News – Page 99 – Fan Film Factor

STAR TREK: RENEGADES announces its series finale!

Star Trek: Renegades is the most expensive Star Trek fan film produced so far. With a price-tag of $375K, their 90-minute pilot movie has generated 1.5 million YouTube views in just 9 months. The movie even had a red carpet premiere in Los Angeles last August with paparazzi and verteran Star Trek actors in the cast, including Walter Koenig, Tim Russ, and Robert Picardo.

Renegades held another Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign at the end of last year, looking to produce the first two single-hour episodes of their ongoing series. This 2-parter would feature Walter Koenig reprising his role of Pavel Chekov for one final time. Raising $378K, there was enough to film part 1, and fans assumed more crowd-funding campaigns would follow as the series continued.

But Renegades has just announced that the upcoming 2-parter will mark the culmination of their impressive fan series efforts.

Continue reading “STAR TREK: RENEGADES announces its series finale!”

PROJECT: POTEMKIN releases its latest episode!

Potemkin - Cover 2

The second episode of Project: Potemkin‘s fourth (and final) season–the 10-minute “The Hunt”–has just been posted online…barely a week weeks after posting their previous episode! Talk about fast and furious!!

Watch “The Hunt” now!

Read PART 1 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.

Read PART 2 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.

STAR TREK CONTINUES Indiegogo campaign JUST misses $200,000!

As of midnight Pacific Time, Star Trek Continues‘ third crowd-funding campaign (and their first on Indiegogo) ended with a total of $199,049 from 2,231 backers after 60 days.

Although that was only 57% of the way to their announced $350,000 goal, it was still a very impressive amount, making them the second most successful Trek fan film Indiegogo campaign ever (after Axanar last summer, which took in $475,000).

It should also be mentioned that STC’s third campaign took in nearly as much as their second campaign (on Kickstarter) did in early 2015, which was $214.5K from 2,619 backers. And both campaigns surpassed the first, which took in $126K from 2,981 donors back in late 2013.

STC‘s sixth full-length episode, “Come Not Between the Dragons” is set to premiere later on this month!

In the meantime, visit Fan Film Factor‘s ENERGIZE page for a list of currently active crowd-funding campaigns for Trek-related fan films.

STAR TREK CONTINUES Indiegogo crosses $175K with 14 HOURS TO GO!

With just over half a day left until the close of their latest crowd-funding campaign, Star Trek Continues just crossed the half-way point to the goal of $350,000. And while getting half-way there might seem like they’ve fallen short, they now hold second place as highest-donation Indiegogo campaign of any Star Trek fan film!

Remember that donations to Star Trek Continues, a registered non-profit, are now tax deductible in the United States. Also, any backer contributing $100 or more will get an exclusive EARLY VIEWING of their sixth episode “Come Not Between the Dragons” at noon Pacific Time on Friday, May 13…before it debuts to the rest of the galaxy.

More than $10,000 has come in between yesterday and today…can Star Trek Continues make it to the ever-elusive $200,000 before the campaign closes tonight?

Click here to donate!

LAST DAY to donate to the STAR TREK CONTINUES Indiegogo campaign!!!

Despite the recent controversy about Vic Mignogna’s comments regarding Axanar “poisoning the well for other fan films,” Star Trek Continues is still an excellent series and very deserving of fan support.

Although it seems unlikely that they will reach their original, ambitious goal of $350,000, they are closing in on the half-way point of $175,000. Just eight thousand more dollars in the last 24 hours will get them there! Can you help?

Any backer contributing $100 or more will get an exclusive EARLY VIEWING of their sixth episode “Come Not Between the Dragons” at noon Pacific Time on Friday, May 13…before it debuts to the rest of the galaxy.

Click here to contribute to their campaign…while there’s still time!

A Tale of Two Fan Films (reacting to the CBS/Paramount “crackdown”)

Last Saturday, the fan film world was shaken once again with the first fan project to publicly announce they were shutting down because of the situation regarding legalities with CBS and Paramount. They were not contacted by either CBS or Paramount; they simply decided to avoid the risk of getting a call. Although the new series Star Trek: Constellation had not released any video yet (so it is difficult to know how far along they were), the project did seem to be fairly well into pre-production.

On Monday, another fan project in pre-production, Guinan: The Series, announced that, rather than shutting down they, they are re-branding themselves with a new title, The Listener: Spectral Awakening, and now only saying that they were “inspired by Star Trek.” In this way, they hope to avoid being perceived as using any copyrighted material, as they will be focusing their stories on Guinan’s home planet, a setting that was never actually seen on any Star Trek series. (And I doubt CBS can copyright frisbee hats.)

Continue reading “A Tale of Two Fan Films (reacting to the CBS/Paramount “crackdown”)”

PROJECT: POTEMKIN releases its latest episode!

Potemkin - Cover 2

The first episode of Project: Potemkin‘s fourth (and final) season–the 8-minute “The Talinar Incident”–has just been posted online…barely two weeks after posting their previous episode! This fan series is beginning to proliferate faster than a tribble!!

Watch “The Talinar Incident” now!

Read PART 1 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.

Read PART 2 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.

KLINGONS step up to defend AXANAR in LAWSUIT!

And just when you thought we were done with pre-hearing filings in the Paramount and CBS copyright lawsuit against AXANAR, in come the Klingons!

In what has to be one of the strangest amicus briefs (a “friend of the court” opinion submitted in a case by a party not directly involved) to ever come across U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner’s desk, Marc Randazza of the Language Creation Society has argued that Paramount and CBS’s claim of ownership of the Klingon language should be dismissed because Klingon is, in fact, NOT copyrightable!

Today’s Hollywood Reporter has a very entertaining write-up of this story which actually contains a link to the filing itself. As far as I’m concerned, this amicus brief is a MUST READ just to enjoy the fact that a serious legal document has been filed in Federal Court that is written partly in KLINGON!

And just to remind everyone, Paramount did produce this hilarious episode of Frasier, “Star Mitzvah,” back in 2002:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9xWYApbd6Y

STAR TREK CONTINUES wins its first WEBBY AWARD

Yesterday, Star Trek Continues announced that they were selected as the 2016 WEBBY People’s Voice winner for Online Film and Video – Drama: Long Form or Series. Congratulations to this prominent Star Trek fan series.

The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category — The Webby Award and The Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the Nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the Winners of The Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open Web, The Webby People’s Voice is awarded by the voting public. Each year, The Webby People’s Voice Awards garners millions of votes from all over the world.

The Drama: Long Form or Series category is open to serial content dedicated to dramatic material premiered on the Internet. Entries must consist of one or more episodes over 5 minutes in total to qualify for this category. This year, in addition to Star Trek Continues and three other web series, the category also contained a nomination for NBC’s Heroes Reborn web series, Dark Matters.

Starbase Studio’s STARSHIP GRISSOM releases its debut episode!

The first episode of the TOS-based educational fan series Starship Grissom is now online. This series is written by a group of teachers from Highland East Junior High School in Moore ,Oklahoma and is designed so educators anywhere can download and use it in the classroom.

A complete set of lesson plans and introduction videos, in a variety of subjects, is also released with each episode. All lessons meet Common Core and STEM standards and can be modified for Advanced Placement or Special Education students.

The goal is to provide a complete teaching resource using science fiction to promote interest in science, technology, and education.

Watch Starship Grissom‘s debut episode “Planet L-197” here: