Johnny K. – Fan Film Factor

FARRAGUT is back for a SEQUEL next year, and it’s CROWD-FUNDING right now! (video interview with JOHN BROUGHTON and MIKE BEDNAR)

Last month, I posted a video interview with JOHNNY K. and PAUL R. SIEBER about the just-released FARRAGUT FORWARD. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, this is about as MUST SEE of a fan film as you are ever likely to find…

The quality of this production is mind-blowing, even considering that they raised more than $45,000 on Indiegogo. The movie-era sets, costumes, props, make-up, direction, cinematography, lighting, editing, music, sound-mixing, etc…all were flawless. And after viewing Farragut Forward, fans only wanted more.

And now, it looks like they are going to get it!

Showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON just launched a new Indiegogo with the same initial $30,000 goal as the previous campaign. The money will go towards building new sets (including, apparently, a movie-era TRANSPORTER!), more amazing costumes, and various other expenses like food for the cast and crew, travel and lodging for those who can’t afford to make the trip to and stay in Washington, DC but are still essential to the production (like director JOSHUA IRWIN, who lives in northwestern Arkansas and will be directing the next Farragut film). The full budget is closer to $50,000, but since even the first film didn’t raise that much, best to start with a more manageable goal and try to attain InDemand status to keep the campaign live in order to raise more.

So what is the plot for this new fan film going to be? According to the following informational video, it will be a time-travel story much like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home but without any whales. And instead of traveling to San Francisco, the Farragut crew will be taking a trip to America’s capital city….

I just chipped in fifty bucks myself, and after four days, they’re above $2K in donations from 55 backers and are already 6% of the way to their goal. But every little bit helps, and ’tis the season of giving, right? So please consider contributing at least a little something to these extremely talented folks who want to give fans yet another spectacular movie-era film…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-2024-a-star-trek-fan-production

A few weeks ago, I recorded a Zoom interview with John and his longtime friend and fellow Farragut filmmaker MICHAEL BEDNAR. The two men provide even more behind-the-scenes background and stories from the sets of Farragut Forward along with some more information about the sequel, FARRAGUT 2024, and what else is being planned for the future. Check it out…

FARRAGUT FORWARD finally fascinates and fires up fans with a FEAST of fancy fan filmmaking at its FINEST! (video interview with JOHNNY K. and PAUL R. SIEBER)

The wait is over, and I think it’s fair to say that it was very much worth it!

In some ways, the “wait began back in 2016 when the long-running fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT wrapped filming on its series finale, “HOMECOMING,” and announced a sequel fan production set during the TOS movie-era to be titled FARRAGUT FORWARD. But five years would pass before fans heard anything more about this proposed project.

In 2021, showrunner and series star JOHN BROUGHTON invited his friend JOHNNY K. of KAOTICA STUDIOS to direct the Farragut Forward fan film. Johnny had already directed a growing number of independent short films and agreed to join the team. The next step was crowd-funding the project, as John Broughton wanted this to be a top-quality production with elaborate movie-era sets and impeccably-reproduced costumes.

Of course, few things are as effective when crowd-funding than showing potential donors what you’re capable of creating. So John and Johnny proceeded to create a 3-minute PROLOGUE teaser-trailer that really blew away fans…

The following weeks and months were filled with numerous behind-the-scenes photos and videos, each more exciting and enticing than the last. You can view three of those videos at the bottom of this blog.

The strategy worked amazingly well, as a 60-day Indiegogo exceeded its $30K goal by more than $3K! This allowed the campaign to attain InDemand status and continue to raise funds, ultimately wrapping up last month with a final total in excess of $45!!!

The money was put to good use, as the costumes and sets that were created nailed the look and feel of movie-era TOS Star Trek beyond what any fan film had ever been able to achieve before. A cast and crew of nearly (perhaps more than—I lost count tallying all the names in the credits!) a hundred people worked diligently to produce what can only be called a masterpiece. Farragut Forward debuted on October 1, and in just eight days has already gotten more than 65K views on YouTube. And now you can view it, too, below…

I had initially hoped to interview John Broughton and Johnny K. along with PAUL R. SIEBER, who plays the evil villain Prescott from the Mirror Universe. Unfortunately, a few hours before our scheduled Zoom call, something unexpected came up for John Broughton, and he wasn’t able to make it. But John has offered to do a one-on-one interview with me in the near future.

