.

Also, the short film is a “proof-of-concept” that will apparently lead to a full-length feature…and there is already an offer on the table!

And last but not least, this $25,000 Indiegogo is an all-or-nothing Fixed Goal campaign…meaning it either makes the goal or the production gets nothing (which is usually the caae for Kickstarter).

Fortunately, Lukas has managed to generate almost $9,000 (as I type this) from nearly 100 backers with 23 days still to go. Needless to say, I asked him about that early success straight away when we chatted…

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