Anya Sheila Kayaian – Fan Film Factor

The 13-YEAR mission of STARSHIP ANTYLLUS is nearing its end… (interview with GEORGE KAYAIAN, part 2)

In Part 1, I introduced you to GEORGE KAYAIAN, the showrunner behind the long-running (since 2013) fan series STARSHIP ANTYLLUS. But George really needs no introduction, as he’s been making Star Trek fan films almost non-stop for 32 years (since 1992)!!

For George, fan filmmaking has always been a family affair—with his parents and brother William helping him for the first decade and a half, and his daughter Anya helping him with Antyllus starting when she was only four years old and continuing through today. Anya handles script continuity as well as playing multiple characters in the series. She even appears briefly as herself (without makeup or mask) at the end of their most recent release, “Isolation’s Echo,” their twenty-fourth episode overall…

And now, back to our interview with George, already in progress…

JONATHAN – Between your previous fan films and the twenty-four episodes (so far) of Antyllus, you’ve written a staggering amount of content over the decades! What influences you when you write your Antyllus episodes?

GEORGE – It’s totally subconscious. For me, the story writes itself. When I conceived my Antyllus series, I knew the whole story—and where I wanted it to end—from the very beginning. What remained was filling in that story with characters and specific events to make it happen. I’ve been fortunate when it comes to creating my films. The ideas are always there. Obviously, I’m aware of the original Star Trek format, so I would cite that as my major source of inspiration and influence.

JONATHAN – You not only write every episode but you also star in and direct each one. What unique challenges do each of those tasks bring with them for you?

GEORGE – Each task is unique in importance. The writing is the key foundation—everything that is created from this point hinges on how well it was conceived. One advantage to being the writer, in addition, is how I understand perfectly what needs to be accomplished in the telling of my
tale. Directing is the forming of the ideas into concrete actions. The vision of the concept springs forth and becomes tangible. And acting is the reality and manifestation of the ideas brought to life.

And because I like to give credit where it’s due, DAVE EVERSOLE conceived the majority of Episode 17. I had to do a rewrite on that one to add elements that he wasn’t aware of since he wrote it before my show started filming! And VANCE MAJOR did the heavy lifting on episode twenty—which he really wanted to do—and I simply included elements to tie it back into my show to keep it on track.

JONATHAN – You mentioned earlier in the interview that you’ve done other non-Trek projects, as well as Star Trek fan films. Can you talk briefly about them?

The 13-YEAR mission of STARSHIP ANTYLLUS is nearing its end… (interview with GEORGE KAYAIAN, part 1)

What defines a Star Trek fan film? There are so many possible answers to this question! But for me, when you strip away everything else—costumes, sets, lighting, acting, directing, VFX, makeup, music, and all the rest—the one thing that unites ALL Trek fan films is passion, determination, and a deep love for Star Trek. (Well, okay, that’s three things, but you get the idea.)

And when I think of those three qualities, I think of GEORGE KAYAIAN. This is a guy who so desperately wanted to make Star Trek fan films that he built elaborate sets, including a starship bridge, essentially out of cardboard in his parents’ basement! And not only is George one of the most dedicated fan filmmakers ever (he’s been making Star Trek fan films almost non-stop since 1992…more than THREE DECADES!), but he’s also one of the nicest guys in the entire community. And that’s not just my opinion. Fan filmmakers far and wide who have worked with or even just casually interacted with George will all agree that he’s a real sweetheart with a sweet heart.

Back in the 1990s, George would make his fan films with the help of his brother William and also his mom and dad, both of whom appeared in his Star Trek productions for nearly 17 years! After that, George began working with his daughter Anya when she was just a wee bairn on a new Trek fan series: STARSHIP ANTYLLUS…that was 2013. Now, a little over a decade later, the Antyllus saga is nearing an end, as George and Anya are starting to wrap up the last episodes of their third and final season.

