News – Page 78 – Fan Film Factor

STARBASE STUDIOS shuts down, documents removal and damage of set pieces

The fan film world was jolted yesterday to learn that STARBASE STUDIOS, which had recently relocated from Oklahoma to neighboring Arkansas, has shut down—at least for now—due to the removal of critical pieces of their TOS sets and damage to items that still remain.

To document was was done to the sets, KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS and SCOTT JOHNSON, two of the four joint owners of the Starbase Studios sets (the other two owners being GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS…although it is possible that Dan has stepped away; I don’t yet have confirmation on that) have made a 22-minute video with the help of prolific fan film-maker VANCE MAJOR.

Here is that video…

You will notice that the video bleeps out the name of co-owner Glen Wolfe. This is because Glen was the one responsible for the removal of the set pieces.

Now, before anyone starts targeting their phasers on Glen, I want everyone to understand that there are, in fact, TWO sides in this situation, each with reasonable grievances against the other side.

I have friends on both sides of this, and I have been speaking with them over the past two months off the record. That was their request, and I have and will continue to honor it. The hope on both sides was that this matter might be resolved before needing to make it public. Obviously it hasn’t been, and now Scott and “Words” have decided to take the next step for them, which is releasing the above video.

I have promised each side that I will report this story as fairly and objectively as I can, quoting each of them with minimal editorializing. I have been told that Scott is now willing to speak on the record, and I’ll reach out to the other side shortly to see if they are ready, as well.

However, the one thing I can report on right now is why the police are not getting involved in what appears to be a case of theft and vandalism. And that’s because it’s not. Glen is a co-owner of these sets, and if he has a key (which he does), the police do not consider that to be breaking and entering. Moreover, when there is a question of ownership, such cases are not considered criminal but rather under civil jurisdiction to be fought over by business lawyers. In short, like it or not, this is a civil case…if it does, in fact, wind up in court.

I beg your indulgence if I don’t get around to reporting on this further until next week. I’ll be volunteering at my son’s school all day for their Halloween carnival and then trick-or-treating with Jayden tonight. Then I have to clear time to speak to folks on both sides of this mess and organize their comments into an objective and coherent presentation for all of you. Please stay tuned.

STAR TREK CONTINUES gives fans a SNEAK PEEK at their FINAL EPISODE!

It was truly one of the most extraordinary moments I’ve ever experienced at a convention. And for the rest of my life, whenever someone uses the word “bittersweet,” my mind will remember seeing the finale of STAR TREK CONTINUES at L.A. Comic Con with the entire cast, some guest stars, writers, directors, VFX and make-up people, crew, about 200 fans…and my son Jayden.

But in addition to “bittersweet,” I would use words like amazing, inspiring, suspenseful, intimate, dazzling, heartfelt, loving, and incredibly satisfying to describe both this final episode and the nearly 90-minute discussion that followed.

THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS!

In fact, when this episode is finally released onto the Internet on Monday, November 13, I recommend you rush to watch it as soon as you can and allow yourself NO advanced knowledge of anything. There are truly unexpected surprises in this episode, and you don’t want them ruined. “To Boldly Go, Part II,” as promised, will end Kirk’s five-year mission with drama, emotion, and an intensity seldom seen in fan films.

It’s a MUST SEE-PLUS-PLUS-PLUS!

As director JAMES KERWIN commented to the audience, he loved hearing everyone applauding at just the right moments, some sniffles at others, all the reactions he was hoping for. This one hits on all cylinders, folks, and is a beautiful way to wrap up eleven top-notch episodes and five unforgettable years of this beloved fan production.

Anyone wanting to put down show-runner VIC MIGNOGNA or trivialize the accomplishments of these dedicated and talented individuals…well, you’re going to need to do it elsewhere. As a proud donor and follower of this celebrated fan series, I will stand up for Star Trek Continues every single time!

And speaking of Vic, he respectfully asked for anyone who was recording Sunday evening’s live panel discussion to please not share the video until after the episode had a chance to circulate…as many details were mentioned that could spoil the viewing experience for others.

So I have some wonderful footage from the Q&A session that I will share in a few weeks. But for now—and I hope Vic will indulge a proud father—I would like to share this one SPOILER-FREE response to a question from my son Jayden, as Vic Mignogna explains his production in a way that any seven-year-old can understand…

Thank you, Vic, for that answer. And thank to everyone on the STC team for sharing Vic’s dream with appreciative Trekkers who have waited five decades to see Kirk’s historic five-year mission finally reach its conclusion.

YOUR Star Trek fan film could WIN $500!

Hurry! You’ve only got until November 3, 2017 to enter your Star Trek fan film for a chance to win $500!

