Just a quick update and reminder that submissions for this year’s TREKS IN 90 SECS contest are due on or before July 31, 2025 if you want your ultra-short fan film in the running. That’s just a month and a half away!
Right now, we have three submissions and a fourth on the way…which is certainly a good start. And just to encourage some more submissions, if you didn’t place in the top three Treks in 90 Secs films last year, FEEL FREE TO SUBMIT YOUR ULTRA-SHORT AGAIN.
As a reminder, here are the very simple rules:
The fan film doesn’t need to be “exactly” 90 seconds. It can be less or even a little more. But if you run over two minutes, it’s not gettin’ entered.
The fan film needs to be Star Trek related in some way.
The fan film must be a complete “story” (however you want to define that term). It can be funny, dramatic, sad, exciting, all dialogue, no dialogue, whatever you’d like. But what it can’t be is a segment from an existing fan film. It needs to be 100% new.
A maximum of three fan film submissions per entrant.
Deadline to enter is midnight Pacific Time, July 31, 2025.
To submit your entry, post it to YouTube and send me the link either via e-mail at jonathan (at) fanfilmfactor (dot) com or message me on Facebook with the link.
The three top winners get to brag, so send me those links!
Submissions for the 2025 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS are now complete. The window of eligibility to enter this year was any Trek fan film released between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024—although the majority of our submissions were released last year. This was our first time limiting submissions to only a three-year window instead of our previous 5-year window. We seldom if ever got submissions from that far in the past, so three years feels like a better number…still allowing a “second chance” and even a third one.
This year, we have 24 entries combining for a total of just under 9 hours of viewing for our 12 showrunner judges. For comparison, last year we had 27 entries with a combined runtime of just under 9 hours, so things seem to be holding fairly steady in the number of Star Trek fan films and relative length of those entered into our show.
As we’ve done for the previous two years, the winners will be announced on Star Trek‘s anniversary of September 8, 2025. There are 22 categories this year, with three winners in each category: Admiral, Captain, and Commander level. I salute all of our 24 entrants for 2025, and I wish each of them the best of luck. (Honestly, I wish they ALL could win!)
I realize that I say this every year, but once again, we have some really amazing Star Trek fan films this time—of all different runtimes—that cover the gamut from comedic to dramatic to suspenseful to thoughtful to parody/farce and even a music video! Some are episodes of ongoing fan or fanthology series, others are stand-alone releases. There are fan films shot on sets, on location, on green screens, some with heavy VFX, some light on VFX, a few with elaborate make-up and costuming, cool props, and several really standout acting performances and even original music. We truly have some of the best of the best that the world of StarTrek fan films has to offer this year!
So I strongly encourage you to watch as many of these marvelous productions as you can. Here are all of our entries for 2025 alphabetically by title (with the fan series indicated where applicable)…
Last summer, we held a fun little challenge for Star Trek fan filmmakers called TREKS IN 90 SECS. With the guidelines limiting the run-time of a Trek fan film to no more than 15 minutes (30 minutes if you make it two parts), it was suggested to me that we take that limit WAY DOWN to just a minute and a half! Could a Star Trek fan film tell a decent story in just 90 seconds???
A number of fan filmmakers eagerly and proudly picked up the gauntlet and did exactly that! They created ultra-short fan film vignettes and posted them to YouTube, and fans voted for their favorites here on Fan Film Factor. These were last year’s results.
The contest was popular enough that we’re bringing it back for a second year! Fan filmmakers have until July 31, 2025 to post an ultra-short Star Trek fan film onto YouTube and either email the link to news (at) fanfilmfactor (dot) com or, if you’ve already friended me (or want to) on Facebook, IM me the link there. (If I don’t confirm receiving the link, you ain’t entered. So please double check with me that I’ve received it.)
I will then post all entries to a fresh blog page during the first week of August and let folks vote for their favorite video. Readers will be able to vote for up to three videos. Polls will be open until August 25, and then I will announce the top three winners the following week. After that, they can brag.
These are the official rules:
The fan film doesn’t need to be “exactly” 90 seconds. It can be less or even a little more. But if you run over two minutes, it’s not gettin’ entered.
The fan film needs to be Star Trek related in some way.
The fan film must be a complete “story” (however you want to define that term). It can be funny, dramatic, sad, exciting, all dialogue, no dialogue, whatever you’d like. But what it can’t be is a segment from an existing fan film. It needs to be 100% new.
A maximum of three fan film submissions per entrant.
Deadline to enter is midnight Pacific Time, July 31, 2025.
And there ya go! Good luck, everyone. Let’s have FUN!