In the meantime, Johnny K. and Paul Sieber were still able to do the video interview, providing some eye-opening insights and fun stories about the planning and work that went into the making of this 3-year project. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to both of them, taking a look back at Farragut Forward…

FARRAGUT FORWARD releases an amazing TRAILER, wraps up their Indiegogo, and confirms a PREMIERE DATE!

Can you feel it in the air? It’s the electricity all around. It’s the anticipation of finally knowing that a long wait is nearly over. FARRAGUT FORWARD is just a couple of weeks away from premiering!

There have been few Star Trek fan film projects as eagerly awaited as Farragut Forward. First announced back in 2016 when its prequel series, STARSHIP FARRAGUT wrapped principal photography on its final episode, fans were looking forward to this planned movie-era fan production set during the time-frame of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Such fan productions were (and still are) very rare in the community due to the challenges of recreating accurate “monster maroon” uniforms and significantly complicated-to-build sets.

But FARRAGUT FILMS has been on the cutting edge of both costuming and set-construction since they created one of the first three Trek fan productions to shoot on recreations of the TOS-era Paramount sets from the 1960s (the other two being STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES and STARSHIP EXETER). Starship Farragut would go on to release five full-length episodes, two vignettes, two animated-style episodes (one featuring the voices TIM RUSS and CHASE MASTERSON), a comic book, plus a series finale “”HOMECOMING”) that included a cameo by none other than Marvel Comics legend STAN LEE as a Starfleet Admiral. The TOS sets they built even sent on to be used by STAR TREK CONTINUES as well as countless other fan films and series in what eventually became NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS.

Despite being announced back in 2016, Farragut Forward didn’t really get going until 2021 when showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON brought on (see what I did there?) director JOHNNY K. of KAOTICA STUDIOS in Washington, DC. From there, things began to move at warp speed as sets were carefully built, costumes meticulously sen together, and footage shot for a PROLOGUE that was released in February pf 2022 and blew fans away!!!

At the same time, Farragut Films launched an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign with a very ambitious goal of $30K. And to be honest, I didn’t think they’d get there in just two months. Boy, was I wrong! They actually exceeded that goal by more than $3K and earned Indiegogo’s “InDemand” status, meaning they could keep raising more funds. And raise them they did! The campaign was finally officially ended this past weekend with an astounding total of $45,450, less than $5K short of the $50K crowd-funding limit specified by the Star Trek fan film guidelines.

Along the way, the Farragut folks have released numerous behind-the-scenes photos and videos, each more exciting and enticing than the last. You can view three of those videos at the bottom of this blog.

Earlier this evening, Farragut Forward released an exciting short trailer for the full film and announced a premiere date of October 1, 2024. And from what can be seen below, this is one Star Trek fan film that is virtually guaranteed to be considered one of the best of all time. Take a look…

FARRAGUT moves FORWARD into post-production while trying to reach the $50K crowd-funding limit…can they make it?? (interview with JOHNNY K.)

Back in 2016, CBS and Paramount placed a $50,000 limit on public crowd-funding in their fan film guidelines. Since then, only one Star Trek fan film (that I know of) has reached that limit. And while a handful of fan projects have made it into the tens of thousands, most top out in the four-figure range. So when a crowd-funded fan project starts realistically knocking on that $50,000 ceiling, it’s certainly newsworthy!

