There'll Be Fan Films But Not As We Know Them

After weeks of speculation, Paramount and CBS have unveiled their guidelines for the future of fan films.

The list of points have been posted most prominently on the star trek.com site and have sparked a great deal of response due to their apparently severe restrictions which will change the face of fan films as they exist. It's also key to note that these are termed as "guidelines" and not rules - however woe betide anyone who would dare to side step their words. 

If we go back to the very end of 2015 we can see that it was the still ongoing legal battle between Paramount/CBS and the Axanar production which has led to the introduction of these guidelines. I for one totally understand that Paramount and CBS have every right to be invested in the use of their intellectual property but the lawsuit against Axanar certainly stirred the pot and devisely split the Star Trek fandom - were you standing with Axanar or against? That was the question most fans were asking each other as we entered the 50th anniversary year.

While I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of the court case, it is worth saying that even though JJ Abrams announced at the Beyond special event that the suit was going away it is still rolling on with Axanar now counter-suing for losses as well. Oh the fun. However, part of the disagreement did focus on the introduction of fan film guidelines that would stop such instances of productions skirting far more close to the line than the IP holders were happy with as seems to be the case with formerly independent production Axanar.

I'm not a lawyer (yes, honestly I'm not) but the case is still super interesting and certainly the mudslinging, name calling, fan-banning and parody accounts has kept Twitter (and some relevant forums) very entertaining even if it has made the Star Trek fandom look utterly ridiculous at times.  

With the new guidelines announced there was a lot of hate thrown in the direction of Axanar. Whether it's justified or not, the last few months have not been kind to anyone associated with it. Former players have talked out against the project and even persons asked to become involved perhaps through inappropriate means have voiced their concerns about the project. Is the studio being rented to to other productions? What was Peters being paid? What happened to all that donor money - was it spent jetting around the globe to events? Let's not speculate on all the "news" that vomitted out of the original case but the rather scrappy trailer produced recently as well as the latest one minute polished teaser seem to have left fans speechless and shocked at what was promised and what has been produced. As someone who donated I really don't know where I stand going forward or if I will ever see any of the perks promised. Heck, with these new guidelines can Axanar actually be completed? I would say not because there will need to be changes made that will possibly make the project in-viable and what's going to have happened to all that cash?

So to the guidelines.

Well they will certainly mean the end of Axanar as it currently exists and may well have a big effect on series such as Continues, New Voyages and friends of Some Kind of Star Trek, Anthology and Dreadnought Dominion.  Let's break them down and air my thoughts...

1. The fan production must be less than 15 minutes for a single self-contained story, or no more than two segments, episodes or parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total, with no additional seasons, episodes, parts, sequels or remakes.

Being only 15 minutes in length for a single story or 30 for a segmented story plus they can only be one offs. This kills the series such as Continues immediately which has hour long episodes and uses standing sets for repeat productions. Say farewell to your long running fan series which will immediately overrun this rule in one go. Just think about Renegades which has only just started filming its second film.

2. The title of the fan production or any parts cannot include the name “Star Trek.” However, the title must contain a subtitle with the phrase: “A STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTION” in plain typeface. The fan production cannot use the term “official” in either its title or subtitle or in any marketing, promotions or social media for the fan production.

The removal of Star Trek from the title isn't a big thing for Axanar for example but think of the impact for shows such as Continues or New Voyages for example - it's a part of what they are. The inclusion of "A Star Trek fan production on the title card is pretty fine and I don't see there being many issues over that. No shock that you can't use the word "official".

3. The content in the fan production must be original, not reproductions, recreations or clips from any Star Trek production. If non-Star Trek third party content is used, all necessary permissions for any third party content should be obtained in writing.

Basically it's got to be 100% original material and if you don't own the copyright to it you're going to need to ask if it's not a Star Trek property. You can't reproduce anything, copy anything or use anything (clips) from the show or movies. Wondering if this also encompasses using any characters from the show such as Apollo in Continues' Pilgrim of Eternity?

4. If the fan production uses commercially-available Star Trek uniforms, accessories, toys and props, these items must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations of such commercially available products.

So fan productions can't be making their own uniforms or any items that you can buy in a shop. Surely a sign that Paramount and CBS are looking to reap some sort of financial benefit from the shows because a percentage of those item sales will obviously go back to the IP holders at some point. Could push fan films into designing their own props, clothes and accessories but then does that mean it's not Star Trek anymore...?