Crossovers are quite challenging to pull off! Indeed, in the long history of Star Trek, despite multiple opportunities when more than one series was running concurrently (e.g. DS9 and YOYAGER, DISCOVERY / PICARD / LOWER DECKS / STRANGE NEW WORLDS / PRODIGY), there was never a true crossover where a storyline that began in one series concluded in a different series.
Oh, there were certainly cameos, as when DS9‘s Dr. Bashir appeared in TNG‘s “Birthright, Part 1” or when Mariner and Boimler traveled back in time to Pike’s era in SNW‘s “Those Old Scientists.” But storylines themselves never crossed over to start with one series and end in another.
This hasn’t been the case with other network franchises like Chicago Med/Fire/PD, Law & Order, and of course, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/Universe, which all featured crossover events.
Obviously, crossovers are challenging to make. Often, different writing teams on separate series have to come together, and schedules have to be carefully adjusted to allow for certain actors and sets to be used for shows in which they don’t usually appear. Production resources often need to be shared, and script continuity coordinators have to be extra vigilant. It can can messy pretty fast if not handled right.
So what about Star Trek fan films?
Like the various studio-produced Star Trek, the vast majority of “crossovers” between different fan series have gone no farther than special guest cameo appearances of certain characters in fan series that weren’t their own. Individuals like VANCE MAJOR’s Erick Minard, GEORGE KAYAIAN’s Captain Allen, NICK COOK’s Captain Hunter, or JOSE CEPEDA’s Captain Ramsey have certainly made the rounds. But seldom if ever has a plot line that began in one fan series ended in another.
Until now, that is.
Last summer, the folks at DOMINION MEDIA released the first of a 3-part trilogy crossing over into a trio of different fan series. Admittedly, all three are made under the Dominion Media umbrella, but they are shot in two entirely different locations 900 miles apart. The first part of the trilogy debuted as part of the fan series PROJECT: RUNABOUT, filmed mainly in the basement of co-showrunner GARY DAVIS, whose home in Ohio features a full TOS-era Starfleet runabout set. “IT’S ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS” was the third installment of that fan series, which began during the COVID lockdown in 2021.
The second installment premiered on March 12 of this year as the second full-length episode of WARBIRD VALDORE. Their first full-length episode, “THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE FEDERATION” debuted during the summer of 2023 and focused entirely on missions of the commander and crew of a Romulan warship. “SMOKE AND MIRRORS” then continued the trilogy storyline begun during Project: Runabout. Take a look…
I love bloopers. And it’s not just because they’re (usually) funny. No, what a blooper reel often shows is the side of filmmaking that fans don’t often see: how much fun the people making the project actually have on set!
In the case of FARRAGUT FILMS and their recent FARRAGUT FORWARD hit fan film (currently topping 150K views on YouTube), their just-released blooper reels shows what a wonderful group of people they are, including director JOHNNY K. who assembled and posted the reel a couple of weeks ago…
The blooper reel release comes during a two-month Iniegogo campaign attempting to raise the remaining $15K needed to finance their next project, FARRAGUT 2024. The previous campaign feel short of its goal, in part because of the Christmas season (launching crowd-funders during the last two months of the calendar year often runs into holiday headwinds as people put their money into gifts and travel). But this current campaign is nearly a quarter of the way to its goal with just under three weeks left.
Back during the TOS movie-era (which is when the new Farragut releases take place), there was a generally-accepted paradigm that the even-numbered Star Trek feature films were the best ones. As such, Farragut Forward felt much like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, offering a villain from Captain Jack Carter’s past obsessed with having his revenge. In a similar vein, their next project, FARRAGUT 2024, features a time-travel story back to modern-day Earth with a noticeable comedic undertone—although this time it’s the 21st century and the city is Washington, DC (where John Broughton lives) and not San Francisco of the 20th century.
Their crowd-funding video features a good amount of completed footage to give fans a flavor of the feel and production quality of this project, and it is definitely worth taking a look at…
And of course, donations are always welcome at this URL:
I had a chance to chat with both John and his director for Farragut 2024, JOSHUA IRWIN, whose AVALON UNIVERSEStar Trek fan films are among the best out there….
The submission window for the 2025 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS is now open and will remain so until midnight Pacific Time on May 31, 2025. Any Star Trek fan film released publicly between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024 is eligible for entry regardless of the person or team producing it. Note that this time we are trimming our eligibility window from our previous 5 years down to just 3 years. Few if any entries were typically submitted from fan films over 3-years old, so the reduction seemed like a reasonable decision.
As usual, our judging panel remains at twelve, made up of people who have, themselves, served as showrunners on one or more fan films or series. This provides each judge a unique and personal perspective on what goes into making a fan production in our nearly two-dozen categories. In other words, our judges are knowledgeable and experienced in filmmaking which, I truly believe, brings a high level of expertise to our competition—along with our sister contest, the DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS, which just wrapped up earlier this month.