And that brings us to FARRAGUT FORWARD, the sequel fan film to the beloved fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT that produced five full-length episodes, three short vignettes, two animated episodes, and one comic book between 2004 and 2016. The TOS sets that Starship Farragut constructed went on to be used for the entire run of the series STAR TREK CONTINUES and live on still as NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS in Kingsland, GA, providing the starship setting for such fan series as DREADNOUGHT DOMINION, TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE, AVALON UNIVERSE, and a host of other Trek fan films and series. The proud legacy of Starship Farragut and the team behind it has benefited the entire Star Trek fan film community for two decades.

But the man behind FARRAGUT FILMS, JOHN BROUGHTON, wasn’t content to just wrap everything up back in 2016. In late August of 2021, John announced a new Farragut project (originally conceived years earlier) that would move Farragut FORWARD into the 1980s movie-era of Star Trek. Such fan films and series are a rarity in the community because of the challenges involved building both the sets from that era as well as the precision required to create those elaborate “monster maroon” uniforms that fans love so much.

But John was up for the challenge, as was his newly-chosen director for the project, JOHNNY K. of KAOTICA STUDIOS. Johnny’s Batman fan film The Oath has already won multiple film festival awards, and he was eager to tackle Farragut Forward.

*Director Johnny K. (seated) and executive producer John Broughton on the set of Farragut Forward. Photo credit: Britt Dvorak.*

Their Indiegogo kicked off in February of 2022 with an ambitious goal of $30,000. It was definitely a campaign done right, with frequent updates, photos, videos, interviews, and other features letting fans and donors know exactly what was being done and planned for. The Indiegogo fully funded on March 25, and by its “end” date of April 2 had taken in a staggeringly impressive $33,005 from 139 backers!

I put “end” in quotation marks because Indiegogo has a feature that allows campaigns that reach their goals before the deadline to continue fundraising with InDemand status, and that’s exactly what Farragut Forward has done in the two years since. Another $10K in donations has been raised in the last two years, bringing the campaign within just $7K of the $50K guideline limit, and the race isn’t over yet. Farragut Forward is continuing its crowd-funding efforts, having published this recent blog and released the following video after wrapping up its final major location shoot last month…

If you’d like to help Farragut Forward with a donation—or a second or third donation if you’ve already contributed—here’s the link to their Indiegogo campaign…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

LIGHT-YEARS BEYOND “just” a fan film, FARRAGUT FORWARD still needs YOUR help to hit $50K!

You’d think $37,745 would be enough money to make a single Star Trek fan film, right? And in most cases, you’d be 100% correct. But when it comes to FARRAGUT FORWARD, well, there’s Star Trek fan films and then there’s BLOW-YOUR-FRIGGIN’-MIND Star Trek fan films!!! And Farragut Forward certainly falls into the latter category.

With one shoot still to go scheduled for this fall, the team just wrapped filming on one of the most ambitious bridge sets ever constructed for a Star Trek fan film. This followed other major shoots in starship corridors, sickbay, and a Klingon bird-of-prey…each with equally amazing sets and costumes of the highest caliber. Beyond just impeccable monster maroons and Klingon outfits, they also recreated the most detailed cadet jumpsuits, command jackets, white medical uniforms, and even the engineering radiation suits from the 80s and 90s Star Trek feature films!

Back in February of 2022, showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON and director JOHNNY K. launched an Indiegogo campaign with a goal of $30K. They ultimately exceeded that goal, meaning the campaign shifted to “InDemand” status and could continue raising donations indefinitely. And since then, they’ve added a few thousand dollars more. But they’re currently trying to take their total up to the $50K level…the maximum allowed by the fan film guidelines.

With all of the sets built, costumes created, and 80% of the footage shot, why are they looking for even MORE money now? The short answer is that they’ve spent way more of their own money than they ever expected to…well into the many thousands of dollars. And it shows! Don’t worry, if they don’t hit their $50K stretch goal, Farragut Forward will still be completed and released. But with this kind of quality, I’m hopeful that fans can help pitch in just a little bit more to ease the burden on the Farragut Films team’s wallets.