(Of course, it’ll cost you $35 to enter on their website. But hey, it’s worth a shot, right?)

Yesterday, I told you about how some independent film festivals are beginning to add a new category specifically for FAN FILMS. The Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest has already completed its entry period. But there’s still a week and a half left to enter the New York-based IndieBOOM! film festival for a chance to win that $500 cash prize.

Created by the team at the award-winning Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, IndieBOOM! is for filmmakers and short-form content creators working everywhere, in all genre categories. There are no restrictions on completion date, as long as the films run no longer than 40 minutes. So a Star Trek fan film that’s already been out for a few years is still eligible as long as it’s shorter than 40 minutes.

Here’s the description for their Fan Film category:

Are you a super-fan who has created an amazing “trailer” for the superhero (or super villain) film you wish existed, a lightsaber battle set in a galaxy far, far away… or a film that dares to trek where no-one has gone before? Or maybe you made a film about one ring that rules them all. Whatever your fandom, we want to see your fan film!

IndieBOOM!’s official selections will be chosen by a panel of industry professionals: critics, producers, writers, directors and actors.

It’s also an interactive festival. IndieBOOM will give entrants tools to help them promote their films to their networks and increase their fan-base. The most-viewed film in each category (Comedy, Sci-Fi, Documentary, Fan Film, etc.) wins an award.

“Ah, I know that trick!” I can hear you say. Just get a bunch of friends to keep refreshing their browsers a few thousand times, and you’ll win. Bah, humbug!”

Well, not this time. IndieBOOM! will keep track of total views and also overall time viewed for each selection. (So just refreshing a web page over and over won’t help you win.)

Their jury of industry professionals will acknowledge a single standout film with a special Jury Prize, regardless of the views/votes. All winning selections will get a one year non-exclusive streaming contract on Brooklyn On Demand (which is carried on Roku to a worldwide audience and already has 16,000 subscribers).

And the selection (from all the categories together) with the most views overall wins the Fan Favorite Award—and a $500 cash prize!

So what are you waiting for? (Well, assuming you’ve produced a fan film, that is!) The submission deadline is November 3, 2017.

Click here to enter.

INDIE FILM FESTIVALS are starting to add a NEW category: FAN FILMS!

While studios like Paramount, CBS, Warner Brothers, Disney, Fox, and others try to figure out what to do about fan films, Independent Film Festivals already have a solution: CREATE SPECIAL CATEGORIES FOR THEM!

Up until recently, if you were a Star Trek fan film, your options were pretty limited when it came to entering your production into a film festival or contest.

For the last few years, the annual Treklanta convention has held the Independent Star Trek Film Awards (now called the “Bjos”). Obviously, entries are limited to only Star Trek fan films.

And then there are the independent film festivals that allow entrants from all genres and production backgrounds. There’s a lot of these. In fact, Prelude to Axanar won awards in 19 different film festivals, including the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Creative Arts Film Festival, Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival, Nevada Film Festival, IndieFEST Film Awards, and California International Shorts Festival.

Star Trek Continues has also taken in its fair share of awards at the Accolade Global Film Competition, The Burbank International Film Awards, and most recently was given awards in five categories of the International Independent Film Awards.

And while some award shows, like the Geekie Awards, limit the range of entrees to specific genres like sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc., Trek fan films are still competing with “real” independent films with professional production teams and budgets that are often into the six or even seven figures. Micro-budget Trek fan productions often face almost insurmountable competition. And if the awards show is not limited to just sci-fi and related genres, the competition becomes even more wide ranging.

With high budgets, Hollywood actors, and professional production quality, Prelude to Axanar and Star Trek Continues were able to make their mark. against stiff competition. But with the guidelines now limiting how much fan films can spend and who can work on them, will Star Trek fan films be able to be competitive again in film festivals?

Perhaps…

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STAR TREK CONTINUES releases their 10TH EPISODE: “To Boldly Go, Part 1”!

Ten down, just one more to go!

Back in 2013, STAR TREK CONTINUES came in like a lion with a sequel to the TOS episode “Who Mourns for Adonais” that featured Michael Forest reprising his role as Apollo.

Now, as 2017 comes to an end, so does the 5-year mission of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 as Star Trek Continues goes out with a bang! Their series finale “To Boldly Go” is making its debut to the public today with the first of two parts. The conclusion will debut in 11 days at a live screening at L.A. Comic Con, and then the final episode of STC will be released onto the Internet for the general public on November 13.

