The LIEF Erikson

Monday, April 25, 2005

Trek United initiative for fan productions

The quality and standing of FanFilms is increasing by leaps and bounds, as can be seen by the fact that Walter Koenig will reprise his role as 'Pavel Chekov' in the upcoming fourth episode the online series, STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES which will be written by one of the Original Series creators, D.C. Fontana.

Trek United has just announced the possibility that they might fund their own productions. There's a lot of confusion at the moment, so perhaps I can add to it with a few ideas/comments of my own ...
- If more fan Films are made there is the possibility of a Paramount copyright backlash. I think there should be a standardised agreement with Paramount similar to the Creative Commons idea.
- Shlomi of Vulcan mentioned Internet viewing I would suggest that Trek United take the role of Internet SciFi Channel. Provide the medium for productions in the form of a legitimate Bit Torrent, Peer-2-Peer style, Web Channel.
- OK, so something like that is well within the bounds of reality RIGHT NOW! You could probably even get an existing outfit to set it up or handle it for you. Probably minimal expense.
- To be blunt, I don't believe that Trek United has the expertese to produce Fan Films. It has ideas, energy, commitment and has an organisation set up for communication between fans, media publicity and fund raising. It should do what it does best ...
*** Maintain a forum for Trek Fans to support the entertainment they want.
*** Publicise that entertainment
*** Raise funds to foster that entertainment
- So Trek United raises the money and publicises what for the sake of argument I'll call Fan Films. Who decides who gets the money? Why not have periodic Fan Film Festivals ( like the CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Awards?) having at least two categories - Peer judged and Fan judged
- The Peer judged competition selects a winner using an expert panel chosen from TV/film professionals, SciFi authors, professionals who have worked on Star Trek in the past ...
- the Fan judged competition selects a winner by a popular vote of the fans (fen? I can never be sure)
- The prize? Funding for a full scale production
- While you're at it run Peer and Fan judged competitions for scripts, comics, special effects, Flash productions, radio and stage productions

[pause to draw breath]

- I've talked about Trek but, yes, I think it should be open to others such as Star Wars, etc. However I believe that Trek United has an obligation to maintain Star Trek for it's fans though. Come on, it's called "Trek United" not "SciFi United".
- Should a totally new fictional universe be built? I'm open to new ideas but Im here because I like Trek. Leave it to the Fans to decide ...
*** Call for submissions
*** Put them to a Peer judged and Fan judged competition
*** Fund the winners
- The majority of Fans get what they want
- The Trek community funds works judged the same way as the Hugos which we can assume will be good quality.
- The only ones who might loose out are Paramount unless ...
- Why not offer the completed winners productions to Paramount as Pilot films? They would get a Pilot that they haven't paid for, PLUS free publicity in the target audience (SciFi) and the Fan Film production teams could get a shot at the big time!
- Dare I say that they (Paramount) could turn it into a reality TV mini-series ...

  • "SciFi Survivor"
  • "My Film Rules"
  • "Trek Boot Camp"

Who threw that! OK, I deserved it! (@!*) I said the "R" word.

I think this initiative by Trek United has the potential to change the face of entertainment as we know it. For the better.

This was posted in substantially the same form on Trek United, Starfleet-L and SFI-Writers

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