If you’d like to donate (or donate again), here is the link:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

And remember, even if you can’t afford to give anything more yourself, simply posting, sharing, and helping to spread the link to your friends and fellow fans can go a long way.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to see some of the indescribable footage they’ve shot so far, here are their three latest behind-the-scenes videos that will make your jaw drop…

FARRAGUT FORWARD is shooting for the big FIVE-OH of crowd-funding!

Oh, man! Things are looking SO amazing for the upcoming movie-era Star Trek fan film FARRAGUT FORWARD, from showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON and director JOHNNY K. Before the launch of their Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign last year, they wowed fans with this awesome trailer for a sequel to the long-running and beloved fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT…

That campaign managed to take in more than $33K in donations as of last April, and since it exceeded its original stated goal of $30K, the campaign qualified for InDemand status, meaning that more donations could be collected. And so you can still donate a few bucks (or more) yourself by clicking here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

In the ten months since the campaign went into InDemand status, Farragut Forward pulled in an additional $2,810 dollars, bringing the total to nearly $36K! But John and Johnny want to push that number all the way up to $50K, the maximum limit set by the fan film guidelines.

Can they do it?

Well, once thing that will certainly help them is the following behind-the-scenes video that they just released showing some of the jaw-dropping progress they’ve made so far. Take a look…

Now are you ready to donate (possibly donate again)? If so, here’s that link just in case you missed it…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

Oh, wait, you probably want to know what all of this extra money is going to pay for, right? After all, they already raised so much. Why do they need even more?

Conveniently for you, I asked Johnny K. that same question! And this was his answer…

All additional money raised will continue to go to things like set construction, making what’s already high-quality even better, and allowing for additional sets/rooms that we’d like to include in our story. It will also help cover travel and logistics costs for our climactic third act, which will be BIG!

In addition to the above video scenes in the corridors and sickbay of the USS Farragut, they’ve also completed filming the brig and lab scenes on board the Klingon bird-of-prey. Here are some screen grabs that were shared on social media showing the quality of those sets and costumes…

Three shoots remain in order to complete principal photography later this year, and one of them will be on the BRIDGE, which is still under construction. The available budget will determine how much of that bridge can be built. Obviously, I ‘d love to see a full 360-degree bridge—or as close to that as possible!—so I just dropped another twenty bucks into the hat.

If you want to do likewise, well, let’s bring that Indiegogo link back for another encore, shall we…?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

And as always, even if you can’t afford to support a fan film crowd-funding campaign yourself, word-of-mouth is a priceless gift you can give to spread the Indiegogo hyperlink and the video(s). As you can see, even Captain Marko Ramius of the Red October is promoting this campaign…

FARRAGUT FORWARD’s first full foray into frenetic fan filming looks PHENOMENAL (featuring a few final photos)!

If you’re anything like me, you just looked at the above image and asked, “Wait, is this a FAN film???” And yes, yes it is.

Earlier this year, the folks at FARRAGUT FORWARD, the sequel to the long-running and celebrated Star Trek fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT, held an Indiegogo crowd-funder that managed to raise $33K for their newest effort—a TOS movie-era story featuring impeccable monster maroon costumes and amazing interior sets!

Neither of the above should surprise fans familiar with the team behind this production. Led by JOHN BROUGHTON, many of these folks are the same people who designed and built most of the incredible TOS set reproductions still being used at NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS in Kingsland, GA. Others are brand new to the adventure of constructing Star Trek sets, but the one thing they have in common is that their work looks incredible…

And beyond those amazing sets, the costumes are uncanny in their accuracy. Not only will this production be featuring monster maroons, hand-crafted and tailored to each individual actor, but they’ve also recreated movie-era engineering radiation suits and some of the best cadet uniforms I have ever seen…and that includes the ones in Star Trek II! No, seriously. Take a look at actress DANA NORVILLE—quite possibly the first person from Barbados to ever appear in a Star Trek fan film—wearing her costume…

In the case of one actor, JONATHON JAMES, only half a costume was needed, as Jonathon already had a very nice Anovos monster maroon. So John Broughton just sewed him up a pair of pants with the right striping, and another background extra was now properly dressed…

