Axanar – Page 3 – Fan Film Factor

PAUL JENKINS discusses directing the AXANAR sequels, working with ALEC PETERS, and MUCH MORE! (audio interview)

I love PAUL JENKINS. I just do. Over the past few months, he has become one of my favorite people on the planet…and when you listen to my interview with him, I think you’ll understand why (or at least, I hope you will).

When it comes to AXANAR, it always seems to be ALEC PETERS this and ALEC PETERS that—here an Alec, there an Alec, everywhere an Alec, Alec. But as Alec himself would be the first to tell you, Axanar is a TEAM effort, and the team is made up of some very talented and dedicated individuals…and few more so than Axanar co-writer and director, Paul Jenkins.

When Alec first announced that Paul was joining the project back in 2017, replacing ROBERT MEYER BURNETT as director as well as helping to co-write the two-part, 30-minute fan film allowed by the settlement with CBS and Paramount, a number of fans were initially scratching their heads. And I’ll admit, I was one of them.

After all, I really only knew Paul from the days when I was reading twenty comic books a month, and his name was on many of them. Paul is widely considered as the person who helped save Marvel Comics from chapter 11 bankruptcy in the late 1990s with the development of the Marvel Knights imprint. Later, he went on to write the ground-breaking Wolverine: Origin (which was later turned into a motion picture). In fact, Paul has worked for various comic book publishers—including DC, Mirage, and Tundra. He developed video games, too. So yeah, Paul can obviously write.

But could he direct?

It turns out, the answer is yes. In fact, Paul co-founded META Studios in Atlanta, has been directing for about 20 years, and was even asked in 2015 by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to assemble and chair an advisory committee to educate the Georgia General Assembly on the evolution of digital and interactive technologies. So yep, Paul’s a pretty big deal…but you’d never know it by speaking with him. The man is as humble and soft-spoken as they come.

I learned this firsthand during the shoot for my Axanar Universe fan film INTERLUDE. Paul popped by Ares Studios on that Sunday to say hi and see how things were going. He stayed off to the side, just happily watching, and even volunteered to stand behind the turbolift and flick the console lights on and off during a torpedo “hit.” The guy who saved Marvel Comics was flicking lights on my fan film??? You bet!

Later, during a break, Paul chatted with me for a good 45 minutes, sharing some stories, some insights, and just shooting the breeze. He even hung out with Interlude directors VICTORIA FOX and JOSHUA IRWIN during some quiet moments when they weren’t both doing a thousand things. He was a true gentleman and a lot of fun to talk to.

So when I had the opportunity to chat with him some more and record the call, I jumped at the chance! Take a listen…

New PANELS and new CHANNELS for AXANAR!

The final two AXACON 2019 panels are now available on the AXANAR YouTube channel. One of the panels—“The Crew of the USS Ares” (the third of the four from December’s event)—actually went live last week along with the Producers panel, and I completely missed announcing it. D’oh!

The other is the fourth and final panel which features an interview with SALLY IHNAT (the widow of the late actor STEVE IHNAT who played Garth of Izar in “Whom Gods Destroy”) and LINDA ALEXANDER (who wrote a wonderful biography of Steve).

It’s hard to know which is the better panel. They’re both really worth watching. The “Crew” panel features five of the actors who play key roles in the Axanar sequels, all being interviewed by ALEC PETERS. We’ve heard from the “big” names many times, but now we get to heard from actors who haven’t been regulars or semi-regulars on major television series. And their perspective on discovering Axanar and its fans, putting on uniforms, and performing on the USS Ares bridge set are really interesting to listen to. They’re now part of the Axanar family, and soon our community will know their names (characters and actors)…

As for the second video, Steve Ihnat was an incredible actor. And if you’d like to learn more about his tragically too-short life, this is a very special panel to watch…

But wait, there’s even more Axa-news!

Up until this week, Axanar had one YouTube channel. Now it has two. The main Axanar Channel has more than 87K subscribers and features a mix of various Axanar-related content including clips, interviews, VFX, livestreams and the weekly Axanar Confidential and Axanar After Dark podcasts. But that was a LOT of content…and not all Axa-fans wanted to watch the hour-long podcasts to get all the Axanar news (and dog rescue updates) and just wanted their content more directly and succinctly. Other fans and supporters, however, love those longer chats and think of them like weekly gatherings of the whole extended family.

So Axanar just launched a second YouTube channel called Axanar Live! It’s brand new and only has about 200 subscribers as I write this, but it will soon be the home of Axanar Confidential, Axanar After Dark, and all the live-stream videos they create from places like the shoots at Ares Studios. Already, the first 11 episodes of Axanar After Dark have been transferred over.