And it is for this reason that, each year, I publish a blog spotlighting our judging panel and what they have accomplished in the world of Star Trek fan films specifically. Ten of our twelve judges are returning from last year, so their write-ups (see below) will probably look familiar to you. The two judges who decided to leave the panel this year both departed on good terms. GREG LOCK, who began working on STAR TREK: AMBUSH back in 2014 and finally released it in 2022, felt that he should have a more recent fan film project under his belt before returning as a showrunner judge. The other judge to leave us is more of a “swap.” GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS are the co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas and the co-showrunners of THE FEDERATION FILES fanthology series. Each year, one of the two of them “tags out” to give the other a turn. So in 2025, Dan will be taking over Glen’s spot, who in turn took over Dan’s spot in last year’s competition.
Our one brand new judge this year brings an international perspective, joining SAMUEL COCKINGS as one of two non-U.S.-based judges. I am referring to German wunderkind BENJAMIN SCHULZ of the fan series LORELEY. More on Benjamin (and everybody else) below…
I always get a feeling of giddy anticipation when I see a new video from fan filmmaker IAN RAMSEY show up in my YouTube feed. I subscribe to his STAR REKT YouTube channel, and every few months, Ian posts a new, brilliantly hilarious Star Trek-themed musical video parodystarring himself in a different era uniform(s) and/or costume(s) with wonderful green screen editing composited in with backgrounds and spliced with short clips from all the myriad Star Trek series.
Over the past four years, Ian has released no less than SIXTEEN parodies of songs ranging from Frankie Valli to Katy Perry, Barry Manilow to Queen, Nickelback to the Backstreet Boys, and Green Day to Michael Bublé (to name but a few!). I interviewed Ian back in early 2023 when he’d released “only” nine musical parodies—all excellent—but with his editing abilities only just beginning to develop. And I was thinking it might be time to interview Ian again…although I wondered what kind of spin to put on the blog. After all, making music videos in front of a green screen in your house is kind of a one-note interview, right?
Then, late last year, I saw this…
Wow! This was a step beyond (pun somewhat intended) anything I’d seen out of Ian before this. And who knew the boy could dance??? Actually, according to the tag at the end of the video, this effort required a professional choreographer and more than two years to complete.
Well, if that’s not fodder for an interesting blog, I don’t know what is!
Actually, I should mention that the paradigm shift happened one video sooner, as Ian went from videos that were mainly framed from mid-level up to full-body coverage shots. This music video parody of “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears debuted in July of 2024…
And Ian’s latest masterpiece (from January of this year) takes the song “Starships” by Nicki Minaj, cleans up the lyrics to a PG rating, and sets its phasers (literally) on “Redshirts“…
I’m pretty sure Ian included every TOS red shirt death in that video…plus a few blue and gold shirt departures. (Let me know if he missed any.) But for now, I want to find out more about LOGICAL, Ian’s awesome dance moves, and his choreographer, CAROLYN DESKIN. So let’s fly…or hit it…or whatever. Here’s Ian…
Unlike the Directors Choice Awards, which are open to fan films from any genre, the Showrunner Awards focus EXCLUSIVELY on Star Trek fan films…allowing our little niche of a niche of a niche both to shine as well as providing a friendly venue for Star Trek fan filmmakers to compete directly against each other.
As the name implies, the judging panel for the Showrunner Awards is made up of a dozen fan film showrunners, and I’ll spotlight them in an upcoming blog. Another unique aspect of the Showrunner Awards is that each of our nearly two-dozen categories recognizes THREE winners, with the top film in that category earning an Admiral Award, the second-place finisher receiving a Captain Award, and the third highest judged film winning a Commander Award. Each award is personalized for that fan film and sent to the entrant as a digital printable certificate.
A final element that distinguishes the Showrunner Awards is that the eligibility window for submission is more than just a single year. While we used to have a 5-year window (kinda like a 5-year mission), the judges and I determined that number of be a little too high. So this year, we’re reducing the window of eligibility to 3 years, (anything released between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024). So we still allow for a fan film that may not have won in a previous year because of strong competition additional chances to earn an award (no film is allowed to win twice in the same category), just not quite so many chances. The multi-year window also allows a fan filmmaker who wasn’t previously aware of the Showrunner Awards to enter a slightly older project rather than missing out completely.
As always, the cost is $10 per entry plus $1 for each category beyond Best Fan Film that the submitter wishes to enter—things like best director, best actor/actress, best VFX, best music, etc. I will note that this year we have retired the “Best Scene” category, as that typically received only 3 or 4 submissions each year and was causing some confusion with the new TREKS IN 90 SECS contest that debuted last year.