*It was “take-your-daughter to the future day” for Jonathon James, who described the experience of being on set as “an absolute dream come true.”*

Of course, none of those sets or costumes would have been possible without the money to pay for them, much of which was supplied by enthusiastic and supportive fans (like me!) through their Indiegogo. And although the campaign officially “ended” back in April of this year, because it reached and surpassed its goal, Farragut Forward gets to continue on as an “In Demand” status crowd-funder. And that means that fans can STILL donate, even now! Indeed, since April, an additional $1,500 has come in with even more possible. In fact, you can donate right now at the link below…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

The biggest news so far happened over the weekend of October 8-9 when, after years of anticipation and months of pre-production, filming actually began! With all of these unbelievable movie-era sets fully assembled and actors wearing these intricate movie-era uniforms, the cameras began rolling in Frederick, Maryland, with results that looked like this…

Now there are TWO crowd-funding campaigns in “IN DEMAND” status: AVALON and FARRAGUT FORWARD!

For anyone who’s curious, the 2-month long crowd-funding campaign for the AVALON UNIVERSE’s ambitious new multiversal crossover fan film, CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS, finished up with $11,605. Since it surpassed its initial $8K goal (by 45%, in fact!), Indiegogo allows the the campaign to shift into “In Demand” status, meaning showrunner JOSHUA IRWIN can continue to crowd-fund beyond this past Monday’s deadline.

Oh course, if you’re talking AMBITIOUS fan films that are still crowd-funding using “In Demand” Indiegogos, you have to enthusiastically include FARRAGUT FORWARD from showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON and director JOHNNY K. They already released a short teaser trailer back in February that blew people’s socks off with the quality of the monster maroon uniforms, Klingon armor and make-up, and overall production quality. Take a look…

At the same time, they launched an Indiegogo to raise $30K intended to complete the full film, a sequel to their long-running STARSHIP FARRAGUT fan series. At the start of their campaign, I interviewed John and Johnny about the new project, which you can watch here…

Like Avalon, the Farragut Forward Indiegogo managed to surpass their goal, finishing at $33K on April 2 and shifting into “In Demand” status. And since then, they’ve managed to add 11 more backers and an extra $1.5K on top of their previous total. Johnny K. confirmed to me that the campaign is still very much active…

Our crowd-funder on Indiegogo is still open, and additional funds will give us even more options for Klingon sets, and maybe even a few surprises. So please keep the donations coming, and help spread the word that we’re still funding. Now is a perfect time to jump on board and help be a part of this project.

Here’s the link to donate:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production

Johnny continued…

There’s so much passion and genuine love for Star Trek, and we all know that we’re creating something special. You can just feel it. Dozens of very talented people are taking time away from their personal lives and families to bring this vision to life, and we’re incredibly grateful for that.

In the meantime, John Broughton continues to supervise the creation of the costumes, the construction of the sets and props, and a whole bunch of other pre-production tasks. And he’s been chronicling these efforts in a series of updates posted to their Indiegogo page. Speaking of sets, take a look at this…!

Impressed? Johnny K. sure is…

I was blown away when I saw the mocked-up sets for the first time. It just reinforces how massive this undertaking really is. From the sets, to the top-tier costumes, props, SFX and VFX, the time and energy poured into this production is unbelievable.

Filming kicks off on October 8, and we’ll be shooting off and on in several stages for many months and into next year. It’s a huge story to tell and we’re taking our time with it to make the best film we can possibly make.

FARRAGUT FORWARD blasts past $30K goal, adds two new STRETCH GOALS!

Earlier this week, the folks at FARRAGUT FORWARD did what seemed almost inconceivable to many just two short months ago: reach and surpass a $30K crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo!

