Ryan T. Husk – Fan Film Factor

SIX-DAY Virtual Trek Con is FREE to Everyone and it STARTS TODAY with 35 Star Trek Celebrities!

You say you haven’t been to a Star Trek convention in months? And of course, it’s looking like there might not be any in-person conventions any time in the foreseeable future. So yeah, this pandemic totally sucks. But there is one silver lining in in the cloud: convention celebrity guests are stuck at home, too.

How is that a silver lining? Well, it means that we fans can rub virtual elbows with them (and with other fans) via YouTube livestreams, and there’s no need to rent convention space or pay to fly the celebrity guests to other cities and put them up in hotels. In other words, virtual conventions can be FREE!

Sure, there are no dealers rooms or autograph tables or photo ops. On the other hand, no lines…and you don’t need no stinkin’ badges either! So virtual cons are the next best thing to being there—and at least for now, they’re the only game in town.

Thus far, there have been a few scattered livestreams here and there with Trek celebrities. But starting today and finishing on Monday (July 15-20), SUMMER VIRTUAL TREK CON 2020 will kick off with 35 confirmed guests…ranging from authors and VFX and make-up people all the way up to the major Star Trek stars you all love to see, like…

Nichelle Nichols – Lt. Uhura: TOS with a Special Message for her Fans!
Doug Jones – Saru: DSC
Nana Visitor – Kira Nerys: DS9
Michelle Hurd – Raffi: ST Picard
Tim Russ – Tuvok: VOY
Armin Shimerman – Quark: DS9
Alexander Siddig – Dr. Bashir: DS9
Andy Robinson – Garak: DS9
Robert Beltran – Chakotay: VOY
Gary Graham – Ambassador Soval: ENT
Cirroc Lofton – Jake Sisko: DS9
Ira Steven Behr – Writer, Exec Producer: DS9, TNG
Robert Hewitt Wolfe – Writer: TNG and DS9
Max Grodenchik – Rom: DS9
Mary Chieffo – Chancellor L’Rell: DSC
Raven Dauda – Dr. Pollard: DSC
Hana Hatae – Molly O’Brien: TNG, DS9
Doug Drexler – Make-up, Art Department, VFX: TNG, DS9, VGR, and EN
The Sons of Kirk – Star Trek-themed rock band, fronted by Gary Graham

And the list goes on and on. You can see everyone who is scheduled here.

And speaking of schedules, here’s a link to the all of the panels and events for the next six days (including direct links to each YouTube livestream):

https://www.virtualtrekcon.com/Calendar

Attending is as simple as clicking any of the YouTube links listed on the Calendar page. And if you go to the YouTube channel below and hit the SUBSCRIBE button, you can sign up for reminders of when each live panel begins:

https://www.youtube.com/THE7THRULE

To my knowledge, this is the most ambitious virtual Trek convention assembled since the pandemic started. It’s the brainchild of CIRROC LOFTON (Jake Sisko) and RYAN T. HUSK (fan filmmaker and cameo guy on a number of studio Trek productions) along with MALÍSSA LONGO (widow of the recently passed and sorely missed ARON “Nog” EISENBERG). It’s a fan labor of love, where fans can participate and ask questions via virtual chats.

Come be a part of history in the making!

I just had an AWESOME fan film week! (personal)

My life isn’t usually all that interesting or exciting…at least, not all in one week. But what a week it was!

(Actually, it was only really exciting if you happen to be a Trekkie interested in fan films. If you’re my wife, it’s more like, “That’s nice, honey. I’m glad you had such a good time. Did you remember to empty the dishwasher?”

And that’s why I’m writing this blog—because I have now emptied the dishwasher, and I really want to tell you guys about the fan film filled week I just had…because you care, right? (Aw don’t answer that; it’ll just kill my buzz.)

Continue reading “I just had an AWESOME fan film week! (personal)”

BLADE OF HONOR launches their NEW INDIEGOGO with a touching tribute to the late RICHARD HATCH… (I cried.)

Damn, I miss RICHARD HATCH.

For most sci-fi fans, he will always be Captain Apollo from Battlestar Galactica…and possibly even Tom Zarek from the new Battlestar Galactica. For followers of fan films, Richard Hatch will be remembered for the intensity of his performance as the Klingon Commander Kharn in Prelude to Axanar. But soon fans will be able to see Richard Hatch’s final performance in front of the camera, filmed a mere five weeks before his tragic and untimely death from pancreatic cancer.

