Jonathan Lane – Page 16 – Fan Film Factor

And while everyone ELSE talks about Industry Studios…let’s look at some WILDFLOWERS!

Yesterday, as many of you probably already know, ALEC PETERS broke the Internet by making this announcement. Although the INDUSTRY STUDIOS Indiegogo campaign has raised $20,000 and still has 14 days to go, it looks like it will fall far short of the $60,000 goal (or their six-figure stretch goals). And this has necessitated some hard decisions on the part of Alec, his team, and a few key donors.

It’s also led to a flurry of activity, accusation, and antagonism (I love alliteration!) on the part of the Axanar/Alec “detractor brigade”…along with a whole bunch of rumors that I’ve seen spring up like, well, like wildflowers during a California super-bloom!

And speaking of wildflowers, I’ve had a wonderful spring break vacation with my family this past week. We visited Santa Barbara, Solvang, and finally Pismo Beach. And this past Wednesday, while Wendy and Jayden enjoyed a lovely beach day, I took the car and drove 200 miles round trip to Carrizo Plain National Monument…a.k.a. “the middle of nowhere.” Paved roads are a rarity there, but in a good rain year, the wildflowers can be stunning! And this year, the bloom was indescribable…except through photos (and not even then, because you can’t smell photos).

So what do wildflowers and dirt roads have to do with Star Trek fan films and Industry Studios? Absolutely nothing! But unfortunately, the timing of Alec’s announcement corresponded with the final two days of our family vacation along the scenic Central California coast. Today we drive 190 miles down US 101 back to L.A. Then we unpack.

And while I have a lot to say about the breaking Industry Studios news and the crazy rumors (like eviction or that there never really was a landlord—sheesh, really???), I just don’t have the time at the moment…I have to pack up my computer in just a few more minutes! Also, the situation itself is still developing and unfolding, and new details will be coming over the next few days and weeks.

So yes, expect some coverage here on Fan Film Factor with Jonathan’s usual colorful commentary. But for right now—since it’s my blog and there’s no rules about what I can feature—I’d like to invite you to enjoy a different kind of colorful commentary and enjoy a sampling of 45 (out of 600!!!) of the best wildflower photos that I took at Carrizo Plain last Wednesday. Just click on any of the images below…

A day-trip to the middle of nowhere yielded one of my best wildflower picture days ever!

Posted by Jonathan Lane on Friday, April 7, 2017

It’s my party, and I’ll reply if I want to…

If you tend to read the comments sections of my blogs, you know that I get quite a lot of posts from Axanar detractors looking to accuse Alec Peters or Axanar of this or that crime or incompetence or atrocity. Seldom do I trash any of these comments, and I usually provide some kind of response because, well, isn’t that what a blogger is supposed to do?

But lately, it just seems like I’m spending hours and hours each week just reading and responding to all of these angry and challenging posts, leaving me less time to focus on fan films and even my family. Granted, I still prioritize the latter two over doing any kind of response writing, but that just means I write most of my responses really, really late at night. Or sometimes I have a little time during the day and try to sneak a few responses in.

This happened yesterday afternoon as I was having a marathon session of dealing with detractors like Rand Johnson saying things like this:

Let me remind you that it was you who FIRST started being a condescending, egotistical, pompous, self-righteous, conceited, ego maniac, holier-than-thou, hotshot, puffed-up, self-centered, snobbish and stuck-up blogger who defends a man who made outlandish claims he was going to make a fan film then spent all the money on crap he did not need to make a fan film. Then you attacked anyone who criticized that man and your hero worship of that man. Or criticized you for promoting and defending that man who took donor money and used it as personal income to financially benefit himself and his associates.

Man, just reading that again exhausted me! And that’s just one comment, folks. I get so many.

But then I received a call that has changed everything…

Continue reading “It’s my party, and I’ll reply if I want to…”

The CONTINUING MISSION podcast is back…with special guest: ME!

These days, there seem to be an almost infinite number of Star Trek-themed podcasts….and many of them fall under the branded umbrella of TREK.FM, including “Mission Log,” “Star Trek Rewatch,” “Literary Treks,” “Standard Orbit,” “To the Journey,” “Meta Treks,” and so many others.

Up until recently, however, one of my personal favorite of the Trek.fm podcasts was missing in action: “Continuing Mission.” This particular blog focused on the ever-expanding world of Star Trek fan films, interviewing a different creator or creative team each week. Throughout 2014, Trek.fm founder and overachiever, CHRISTOPHER JONES, would host every episode, twenty-five in total during that year. He also hosted a bunch of other Trek.fm podcasts at the same time. So it’s probably not surprising that “Continuing Mission” dropped from twenty-five episodes in 2014 to only two (yes, two) total podcasts in all of 2015.

In the first half of 2016, “Continuing Mission” had a brief, six-episode resurrection under the hosting guidance of my friend DENNIS CASTELLO. In fact, I recorded a podcast for Dennis along with co-guest TOMMY KRAFT (of Star Trek: Horizon) shortly after the fan film guidelines came out. Alas, that two-hour and twenty minute impassioned discussion never made it to upload, as Dennis found himself unable to keep producing quality episodes consistently.