Since the publication of the fan film guidelines in June of 2016, no Star Trek fan film (with one unusual exception) has surpassed $25K in crowd-funding (not counting the DS9 and Voyager documentaries, of course). And indeed, after their first four weeks, Farragut Forward‘s campaign was struggling just to get over $3K…only 10% of the way there. And this despite releasing this really amazing PROLOGUE trailer right before the start of the campaign…

But showrunners JOHN BROUGHTON and JOHNNY K. weren’t worried. Instead, they redoubled their efforts to create content and released behind-the-scenes features, interviews, and videos almost daily (sometimes even more frequently!). And while doing all this online publicity and marketing, they also reached out directly to several people they hoped would become significant backers.

“I wish I’d filmed more of all the work that happens behind the scenes during a funding campaign,” says Johnny K., the director of Farragut Forward‘s premiere fan film and the owner of KAOTICA STUDIOS, the company producing the project. “All the planning, the coordination, the late-night production meetings after full days of work…you never see how much work goes into these things until you live it. These are passion projects, and they’re not easy. I’m so happy we are funded and get to see this project come to fruition.”

Now, with just 3 days left in the campaign, and with donations having reached an amazing $33,541, John and Johnny have added not just one but two exciting stretch goals!

If they manage to hit $37K by this Sunday’s deadline, they will build the full movie-era Klingon Bird-of-Prey bridge set. And beyond that, if they reach $40K by the end of this weekend, they will also build the transporter room and full corridor set!

How did they manage to reach this incredible crowd-funding milestone? As I said, they courted some big donors. Seven backers gave $1,000 contributions while three others gave $5,000 each! But the other $11,500 has come in from more than 125 different backers with donations ranging from less than $10 all the way up to $500. And indeed, as the total began to edge closer to the goal last week, a number of folks doubled down to get FF across the finish line.

“I couldn’t be more excited about what we’re about to do,” adds Johnny K. “Huge thanks to everyone who has supported this project and helped us reach our goal!”

And now, with just a few days left, FF is within $3.5K of being able to construct a full Bird-of-Prey bridge. Can they make it? And how about a transporter room and corridor, too? If you’d like to help them make fan film history, click on the link below…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production#/

With two and a half weeks remaining, the FARRAGUT FORWARD Indiegogo passes $15,000!

On the one hand, $15K is only halfway to the $30K goal of the current Indiegogo campaign for FARRAGUT FORWARD, the movie-era sequel to the long-running fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT. And with only 17 days left, that means they’ve got just about 25% of the time left to get the remaining half.

On the other hand, few Star Trek fan films have managed to get even as far as $15K since the publication of the fan film guidelines back in June of 2016. And they also spent their first four weeks struggling to get over $3K. So really, they’ve taken in nearly $12K in donations in just the past three and a half weeks…and that is VERY impressive!

One of their donors gave $5K, and three others threw in $1K each…which certainly helps! They’ve also had three $500 donors and eight $200 donors. So that’s $11K right there from just 15 donors. The other 70-or-so backers have given at levels ranging from $5 or $10 up to $150.

So how are they managing to generate so much enthusiasm and support so quickly? Things started rolling after they had a table at the annual FARPOINT Convention near Baltimore, MD at the end of February. And since then, showrunner (and lead actor) JOHN BROUGHTON and director JOHNNY K. have been on a tear releasing engaging behind the scenes content! One of their most exciting offerings so far has been this new video released last week:

But there have been a dozen other, almost daily (sometimes twice daily!) updates posted to this page on their Indiegogo campaign in the last twelve days…some of them rather elaborate and filled with images from pre-production like in-depth looks into building the practical ship models that will be used for the visual FX…

Sneak peeks at the Klingon make-up and costuming…

Updates on early set construction and those awesome monster maroon uniforms…

Plus there are cast spotlights, links to podcast interviews (they’ve been doing a lot of those), and the announcement that the Grand Chieftain of CGI, SAMUEL COCKINGS, has joined the team to provide digital VFX to augment their practical model effects.

And of course, this is the point in the blog where I provide a link to the Indiegogo campaign and ask you to please help support this project if you can because it looks so amazing. Also, it would be totally awesome if a fan film could once again raise $30K—almost like the good ol’ days!

Here’s the link…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-forward-a-star-trek-fan-production#