I first featured BLADE OF HONOR here on Fan Film Factor nearly a year ago in a 3-part interview with RYAN T. HUSK, the Executive Producer of this independent fan series. No, it’s not a Star Trek fan film, but it does feature Tim “Tuvok” Russ and Aron “Nog” Eisenberg plus a number of other actors, producers, and VFX luminaries from such Trek fan productions as Renegades, Horizon, Axanar, and New Voyages. So yeah, I still consider Blade of Honor appropriate to cover here on Fan Film Factor.

In their first Kickstarter last summer, they set a goal of $30,000 and managed to raise more than $51,000. This allowed them to film their pilot episode and to do a fair amount of editing and sound engineering. But they need a bit more funding to complete post-production with:

Space Battles, starships, spacescapes, etc..
Special effects, airbending, landscapes, etc.
Green screen composition
Music and scoring
Sound effects and foley
More editing
Color Correction

This time, they are using Indiegogo with a goal of $28,000. Pre-launch outreach to previous donors (like me!) has already brought them nearly 20% of the way to their goal with a full month left. If you want to make a donation yourself or learn more about the production, please click here.

And if you’re wondering whether or not you should donate to help complete this production—Richard Hatch’s final cinematic performance—and turn it into the best independent film it can possibly be, please watch this touching tribute to Richard by the cast who were the last actors to ever work with him…

This final funding effort will push Blade of Honor into a different stratosphere, and really allow us to make the final product huge, jaw-dropping, and something we can all be proud of.

Indie sci-fi film BLADE OF HONOR takes in $51,300 in its first Kickstarter!

Cover 2 Yesterday, Blade of Honor completed its 40-day Kickstarter campaign with a very impressive $51,302 raised from 828 backers. Although not technically a Star Trek fan film, Blade of Honor features many notable Star Trek and sci-fi actors, as well as several veterans of Star Trek fan films.

Their posted Kickstarter goal was $30,000 to make a single pilot webisode. By surpassing that goal, Blade of Honor gets to keep the Kickstarter money that was raised. Once the $30,000 goal was passed a few weeks ago, a stretch goal of $58,000 for webisode #2 was targeted and nearly reached. It’s unknown yet whether the extra money will be used immediately or kept in reserve to be used after a second Kickstarter fully funds episode two. For now, however, work can begin in earnest on their pilot.

Click here to read more about this project from a great interview with producer Ryan T. Husk.

BLADE OF HONOR (interview), part 3

Last time: Ryan T. Husk, executive producer of the independent sci-fi series Blade of Honor, discussed the cast and crew of this exciting new project that’s currently raising money for its pilot episode (and possibly more episodes!) via Kickstarter. This web series features a number of Star Trek actors like Tim Russ, Aaron Eisenberg, and Cirroc Lofton, plus professional actors from other series, including Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica and James Kyson from Heroes. There’s also a bunch of veterans from Star Trek fan films like New Voyages and Horizon.

Ryan’s insights into to film industry have been fascinating, to say the least! As our interview concludes, we start off by discussing what differentiates an independent film from a fan film. And then we jump into how to set up and run a crowd-funding campaign… Continue reading “BLADE OF HONOR (interview), part 3”

BLADE OF HONOR (interview), part 1

Initially, Ryan T. Husk was going to sit in on that fascinating conversation that I recently had with Alec Peters and Mike Bawden about the Realities of Crowd-funding. But ironically (or perhaps appropriately) Ryan couldn’t participate because he was busy launching a Kickstarter campaign for a brand new, original sci-fi fan series call Blade of Honor.

Even though Ryan’s new project wasn’t technically a Star Trek fan film, it features a number of Star Trek actors both from the various television series as well as several Star Trek fan film veterans. So even though I usually limit myself to mainly Star Trek fan films, I was intrigued enough by Blade of Honor that I figured I’d make an exception.

What I didn’t expect was to get some of the most amazing insights from Ryan…so much so that I was almost tempted to turn this interview into parts 5 and 6 of “The Realities of Crowd-Funding” 4-parter! Instead, just sit back and enjoy one of the most thoughtful fan filmmaker interviews I’ve done so far…

Continue reading “BLADE OF HONOR (interview), part 1”