This will leave the Axanar Channel for all the official Axanar updates and any created and edited video content. With an increasing amount of new footage scheduled to come out over the next few months, each channel should have a steady stream of fresh content.

And remember that the Axanar private crowd-funder is currently featuring a special dollar-for-dollar match of all donations. So donate $10 and it’s worth $20. Donate $50 and it’s worth $100.

If you haven’t donated yet (or recently), please consider logging in or setting up an account on Ares Digital and giving a little something…

https://aresdigital.axanar.com/

AXANAR donor offers DOLLAR-for-DOLLAR match of any donation to help reach the Phase One goal!

I know that ALEC PETERS cannot post anything publicly about AXANAR crowd-funding, but I can!

So here’s the BIG NEWS for today…

Axanar is now just $4,133 away from reaching its first crowd-funding goal (which was just lowered from $60K to $50K because $10K was actually bridge set construction, and that’s an Ares Studios asset and therefore can be crowd-funded separately and publicly).

BUT!!!

A top donor has promised a dollar-for-dollar match of any Axanar donations for a limited time. That means that Axanar is actually just $2,067 away from reaching the Phase One goal to cover the cost of the first two shoots.

So if you haven’t donated yet (or recently), NOW is the time to go to Ares Digital because every dollar you give is worth TWO dollars for a short time! Click on the link below to register/log-in to donate…

https://aresdigital.axanar.com/

The first panel from AXACON 2019 is now available for viewing!

Say what you will about AXANAR. But the one inescapable fact is that, perhaps more than any other Star Trek fan film (maybe any fan film period), Axanar is teaching fans a LOT about the process filmmaking. Sure, some cynics will say, “Yeah, it taught us all not to piss off the copyright owners!” But it’s also provided fans, fan filmmakers, and those wishing to become fan filmmakers an unparalleled up-front view into the entire production process.

Granted, most fan projects aren’t nearly as elaborate or ambitious as Axanar. The majority of fan producers just make their film and put the finished product up on YouTube. A few take behind-the-scenes photos or videos while they build sets or do make-up or have their shoots, but Axanar takes all that to an entirely other level.

Through countless Axanar Podcasts and updates on Axanar Confidential, we’ve watched this production walk through the fire of the lawsuit, emerge on the other side, pick itself up, dust itself off, and get back up to speed again with a move across country, a completed bridge set, and two shoots so far (soon to be three!). Along the way, there’s been a parade of features on countless aspects of filmmaking—from VFX to set-building, make-up, costume design, budgeting, writing, pre-production, production, and post-production…and just about everything in between.

But the one thing Axanar hasn’t really done a deep-dive into yet is directing. There was some commentary from PRELUDE TO AXANAR director CHRISTIAN GOSSETT on one of the behind-the-scenes features on the Prelude Blu-ray, but not much in-depth coverage of the full process. And ROBERT MEYER BURNETT left the project before getting the chance to sink his teeth into directing actual production.

However, now that Axanar has started shooting, director and co-writer PAUL JENKINS had some very, very interesting insights to share during AXACON 2019. Unlike the first Axacon in 2018, the second Axacon didn’t take place in a hotel with convention rooms and dealers tables and membership badges. This time, “attendance” was FREE to anyone on YouTube and included four panels broadcast live from the bridge set at Ares Studios in Lawrenceville, GA.

AXANAR debuts its first TEASER-TRAILER!

It’s been less than two weeks since the first shoot for AXANAR wrapped, and ALEC PETERS just released the first teaser-trailer for what will be called THE GATHERING STORM. PRELUDE TO AXANAR was episode III of “The “Four Year War” multi-part documentary series from the 23rd century. The first two episodes will need to remain left up to fans’ imagination. But the two Axanar sequels will be episodes IV and V, completing the series. It has not yet been revealed what the title of the final episode will be.

The 1-minute YouTube video quickly went viral, with thousands of views in the first hour alone. You can check it out below…

Prior to the release of the above video, nearly 1,400 Axanar supporters gathered for a live premiere party at 9:00pm Eastern time. Then they waited about 5 minutes while Alec dealt with a technical glitch. But once the clip debuted, the reactions were very positive…judging by the 841 likes and only a handful of dislikes (less than 10 while it was still live). The only complaint was that fan wanted more-more-MORE!

Indeed, the actual amount of Axanar footage was only 25 seconds, but it was enough to give a tantalizing first taste of the quality of the video production, lighting, camera tracking, make-up, costumes, VFX, and look and feel of the sets and actors. Alec assured everyone that more and longer trailers would be coming soon.

Believe it or not, this was actually a lot of footage considering that editor BING BAILEY has a day job that exploded with a crisis this past week and took up most of his time. Remember, folks, that the Axanar team is made up of volunteers with real-life commitments along with their love of Star Trek and fan films (one fan film in particular!).

