News – Page 82 – Fan Film Factor

FAN FILM FACTOR “hibernation” update!

According to the UPS tracking website, my new 15.4″ MacBook Pro laptop is currently sitting somewhere in Louisville, KY and scheduled to arrived late Wednesday. (And yes, that’s a screen cap of my desktop in that image.) With luck, I’ll be home in time to sign for it, and the computer will work properly out of the box. (I own 420 shares of Apple–it’d better work!!!)

Once the new Lane workhorse is saddled up and loaded with all my backed-up software, Fan Film Factor will emerge from hibernation and rise like a fiery Phoenix…oh, heck, enough with he poetry and metaphors!

Anyway, there will be a LOT happening once I’m back at full power. First up, there is the premiere of the short Star Trek fan film out of the U.K. Chance Encounter on February 1. I’m really looking forward to that.

Next on Friday and Saturday, I have a two-part interview with ALEC PETERS that–love him or hate him–folks are not gonna wanna miss.

Then I’ll take some time over the weekend to approve and respond to posted comments (there’s currently 31 in the queue).

After that, there will be the debut of the don’t-call-it-a-Star Trek fan film Renegades “The Requiem, Part 1.” Donors get an exclusive look on February 2 (no word yet on when/if the general public gets to see it…although I can’t believe it won’t find its way to the masses somehow).

Then next week, I have an interview with Axanar lead defense attorney Erin Ranahan (you didn’t see that coming…or did you?).

Later on in February, the creator of the acclaimed Star Trek: Horizon, Tommy Kraft, releases his new crowd-funded non-Star Trek fan film Runaway.

I’m also working on a feature about the 2012 fan film Star Trek: Secret Voyage, and I have an interview with the creators of The Red Shirt Diaries from about a year ago that I’m planning to reprint here pretty soon.

And at some point, I’m gonna find time to give everyone an update on Project: SMALL ACCESS and what the plans are for that campaign now that the Axanar lawsuit has ended in a settlement.

So don’t go too far, folks! Fan Film Factor will once again be leaving space dock and returning to our mission faster than you can say, “There’s coffee in that nebula!”

REMINDER: Jonathan discusses AXANAR and FAN FILMS live Saturday at 2pm Eastern Time (11am Pacific)!

I’l be doing a live interview on the SHANE PLAYS radio program tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm Eastern Time (that’s 11am Pacific Time for me). Shane will be talking to me about the AXANAR lawsuit and settlement–was there a clear winner and/or loser?–and about what this all might mean for the future of Star Trek fan films.

The show broadcasts live in the Little Rock area on 96.5 FM the Answer, and people can listen online at http://965fmtheanswer.com. You can also call in. The show will be archived afterwards for anyone to listen to who wants to.

Oh, and for anyone who is curious about my computer situation, a new MacBook Pro has been ordered and is now on its way from Brooklyn, NY to Los Angeles, CA (I order most of my expensive gadgets from &B&H Photo). As I feared, the culprit was indeed the logic board on my five and a half year old Mac laptop. I will miss the 17″ screen (not made anymore), but time marches on.

My old computer will works at ultra-slow speed (it’s taken me 25-minutes to type this blog so far), so Fan Film Factor will likely remain “in hibernation” until mid-to-late next week. My apologies.

JONATHAN’S computer being fixed

Hey, folks. My trusty ol’ Macintosh is gettin’ a little too ol’, so while I contemplate spending thousands on a new one (sorry, PC people, I’m never going back to Windows), the current contraption is going into the shop for at least a day or two.

This means a delay on any new blog posts (including my interview with Alec Peters), as well as approving and/or responding to any comments. As soon as I’m back at full power, I’ll make those two tasks my priority (after my family, of course).

In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to do on an otherwise pleasant Saturday, think about tuning in for my Axanar lawsuit update on the Shane Plays radio broadcast this Saturday at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific). The show broadcasts live in the Little Rock area on 96.5 FM the Answer, and people can listen online at http://965fmtheanswer.com. You can also call in!

AXANAR clarifies some additional questions about the SETTLEMENT

While we wait for my interview with Alec Peters for be reviewed and approved by the AXANAR legal team (yes, they’re taking the confidentiality aspects of the settlement agreement quite seriously…as they should), there was a posting made yesterday morning addressing some of the questions many Axanar fans (and detractors) have been asking.

ALEC PETERS answered four frequently-asked questions and also provided a link to a special blog about the Axanar financials (coming really soon…right, Alec???).