Both parts were written by noted Canadian sci-fi author ROBERT J. SAWYER (his first-ever work for STC). He is one of eight authors in history to win all three of the science-fiction field’s highest honors for best novel of the year: the Hugo Award (which he won for Hominids), the Nebula Award (which he won for The Terminal Experiment); and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (which he won for Mindscan). Sawyer is a huge Star Trek fan, which you’ll be able to tell almost immediately when you watch the episode.

NICOLA BRYANT with the 6th Doctor, COLIN BAKER, in 1986…and today in the penultimate episode of STC.

I don’t want to give away any plot spoilers, so with the exception of gushing about a top-level performance by guest star NICOLA BRYANT (companion “Peri Brown” to the 5th and 6th Doctors on Doctor Who), I’ll simply tell you to note how awesome the music sounds. A full orchestra made up of more than 40 student musicians from New York’s Empire Film Music Ensemble in Rochester, as well as several professional instrumentalists, recorded the brilliant compositions of Andy Farber.

While Star Trek: Discovery darkly reminds us that it is now 2017, this penultimate episode of STC is a like a warm, comfortable blanket wrapping us up once again in the TV magic of the 1960s (or if you weren’t there in the 60’s, then the 70’s or whenever you first discovered TOS).

Perhaps more than any other episode of STC, “To Boldly Go” will remind you of everything that Star Trek was, is, and can be when there is love and dedication…something the STC team has shared with us fans during the course of their own five-year mission.

And now, please enjoy the first half of this most wonderful gift to Star Trek fandom…

Major FAIR USE RULING in a separate DR. SEUSS copyright infringement case!

Even though the primary focus of this blog-site is fan films, the AXANAR infringement lawsuit brought up a lot of interest in the concept of FAIR USE… especially when it comes to unauthorized creation of content based on Star Trek‘s intellectual property.

One such intriguing fair use claim is currently in play in a controversial infringement lawsuit involving Star Trek tribble creator DAVID GERROLD (who used to be the show-runner for Star Trek: New Voyages, so there’s your fan film “connection”). Gerrold and comic book artist TY TEMPLETON raised $30,000 in a Kickstarter to create a “mash-up” of DR. SEUSS and STAR TREK called Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly GO! For more background on this case currently making its way through the Ninth Circuit Federal Court in Los Angeles, read this blog first.

Now, before you get too excited, no, it’s not the “mash-up” lawsuit that just had a major ruling. However, that case will very likely be affected by another ruling that came down from a Federal District Court judge in New York City last month.

In fact, this ruling out of New York could potentially stop the Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly GO! lawsuit dead in its tracks.

Let’s take a look at what just happened…

Continue reading “Major FAIR USE RULING in a separate DR. SEUSS copyright infringement case!”

HOORAY! The TREKCETERA Star Trek Museum is SAVED!

What a difference two days and a 150 generous Trekkers can make!

As I told you all on Monday, the TREKCETERA Star Trek Museum near Calgary, Alberta in Canada was in danger of disappearing forever. Owners Devan J. Daniels and Michael Carl Mangold needed $10,000 in order to restructure a loan that was taken out to fund their move from the small town of Vulcan to more-touristy town of Drumheller. The relocation is already resulting in triple the foot traffic, but the loan payments were still too high for even the revenue from increased admissions to cover it.

Reece Watkins heard about their troubles late last week and quickly put together a GoFundMe crowd-sourcing campaign. Over the weekend, Reece worked feverishly to mobilize fans—including myself and Alec Peters—to help spread the word far and wide to as many Trekkers. The money was needed this week, so the campaign couldn’t afford a “slow” ramp up. In fact, the deadline was just 24 hours!

Well, guess what? They made it! And here’s what happened…

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PLEASE HELP! STAR TREK MUSEUM needs $10,000 from fans in 24 hours!

Attention! All hands in deck!

Some of you may have heard of the TREKCETERA Star Trek Museum that had been located in the small town of Vulcan, Alberta, Canada. The museum was fully licensed by CBS with displays that included props, costumes, and set pieces used in various Star Trek movies and TV series.

BUT WITHOUT YOUR HELP TODAY, THE MUSEUM IS IN DANGER OF DISAPPEARING FOREVER!

From 2013-2016, the museum did modest business in the town of Vulcan. But last year, the owners, Devan J. Daniels and Michael Carl Mangold (both huge Trekkers who had sunk their life savings into this museum) made the difficult decision to move out of the perfectly-named town of Vulcan (about 90 minutes from Calgary) to the not-so perfectly-named town of Drumheller, Alberta (about the same distance away from Calgary).

Why the move?

Unfortunately, the perfectly-named Vulcan is off the beaten track and didn’t bring in a lot of foot traffic. Drumheller, on the other hand, is located in “Dinosaur Valley” and gets a half million visitors a year to see dinosaur fossils in the nearby badlands, a huge dinosaur museum, and even the world’s tallest dinosaur statue. And if you’ve got kids who love dinosaurs, maybe they love sci-fi, too…?