A question that came up was whether the superchat donations that came in during the livestream could be considered public crowd-funding (a no-no under the legal settlement with CBS and Paramount). Alec assured all viewers that any money collected through YouTube would be applied to Ares Studios (a separate legal entity) and NOT to Axanar Productions in any way.

Speaking of crowd-funding, Alec and his girlfriend CRYSSTAL HUBBARD were very careful during the 75-minute discussion following the premiere NOT to discuss Axanar crowd-funding in any way. The closest they got was suggesting that people sign up for the Axanar newsletter or go to Ares Digital…which is not the same as soliciting donations. Alec and Crysstal made certain not to say, “If you want to help crowd-fund, then go to Ares Digital where you can make a donation.”

AXANAR completes its first shoot – WHY IT MATTERS…!

It's nothing to do with what we got today.  That's great.  It's the next piece...and the piece after that...until we finish the work.  And at that point, we can be judged on our finished piece of work.  That's how it works.  So we had a great time; we did some really great stuff.  The trick is to finish it, not to start it.

- PAUL JENKINS, Axanar Director

For the past almost-four years, I’ve been asked the same question over and over again: “Why do you stick with ALEC PETERS?” The reasons they give for me turning my back on him are numerous: he’s a con-man, he’s incompetent, he’s not a nice person, no one will work with him, he’ll stab you in the back, he’ll never make AXANAR, you’re wasting your time on this loser…the list goes on and on.

Earlier this summer, someone even offered me actual money to walk away from Alec (and pretty decent money at that!) in the form of an “investment” to help take Fan Film Factor to the next level. All I had to do was stop defending Alec Peters, make Interlude without him, and stop providing coverage of Axanar on my blog. It was a serious offer from someone with the funds to make good on it, and sincerely proffered. I refused. (And no, I won’t tell you who made the offer, so don’t ask.)

When you believe in something—a person, a thing, a dream—and someone else doesn’t, it’s hard to connect with them to convey just how important it is to you…how deeply you love it and are committed to it. It happens all the time with religion and politics…and with me, it happened with Star Trek, with fan films, and most deeply with Axanar.

I fell in love with Axanar, with the pocket universe within Star Trek that it created. It didn’t matter whether or not it was “canon”; it was canon to me. And I wanted to see more. CBS and Paramount almost took that away from me and from other Axanar supporters, but we never lost hope. We believed—we KNEW—this weekend would someday arrive. And now that it did, everything has changed.

Highlight videos from DAY TWO of the first AXANAR shoot…

On Friday, I was able to post video updates and features throughout the day from the first day of shooting for the long-awaited AXANAR sequel fan films. But on Saturday, I had to drive down to (and back from) San Diego to appear on a fan film panel at a Dr. Who convention there.

I wish I could have been down in Lawrenceville, GA for this amazing event. But alas, I can only afford one trip across country, and that’ll be in less than four weeks to shoot my fan film INTERLUDE! However, when Alec brings the Axanar shoot back to Los Angeles to film GARY GRAHAM’s scenes as Soval, along with other aliens like Threl and Mor’o, you’d better believe I will be there…camera in hand!

Now, when I say “event,” I really have no better word to describe what is happening this weekend at Ares Studios. There’s 80 people working on set each day! And yes, they are all doing something important—from director PAUL JENKINS to MARK EDWARD LEWIS doing sound and editing, to all of the actors, to the lighting guys, the assistant director, DP, construction people, the script coordinator, set security, to the guys recording interviews for the Blu-ray/DVD extras, to the caterers serving chicken cordon bleu, fresh trout, stuffed ravioli, and vegetables.

Truth to tell, I’m both a little jealous and kinda nervous that we’re looking at less than HALF that number of people on set when we shoot Interlude! But then again, we’re only making one 10-12 minute fan fan while ALEC PETERS is creating two full 15 minute films plus Blu-ray extras. Also, I’ve crowd-funded only $20K. He’s trying to crowd-fund (privately through e-mails) $50-70K…just for this one shoot! To each his own.

Anyway, the most amazing thing about this shoot is how much of it has been livestreamed and/or quickly posted to the Internet in real-time. Never before have fans been able to get this much coverage of a fan film shoot as it is happening!

I’ve collected the videos from Day Two below. There’s a LOT worth watching…

AXANAR filming is now underway!

WARNING!!! If you are an AXANAR detractor, do NOT read this blog! If you have spent any or all of the past four years confidently predicting that ALEC PETERS would never get his act together enough to start making his ambitious fan film a reality, look away now. If you think that nobody will work with Alec anymore because he’s incompetent or nasty or whatever, then you really do NOT want to watch the six videos below.