Here is yesterday’s post in its entirety…

Continue reading “AXANAR clarifies some additional questions about the SETTLEMENT”

VOYAGER CONTINUES releases photos from its “DERELICT” episode shoot!

Late last year, STARFLEET STUDIOS (in Iowa) released the half-hour long Star Trek: Raven and, with it, introduced the world to the new VOYAGER CONTINUES fan series. Set aboard the titular starship during its time traversing the Delta Quadrant, the series promises to eventually feature members of the entire USS Voyager crew. Their first episode, a short film called “Derelict,” will focus on just two characters: Seven-of-Nine and Harry Kim.

Last week, show-runner David Whitney began shooting scenes of “Derelict” with real physical sets (unlike the virtual CGI sets composited behind footage of actors in front of green screens). And a few days ago, photos from that shoot were posted.

The first thing I noticed was that Seven-of-Nine’s hair was brunette, not blonde like actress Jeri Ryan had worn her hair when she played the character on Star Trek: Voyager. Knowing that David Whitney had not been averse to using wigs (as his lead actress in Raven had filmed all of her scenes wearing a purple wig), I asked David why he hadn’t done the same thing for Seven-of-Nine?

It would have looked lame. I know people will complain. I don’t care. Seriously, a wig would have looked crazy. Of course Raven’s wig was awesome. Finding the actress with blue eyes was hard enough. Frankly, finding someone who could act, was pretty, and had the right kind of bone structure was a real find. Brown hair? No big deal. Jeri Ryan is a brunette. She dyes her hair. No, I could just not bring myself to ask her to bleach her hair. I’m really happy with her. What a nice lady.

You can see more photos from the shoot and follow the latest news for this new fan series on the Voyager Continues Facebook page.

DEIMOS Production Crew releases new episode: “The Archive”!

Yes, folks, there are still other Star Trek fan films out there, and DEIMOS is one of them. Formerly known as the fan series Starship Deimos, the umbrella”brand” POTEMKIN PICTURES has now dropped their fan series names (because the fan film guidelines prohibit it) and simply has tabs for each of their five endeavors, sorted by production crew. You can view episodes from all the teams on the Potemkin Pictures website. Deimos is based in Alabama and led by Potemkin Pictures creative head RANDY LANDERS.

The latest offering from the Deimos crew (their fourth production), the 11-minute long “The Archive,” features all of the main Starfleet characters plus a Romulan captain from their previous episode. Like the rest of the Potemkin Pictures fan films, what this low/no-budget production lacks in style and pizzazz, they make up for in heart and dedication. You can view “The Archive” below…

MORE DETAILS about the SETTLEMENT in the AXANAR LAWSUIT!

And so it ends…not in fire, not with a warp core breach and a huge explosion that rocks the very foundation of the world of copyright law, but with a quiet settlement between the parties with sparse details revealed to anyone not directly involved in the AXANAR lawsuit.

Press releases were issued separately by both CBS/Paramount and by Axanar Productions two and a half hours ago. They both said mostly the same things, each with a different “spin.” But details were sparse.

But Axanar just sent out an e-mail to donors with more specifics…and I’m a donor so I thought I’d share some of the details here. In addition to the studios allowing Axanar to be produced and released, we now know a few more key things:

The Axanar fan film WILL be permitted to use Gary Graham as Soval! (Wow.) It will ALSO be allowed to use the other professional actors who appeared in Prelude to Axanar (J.G. Hertzler, Richard Hatch, and Kate Vernon…Tony Todd has previously announced he would not remain with the production).
The new Axanar fan film will have to adhere to all the other guidelines, including being limited to only two 15-minute parts of a single story, not having “Star Trek” in the title, etc. No professionals can be compensated for their work on the production.
Public crowd-funding campaigns will not be permitted, but private donations can be accepted (I plan to donate).
Alec Peters and Axanar Productions will be allowed to create OTHER Star Trek fan films in the future beyond the Axanar sequel. (Whether these other fan films will be in the Axanar universe or the more general Star Trek universe is still unknown, but any future films will also need to follow the guidelines.)

That’s what we DO know. What was frustratingly absent from the announcements were two key pieces of information:

Was Alec Peters required to pay any kind of financial penalty to the studios? (After all, by settling the case, he is avoiding a judgment in the thousands and perhaps even the millions of dollars.) I have yet to independently confirm that.
What happens to Ares/Industry Studios? There was no mention of its fate in today’s announcement. I suppose if its still around in another month or two, we’ll have our answer.