The submission period is now open through May 31, 2025. After that, judges will have until the middle of August to view and vote for their top five fan films in each category, with the most points going to each judge’s top choices. (A showrunner judge is not allowed to vote for any of their own fan films in any of their top three slots.) Winners will be announced, as usual, on September 8, the anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966.
Anyone can submit a nomination using the following form page:
They’re baaaaa-aaaaack! The annual DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS have returned for a fourth year to announce their winners for fan films released during calendar year 2024. If you’re a fan filmmaker and want your production judged by a jury of your peers, there are currently two options. One is the Directors Choice Awards, and the other show, the SHOWRUNNER AWARDS, is limited exclusively to Star Trek fan films.
However, the Directors Choice Awards, hosted and organized by GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas, are open to fan films from all genres of sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and horror. And that makes for a pretty extensive list of entries.
Glen shared this with me…
I am happy to say that this year’s Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards have been a success. How do I gauge success? I gauge success in a few ways: growth, diversity, and continuity. This year we had a record number of different film franchises represented (27 different film/television franchises from around the world). This fact satisfies both our growth and diversity expectations.
I am continually amazed at the number of franchises inspiring fan films, some notable newcomers this year where films from The Last of Us, Highlander, Power Rangers and Gravity Falls. We also had a record number of returning franchises and directors. These returning “veterans” fulfill our continuity goals. Having returning directors and franchises lets us know that our format is well received.
I do like having this many judges because, even as the completed ballots come in, I never really know where it’s going to end up. Most of the categories were decided on the last day or two of voting.
We added two new categories this year—Best Poster and Best Trailer—both attracted several entries, thus also seen as a success. We will continue to add categories in an effort to give our behind-the-scenes creators an opportunity for recognition. I thank all of this year’s participants and look forward to next year.
This year, I am not only blogging about the awards show, I was also a judge…and a contestant! My animated movie-era Star Trek fan film, AN ABSENT FRIEND, came out in 2024 and was entered (you can see if it won anything in the list of winners and runners up below). The judges are each the director of the fan film that they enter (hence, the name of the contest). All judges were expected to watch each of the 55 entries before voting, and while I can’t vouch for all 55 judges, I will say that I myself did watch every minute of each film—despite some entries being over an hour long (and one was two full hours)! It was quite a time commitment, and I will admit to occasionally accelerating playback speed (slightly) on some of the longer films…shhhh, don’t tell anyone.
I hadn’t even checked the number of views on YouTube when I went to interview JOSE CEPEDA and members of the cast and crew of “BOMBER GIRL,” the latest release from the long-running STAR TREK: NATURE’S HUNGER fan series. Even their previous release, “FIGHTING CHANCE: ROARING THUNDER,” has only about 7K views, and their most-viewed (prior to “Bomber Girl”) was “RAZOR’S EDGE” from three years ago with 31K views.
But as I went to get the link to post the video on this blog (below), I discovered that “Bomber Girl,” which debuted on November 28, 2024, has already generated 111K views in just four months! And my first thought was: “Well, this kind of success couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people.”
And indeed, if you were making a list of the nicest folks in the Star Trek fan filmmaking community, you’d need to reserve at least a half-dozen to dozen spots at the top for Jose and his fellow Nature’s Hungerers (if that’s even a word!). And that’s not just my opinion. Most of the creators whom I talk to who have traveled to Atlanta to shoot on Jose’s incredible TOS set recreations in his basement or who have simply dealt with Jose and his peeps all tell me how warm, friendly, and awesome to work with they all are. Indeed, I know this from personal experience, as I myself have worked with Jose, actress LEZLIE SAWYER, and very recently, musical composer DAVID McHENRY and find all of them to be the nicest of nice people.
Of course, if you were instead making a list of the quirkiest Star Trek fan film series out there, you would definitely need to reserve a prominent slot for Nature’s Hunger. While set firmly in the Star Trek prime universe, the series also accepts magic and sorcery as existing (as does the Federation itself). Indeed, it is not unheard of to see witches, enchantresses, and dragons during a typical episode…or for matter, talking simians from The Planet of the Apes. And if that weren’t enough, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz has joined Starfleet and is a recurring character!
When it comes to Nature’s Hunger, there are no rules beyond having fun and keeping your tongue firmly in your cheek. Fans seeking more “polished” Star Trek fan films might want to consider clicking on a different YouTube video. But for Trekkies who appreciate a group of fans trying their best, working hard, and producing a labor of love, it’s certainly worth giving these folks a chance.
Their latest offering clocks in at more than two hours of runtime! And lest you worry that violates the time limit imposed by the fan film guidelines, only about 15 minutes of “Bomber Girl” is a framing Star Trek sequence. The rest occurs during World War II. Take a look…
Once again, I had the pleasure of hosting a video interview with the folks involved, and as usual, they were a delightful group to chat with…