You can view all the episodes of Antyllus on this YouTube playlist. Their most recent two releases (episodes twenty-three and twenty-four) were released last November and this past January, respectively. Episode twenty-three, “Despite the Fall,” appears below, and I’ll include a link to episode twenty-four in the conclusion of this 2-part interview. Both are definitely worth checking out to get a feel for this very “grass roots” fan series…

As you can see, George manages to do quite a lot with quite a little, which is at the core of what fan filmmakers do best! With the series drawing to a close, I thought this might be a great time to give George the spotlight once again to learn more about him and his efforts with Antyllus…

STARSHIP ANTYLLUS introduces the NEXT GENERATION of fan filmmaker! (audio interview with GEORGE and ANYA KAYAIAN)

It’s not unheard of to see children in Star Trek fan films. VANCE MAJOR’s toddler son ROYCE has appeared in multiple episodes of the MINARD and CONSTAR CHRONICLES fan films. Dozens of KEVIN CROXTON’s 4th and 5th grade Music Club students appeared in his 2018 fan film THE BUNNY INCIDENT. Parents occasionally shoot “home movie” fan films with their kids dressed in Starfleet uniforms or wearing alien masks…so there’s certainly a decent representation of children appearing in Star Trek fan films.

What’s more unusual, though, is finding a youngster who is actively helping to MAKE Star Trek fan films. And when I say “helping,” I don’t mean little things like keeping the costumes sorted or getting the props when needed. I’m talking about being an essential member of the production team, wearing any number of different hats, and really being a critical part of the entire filmmaking process from pre-production through production and into post production, as well.

ANYA SHIELA KAYAIAN appeared in her first episode of her father’s long-running STARSHIP ANTYLLUS fan series in 2015 when she was five years old. More recently, she began playing a recurring crew member named Sharb, wearing an alien mask to hide her age. But just this past April, I had a chance to see Anya act without a mask, and I was so impressed! It was the fifteenth episode of Antyllus, a surrealistic inner mind exploration story titled “The House on the Water.” You can check it out here (Anya comes in at the 7-minute mark)…

I’ve interviewed Antyllus show-runner and lead actor GEORGE KAYAIAN before, but I was so intrigued by the very mature and convincing performance of his daughter, that I asked George if Anya might be interested in participating in an audio interview with her dad.

Anya was thrilled at the opportunity, and so was I. While I enjoy interviewing a wide variety of fan filmmakers, I almost never get a chance to interview kids. And as a father of a 9-year-old myself, I looked forward to chatting with 10-year-old Anya, as that is a really great age (they’re not quite teenagers yet!).

Of course, when you’re dealing with younglings, you never know what to expect. Some kids are comfortable talking to adults while others can be quite nervous and shy. But what I got from Anya simply blew me away! Until my own son Jayden has his next birthday in September, Anya is absolutely, positively my favorite 10-year-old. She’s smart, upbeat, fun, precocious, well-spoken, and throughly impressive on all levels. I’d say she’ll make a great filmmaker someday, but as far as I’m concerned, she’s already there!

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to one of my most favorite audio interviews that I’ve done so far…

Click here to view all episodes of Starship Antyllus.

VANCE MAJOR cameos in STARSHIP ANTYLLUS: “Desperate Gambit” (interview with GEORGE and ANYA SHEILA KAYAIAN)

I love it when fan filmmakers come together.

GEORGE KAYAIAN has been creating Star Trek fan films since George Bush was president…the first George Bush, that is! ANYA SHEILA KAYAIAN is only nine years old and wasn’t even around for the second President Bush. VANCE MAJOR has been appearing as fan favorite character Erick Minard since 2014 when he first donned the engineer’s tunic in Starship Valiant.

And now these three people all have something in common: they’ve each appeared in the latest, twelfth episode of STARSHIP ANTYLLUS: “Desperate Gambit.” For George, his character of Captain Holt Allen has commanded the USS Antyllus since this fan series first debuted in 2013. And daughter Anya has appeared in a couple of episodes before this one—most recently the 11th episode: “247”—and helped out on a bunch of others. (You can check out her very full IMDB page here.)

But now Anya is joining the Antyllus bridge crew as a brand new alien character named Sharb. How they solved the challenge of how to show a child as a bridge officer is one of the reasons I consider this ultra-low budget fan series to be so masterful: they do so much with seemingly so little. I asked Anya what she thinks about this new character, and she said: “I think Sharb is very intelligent, which shows off a part of me… it was a joy to play him!”

You can watch Anya’s debut in the full 29-minute episode below…

As you can see, Vance Major has a decent sized cameo as Minard. George appeared briefly in one of the three dozen or so Minard saga fan films that Vance produced, and George will be appearing in a couple of episodes of Vance’s upcoming Constar Chronicles films. The two fan filmmakers have become good friends, and recently, Vance had this to say about George…