But I want answers sooner than that…and I know you folks do, too! I’ve already left messages for Alec Peters (voice-mail, text, Facebook IM), and I’m gonna keep pestering him for an interview…today, if possible! And as soon as I get it transcribed, you’d better believe it’s going up on this website!

In the meantime, here is the full text for the announcement to the Axanar donors:

Continue reading “MORE DETAILS about the SETTLEMENT in the AXANAR LAWSUIT!”

BREAKING NEWS – AXANAR SETTLES LAWSUIT!!!

The following press release was just sent out by Axanar Productions. I am told there will be more details coming in an e-mail to be sent out to donors later on today. As soon as I receive that e-mail, I will publish it here.

Feel free to submit comments, but please understand that there is still a LOT we all do not know yet–including me. So any responses I post will, for the time being, be only conjecture. Rest assured that I plan to be in contact with Alec Peters and Mike Bawden as soon as I hit “Publish”….in three, two, one, NOW:

AXANAR PRODUCTIONS STATEMENT REGARDING COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT

Valencia, CA – Friday, January 20 – Axanar Productions is pleased to announce that we have reached a formal resolution to the lawsuit brought against Alec Peters, and the fan film production, AXANAR, by CBS Studios, Inc. and Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Since the beginning of the lawsuit, over a year ago, we have expressed our desire to address the concerns of the studios, and our willingness to make necessary changes, as long as we could reasonably meet our commitments to AXANAR’S over 14,000 donors, fans and supporters. We are now able to do exactly that.

Terms of the settlement agreement include an agreement to allow Axanar Productions to continue showing PRELUDE TO AXANAR commercial-free on YouTube and to allow Axanar Productions to produce the AXANAR feature film as two fifteen-minute segments that can be distributed on YouTube (also without ads).

Additional terms of the agreement will be made available to cast, crew and donors through private correspondence.

For the next sixty days, Axanar Productions will be working through some final legal requirements requiring immediate attention. In addition, there are several pre-production issues that need to be re-visited before we can begin principal photography on our project.

Axanar Productions was created by lifelong Star Trek fans to celebrate their love for Star Trek. Alec Peters and the Axanar team look forward to continuing to share the Axanar story and are happy to work within the Guidelines for Fan Films for future projects.

Throughout this process, we will continue communicating with our fans and backers to ensure they are informed and involved until we reach completion of the production.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mike Bawden, PR for Axanar Productions – 563.359.8654 ([email protected])
Morey Altman, PR for Axanar Productions – +972.54.325.4350

INTREPID releases their newest short film: “DUTY OF CARE”!

Based out of Scotland, the fan series formerly known as STAR TREK: INTREPID has been releasing fan films continuously since 2007. With the new guidelines stating that Trek fan films cannot include the name “Star Trek,” this celebrated fan series has shortened its name simply to Intrepid.

But the creative team remains the same, led by fan filmmaker extraordinaire (and awesome bloke) NICK COOK. Their latest offering, “Duty of Care,” is just under eight minutes long and features a small cast shooting outside on location. I won’t spoil anything about the plot, but it is a quiet, introspective story focusing primarily on two characters who become very well developed in the short amount of time they appear on screen.

You can keep up with all the latest Intrepid news on their Facebook page. And you can watch “Duty of Care” below…

ALEC PETERS discusses AXANAR’S FINANCIALS and his REVIEW COMMITTEE! (Interview)

Readers of the FAN FILM FACTOR comments sections know that I’ve spent months begging ALEC PETERS, executive producer for AXANAR, to discuss his production’s financials with me on an interview. A few weeks ago, he finally agreed! This is NOT that interview.

That interview is still coming. Before I conduct it, I want to invite interested people to submit questions to me that I can then present to Alec. (Yes, that means detractors, too. Just be aware that questions that are rude and belligerent won’t make it past the airlock. You have a question you want Alec Peters to answer? Fine. Just be polite when you ask it. It IS possible, folks.) I’ll be inviting people to submit questions to me next week after Alec releases his financial summary to donors–and therefore, to the public–and folks have had a chance to review it. No sense in asking questions when you haven’t seen the document yet (so stop typing, people!).

In preparation for what’s coming next week, I sent Alec a few questions via e-mail a few days ago, asking him to provide some information about the upcoming financial summary, how it is organized, and a little about the committee that was assembled to review it. Those answers just came back from Alec, so I’m copy-pasting them here to share with all of you (along with some brief IMing I just did to clarify a few points)…

Continue reading “ALEC PETERS discusses AXANAR’S FINANCIALS and his REVIEW COMMITTEE! (Interview)”