Relocating was a smart move. In just five months after reopening in Drumheller, the TREKCETERA Star Trek Museum made TRIPLE that they had made in ALL of 2016 in Vulcan.

Devan J. Daniels and Michael Carl Mangold put their heart, soul, and life savings into the TREKCETERA Star Trek Musuem.

But moving wasn’t cheap, and it required Devan and Michael to take out a large loan to help fund the move to the new location and the construction costs of converting the new building to hold their Trek exhibits.

While business is growing and the debt is being repaid, the burden is high, and the owners are looking at a default this week. However, they do have ONE LIFELINE…and YOU CAN HELP!

Their lender has agreed to restructure their entire debt to a lower interest rate and payment schedule if—IF!!!—they can raise $10,000 by tomorrow!

Friends of Devan and Michael have stepped forward this past weekend to set up a last-minute GO FUND ME campaign to help them save their museum. And even though GO FUND ME won’t release the funds immediately, a local bank has agreed to cover the payment until the money hits their account.

THIS IS A ONE-DAY CROWD-FUNDING EMERGENCY, FOLKS!

If you wait until Wednesday or Friday, it’ll be too late for the museum. It has to be today…even if all you can afford is $10 or even $1 (I gave $50, someone else gave $500). And if you can’t afford anything, then please, PLEASE pass the following link around to anyone and everyone you know:

https://www.gofundme.com/save-the-trekcetera-museum

If we don’t help, this wonderful Star Trek museum and all of its exhibits could be lost forever!

I thank you all in advance for any help you can give.

Great news for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…or is it? (news and editorial, part 2)

Rather than writing a review of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (that’s coming tomorrow), I decided to take a look at the bigger picture. Were the record sign-ups right after the premiere really “big news” or simply the inevitable result of hundreds of millions of dollars in production and advertising/marketing budgets? Also, what does it tell us that CBS remains so reluctant to provide hard numbers about how many people actually subscribed last night?

As I said in yesterday’s blog, my goal here is NOT to try to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory for CBS. I’m actually very happy that Star Trek: Discovery did so well in both ratings and sign-ups. This means that the worst-case scenario—CBS simply assumes that Star Trek has run its course and is no longer a viable sci-fi franchise—has been avoided. Nearly 10 million people watched the free network TV premiere on Sunday night. So anyone accusing me of sour grapes is wrong. Wet blanket, yes. Sour grapes, no.

My desire, to be honest, is to simply take a wider look at this new series…beyond just Sunday night or this one week. Now that the horse is fast out of the starting gate, what are the challenges facing Star Trek: Discovery in terms of keeping and growing its viewership? Obviously, CBS is in a unique situation due to its decision to require viewers to pay to see episodes of the new series. How does that affect their goal of attracting and keeping viewers?

Continue reading “Great news for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…or is it? (news and editorial, part 2)”

Great news for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…or is it? (news and editorial, part 1)

The news seems to be REALLY great for the premiere of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. According to a press release quickly and enthusiastically circulated by an exuberant CBS, the premiere of the newest Star Trek TV series has resulted in record-breaking sign-ups for the ALL ACCESS streaming service:

Tonight’s premiere of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY on CBS All Access, the CBS Television Network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service, broke a new record for subscriber sign-ups in a single day, eclipsing the previous record held by the 2017 GRAMMY Awards®.

In addition to its single day subscriber sign-up record, CBS All Access experienced its best week and month ever for sign-ups due to the launch of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, the fall kick-off of the NFL ON CBS on the service’s live local feeds and the season finale of BIG BROTHER and the BIG BROTHER LIVE FEEDS.

Also, the free premiere on the regular CBS network was watched by 9.6 million people.

But before people start gulping down too much champagne (although there is certainly reason for celebration), I’d like to mention a few things that CBS and fans should be noting.

Now, I realize this blog is going to sound like a wet blanket, but please make no mistake: I am ABSOLUTELY, SINCERELY HAPPY that so many people liked the new show! (I personally wasn’t thrilled with it, although I do plan to watch more episodes eventually.)

But I’m also a business strategist trained to look at multiple aspects of a situation. As I did in my previous blog about Star Trek: Discovery, I want to take a look at the whole picture…which is, of course, impacted significantly by CBS’s decision to offer their new Star Trek series exclusively as a paid streaming video-on-demand service.

So yes, the news is definitely good for CBS. But it might be a little too soon to consider the game won…

Continue reading “Great news for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…or is it? (news and editorial, part 1)”