If you were gullible enough to believe CARLOS PEDRAZA’s nonsense when he wrote that CBS’s lawyers “…could interfere with this weekend’s scheduled shoot for Axanar” or cheered because you naively believed that Alec Peters had received some kind of “cease and desist” letter (he didn’t), then you absolutely, positively shouldn’t expose yourself to the videos on this blog page…especially the fifth one!

Detractors, you have been warned. Look away now!

Of course, if you’re like me and have been keeping the faith, waiting patiently but eagerly for this moment since CBS and Paramount first filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Alec Peters and Axanar Productions at the very end of 2015 and then settled at the beginning of 2017, then this blog and the events of this weekend will feel like a dream come true.

And if you’re one of those people who’s been on the fence wondering why it’s taking so long to make a “simple” 30-minute Star Trek fan film when others can seemingly do it in a fraction of the time, well, the videos on this page will hopefully give you some idea of how complex and challenging this particular fan film is to produce.

For the past week, Alec has been live-casting updates from Ares Studios as the bridge set is being completed, the lights are being assembled, cameras and computer monitors adjusted, costumes fitted, and all sorts of last-minute details that show just how many moving parts are…well, moving! These live-casts have been going up primarily in the Axanar Donors Facebook group…meaning most folks out there (including the detractors!) have no clue how much has been going on and how exciting it’s all getting. You can feel the rush of energy and enthusiasm from Alec as he watches all of the hard work from his team come together.

For the next three days, the entire Axanar shoot will be live-streamed from the Axanar YouTube Channel. But if you want to see the flurry of activity leading up to the big event, I’ve collected the various video prep updates all here for you. And I even “flipped” them horizontally, since Alec’s phone always reverses everything (which drives me nuts!).

So assuming you’re not a detractor, please enjoy the following magic…

AXANAR video update posted…with ALEC PETERS and PAUL JENKINS!

I’m sure some folks are thinking, “For the love of Spock, Lane! ANOTHER update on AXANAR??? Just make the damn movie already!”

Actually, one of my readers posted a comment last week during the previous Axanar update, asking the following question: “Isn’t the finished product the important thing?” Well, yes and no…

Obviously, we all want a really awesome Axanar fan film—so the finished product is certainly an important thing. But so is the JOURNEY in getting there.

It’s been a long road, getting from there to here with Axanar. A lot of time, money (!!!), and patience has gone into this project…along with copious amounts of hard work, support, team effort, and faith in the dream against all odds. Axafans and Axanerds have been waiting years for the moment when production finally begins again…ever since the lawsuit shut everything down six weeks before cameras were set to start rolling in February of 2016.

But now all the hard work, patience, and planning is coming together. This is where the fun begins, Saavik.

So please indulge me if I get caught up in the excitement. And for anyone wondering why I don’t give this sort of coverage to other fan productions—I actually do…when they have it. I’ve covered pre-release updates on Temporal Anomaly, First Frontier, The Romulan War, The Holy Core, The Constar Chronicles, and other fan projects, each using information, interviews, photos and footage they supplied to me. It just so happens that ALEC PETERS is posting a LOT of content and updates these past few weeks… so I cover it!

(I’ll also be features Interlude updates over the coming weeks and months, as I can supply myself with lots of content, too.)

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Anyway, this week’s Axanar Production Update is a quick and energetic 10-minute video that features Alec talking with Axanar director PAUL JENKINS. Some folks wondered if Paul had walked away from the project because his name wasn’t included in the recent Axanar press coverage that made it to some news outlets in the Atlanta area. But that was only a small oversight. Paul is still very much involved, and his enthusiasm for the project and his camaraderie with Alec are very evident in the video.

See for yourself…

Even more AXANAR news!

It’s a FANtastic time to be an AXANAR supporter…with big news and updates coming fast and furiously now. It’s creating a feeling of excitement and electricity throughout the community. Meanwhile, the detractors are rapidly running out of things to complain about! (Seriously. After perk packets began arriving in mailboxes this week, the folks on the Axamonitor Facebook group were reduced to making fun of a single typo in the perk letter from ALEC PETERS and suggesting that they should all burn their perk patches. So yeah, lots to be proud of over there.)

Meanwhile, back on the side of goodness and light…

With only two weeks until filming begins on the first Axanar shoot in Lawrenceville, GA on the bridge of the USS Ares (plus recording of the audio version of the full Axanar script), all the pieces are rapidly coming together. In the last few months, a LOT has been happening behind the scenes, and now fans are beginning to see what’s been taking so long.

A fair amount of Axanar news was revealed in my audio interview with Alec Peters last week. But already there’s even MORE news to share! Most of that news came out last night during the first new Axanar Confidential podcast in three and a half weeks. I’ll include that video at the end of this article.

But for those of you who want the highlights, here’s what we now know that we didn’t before…