And so, “Continuing Mission” had been languishing in podcast limbo for ten months until a few weeks ago when new host TONY ROBINSON was talked into resurrecting it yet again by the ever-convincing and always-charming Christopher Jones. Tony still isn’t quite sure how he got roped into it, but he’s an ardent Trekkie from the U.K. currently living in Ireland, and he was willing to give it his best shot.

Tony’s first podcast debuted on February 25, featuring show-runner RAY TESI of Starship Republic (click here to donate to their Indiegogo). And to follow that up, well, Tony’s latest guest has the initials J.L. and he just typed the words “Tony’s latest guest has the initials J.L.” Yep, I was podcast guest number two (I’ve been called worse) on the new “Continuing Mission,” and my episode just went live yesterday!

So if you just can’t get enough of me rambling on and on here in print, feel free to listen to me ramble on and on through your speakers! Discover the not-so-secret origin of Fan Film Factor, learn how I got a job working for Paramount licensing, and find out where I go to get all the latest news on Star Trek fan films to feature here on this blog.

This link will take you directly to my podcast interview. Enjoy!

CORRECTION! — It was NOT CHEAPER (as far as I can tell) for AXANAR PRODUCTIONS to BUILD a studio than to RENT one

One little mistake…

On September 23, 1999, the Mars Surveyor Orbiter crashed into the red planet because of a very simple (some say “stupid”) error. According to the NASA.gov website:

…one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for a key spacecraft operation.

One little mistake…

The result was the loss of a $125 million satellite.

In early February 2017, I was IM’ing with one of my local producer friends, asking how much it costs to rent a decent studio/sound stage here in Los Angeles. He IM’d me back: “About $15-$30K per day.”

That number intrigued and excited me. It wasn’t long before I’d done the math and determined that–lordy lordy!–it was actually CHEAPER for Alec Peters to have built out Ares/Industry studios than to have RENTED an existing sound stage! And the savings difference was in the six-figures!!!!

This was HUGE! Or so I thought…

Continue reading “CORRECTION! — It was NOT CHEAPER (as far as I can tell) for AXANAR PRODUCTIONS to BUILD a studio than to RENT one”

We…are BACK!!!

Thanks to the fine people at UPS, my new MacBook Pro arrived this evening at 7:00pm (one day earlier than expected)! I installed all my old goodies from my last backup onto the new internal drive while I gave Jayden his dinner and got him ready for bed. And after a quick dinner of my own, I got to work answering a few e-mails that I couldn’t get to while my old computer was seizing.

I am now ready to dive back into FAN FILM FACTOR…one day early! This means that I expect to have the Alec Peters‘ interview posted on Thursday (part 1) and Friday (part 2). And I’ll begin catching up on the now-38 comments beginning on Wednesday. But don’t expect too much in the next 24 hours, as I’m working tomorrow (yes, I still do some freelance twice a week while Jayden’s at school). But I definitely want to clear out this backlog of comments…and my apologies in advance if I don’t post responses to certain folks (especially the Tellarites).

It’s good to be back! Now as I type letters on my keyboard, they actually appear on my screen without a three second delay! I can’t begin to tell you how annoying it was NOT to have that “luxury” for a week. Thanks for your patience, everyone.

Listen to JONATHAN’s radio interview discussing the AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Last Saturday, your sometimes-humble blogger, Jonathan Lane, appeared live on the SHANE PLAYS geek talk radio show to discuss the AXANAR lawsuit and surprising last-minute legal settlement. Since then, folks who weren’t able to listen when it first aired have asked me when and how they can listen to the entire broadcast online.

Wonder no more!

The recording was just posted to iTunes, Google Play Music and Stitcher.

There’s also a direct MP3 download:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/shaneplays/Shane_Plays_1-28-17_podcast.mp3

The Axanar discussion begins at 15:50 point.

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!

The PERFECT stocking stuffer for CHRISTMAS – and SANTA’S even a TREKKIE!

You can rediscover the magic and wonder of Christmas in the pages of a touching and inspirational book…a book with my name on the cover!

Being Santa Claus is a heartwarming collection of memoirs from one of the world’s most dedicated, professional real-bearded Santas, and it’s the perfect gift to get for someone you love.

And I’m not just saying that because I co-wrote it! Santa Sal is truly one-of-a-kind, and in the pages of this book, you’ll learn why he is one of the most special and amazing Santa Clauses that you will ever read about.

What does any of this have to do with Star Trek fan films? Nothing, really (except that Santa Sal does happen to be a huge Trekkie, which we mention in the acknowledgements at the end). But no, this isn’t a blog post about fan films. However, I hope you’ll indulge me with some holiday goodwill, because I’d like to tell you about my white-bearded friend and the wonderful book we wrote together.

Continue reading “The PERFECT stocking stuffer for CHRISTMAS – and SANTA’S even a TREKKIE!”