5. The fan production must be a real “fan” production, i.e., creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs, cannot be compensated for their services, and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures’ licensees.

So no paying cast to star in your movie anymore. This also puts paid to getting Star Trek actors to guest on your show as has happened in a few of the New Voyages episodes for example (Sulu, Chekov...). This probably comes off the back of Axanar paying its cast to appear - and remember that three of the gents in their Prelude were former guest cast for Star Trek (JG Hertzler, Gary Graham, Tony Todd) so there's another nail in the coffin (yes, Todd has since left the production). Axanar made a lot of its own uniforms, patches and a lot more. Also productions like Renegades may now have to grind to a halt in light of using a plethora of Star Trek actors and making their own props for the film. 

6. The fan production must be non-commercial:

CBS and Paramount Pictures do not object to limited fundraising for the creation of a fan production, whether 1 or 2 segments and consistent with these guidelines, so long as the total amount does not exceed $50,000, including all platform fees, and when the $50,000 goal is reached, all fundraising must cease.

The fan production must only be exhibited or distributed on a no-charge basis and/or shared via streaming services without generating revenue.

The fan production cannot be distributed in a physical format such as DVD or Blu-ray.

The fan production cannot be used to derive advertising revenue including, but not limited to, through for example, the use of pre or post-roll advertising, click-through advertising banners, that is associated with the fan production.

No unlicensed Star Trek-related or fan production-related merchandise or services can be offered for sale or given away as premiums, perks or rewards or in connection with the fan production fundraising.

The fan production cannot derive revenue by selling or licensing fan-created production sets, props or costumes.

Well that's a big one. Axanar is clearly the precedent for this one as it raised somewhere in the region of $1.2million which has been spent in a variety of ways (none of which I wish to speculate on here I would add again!). The ceiling of $50,000 is interesting because I think this means it remains on a "shoestring" budget rather than moving into some serious TV/movie level budgets that Axanar was certainly prodding at with its seven figure fundraising balance. The perk DVD/Blu-ray has now been eliminated by the guidelines effectively reducing the output to the production's website and maybe to YouTube BUT you can't make any money off it whatsoever. Not a shock really with this guideline because it's protecting the IP and making sure only the licence holders are making money off the item that they own.

This extensive point also ensures that the sites can't even have advertising to bring in revenue or offer any items for sale or as tempters to donate money. For a lot of fan productions the ability to give away items is what has made the difference. Again look at the perks from Axanar including those DVDs, uniform items, ship models and the combadges and rifle props that Renegades offered as a further example.

I think we can all understand this is purely the owners making sure there's no cash being pocketed on the side.

7. The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content. The content of the fan production cannot violate any individual’s right of privacy.

No brainer. It's making sure that the Star Trek brand is kept in good repute and I think all fan productions will be able to adhere to that without any effort at all. One thing they all want is to portray the franchise effectively on the screen and for the enjoyment of the fandom.

8. The fan production must display the following disclaimer in the on-screen credits of the fan productions and on any marketing material including the fan production website or page hosting the fan production: 

“Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan production is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use. No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.”

Pretty much the same as the "A Star Trek Fan Production" line that has to be added at the beginning of the movie. Just another subtle reminder to all and sundry who is in charge of the show at the end of the day. I can't pick at this one. Straight forward. 

9. Creators of fan productions must not seek to register their works, nor any elements of the works, under copyright or trademark law.

Fair play. You would be a bit silly trying to copyright something that's already copyrighted and owned by someone else.

10. Fan productions cannot create or imply any association or endorsement by CBS or Paramount Pictures

These last few points don't do anything that's not logical really do they? If it's fan made and glaring says so as per points 2 and 8 then there's no reason why you should be implying the last point here. I guess that Axanar's independence and then comments around the IP holders being absolutely fine with it all must be reasons for this to have been included as the final line.

Commented exec producer for Dreadnought Dominion, Gary Davis when I dropped him a line shortly after the guidelines were announced: "...this is a "gut punch" to stay the least." he said, "These guidelines will bring to an end the Fan Film era as we know it. Under these guidelines any future plans for Dreadnought Dominion would be severely hobbled. The guidelines seem to be aimed at giving consent, yet making it virtually impossible to produce any semblance of a show worth watching.

"We all understand that CBS/Paramount have the right to protect their intellectual property. We further understand that the producers of Axanar overstepped the accepted bounds of crowdfunding, compared themselves with the current Star Trek productions calling themselves a "professional" film rather than a Fan Film, THEN deriving personal income FROM the crowdfunding."

It's good to see that productions - on the whole - recognise the privilege they have been allowed to play in the Star Trek universe but there is recognition that the game has changed and it's a big move by the IP holders.

Continued Gary, "However, just because there was one bad apple, shouldn't mean that CBS/Paramount cripples everyone from producing Fan Films when everyone in the past was adhering to the unspoken "rule" of Fan Films by "not making any money". Its a shame, a travesty, and will really put a bad taste in the mouths of the fans who come to enjoy the genre of Star Trek."

There we have it. A very different day for the fan film community. I like the point that these are guidelines and not RULES but you would be a bit idiotic to ignore them and incur the wrath of Paramount and CBS. Perhaps this won't be the final version and we will see the more prominent productions stepping forward and speaking to the owners about how these rules can be amended. If not then I think we can guarantee an end to the recurring webseries and the more exotic fan films such as Renegades.

It also seems that it will take some time for these rules to fully sink in and it could lead to our favourite web-series existing in a very different format. 

Wrote Vic Mignogna on the Star Trek Continues Facebook page: "Hi everyone, thank you all for your tremendous outpouring of concern and support. First and foremost, we have the utmost respect for CBS and their right to protect their property as they see fit. As soon as we know for sure how the latest developments will impact Star Trek Continues we will most certainly share it with all of you. Star Trek Continues was created purely out of love and tribute, not a desire for profit or self-promotion. Thank you again for all your support. Vic"

Did Axanar become too big? Did those involved believe they were bigger than Star Trek itself? Was it wrong declaring independence? Has it angered people who donated? I think all of those questions aren't as straight forward as they may seem depending on where you sit and that's what's really damaged the fan community - there seems to be no definitive right or wrong when it comes to the people who would be watching the end result.

This will not be the last time we'll hear about these rules as their introduction sends shockwaves across the moviemakers out there. How this announcement will affect productions currently being made or edited is also something that will have to be considered since they were in process before the guidelines were announced. What happens, for example, to the episodes of Continues that are in post-production? I hope that the issues Axanar has thrown up in the last six months do not mean an effective end to fan films but right now I'm very, very uncertain as to what the future holds.

How do you feel about the new guidelines from CBS and Paramount? Is it the end of the fan film?

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Meeting Up: Dominion Serves a Vignette

Dreadnought Dominion premiered just over two months ago with its 20 minute first episode Haunted and now has returned with a prequel of sorts.

Filmed before that already released episode, this vignette picks up the story as Commodore Grissom is cleared of any wrong-doing in relation to the Cromwell Nebula incident and is given two weeks to prepare the Dominion for departure following her lengthy repairs.

Explained Gary Davis, who plays first officer Commander Jason Brousseau; "We met over a weekend during "Farragut Fest", a mini-convention at the Farragut Films Studio in Georgia and knocked out this one-set scene in two days. Then we met again in January for a four day shoot and completed Haunted. We felt that the latter was a much better production, so it was decided to edit it, work on the visual FX, sound, and score to present it first to the public. After we completed Haunted, we then started editing Anchors Aweigh. We even did a sneak preview at the premiere of Haunted to cast and crew, then went back and smoothed it out more before finally releasing it to the public."

The episode brings the senior staff of the Dominion together over a drink aboard the Starbase for the first time and actually stays away from the ship completely, focusing solely on the characters' first interactions. In a way this does work to give us a flashback in a sense but maybe it could have been held back for a little longer and some clashes and other traits could have been seen in later episodes with some explanation then given by taking us back to these moments prior to departure. Admittedly there are a couple of uncomfortable meetings here, particularly between the commodore and Chief Brooks whose father was killed during the Cromwell Nebula incident.

My thoughts on Anchors Aweigh? It's not as good as Haunted by some miles and that episode did impress me as you'll see from the post I dropped at the beginning of June. It's easy to see this was produced fairly quickly with only two settings required and the key actors. There are no effects shots, only one use of a viewer for Grissom's conversation with Admiral Bennett very early on so it does heavily rely on your engagement with the characters rather than any inclusion of fancy tech or CG.

The challenge with the scene is that, well, nothing really happens and it all feels a bit stilted. The characters don't get a lot of room to breathe here and the dialogue does, at times, seem very bland. I know from watching Haunted that the team are much, much better than this and I came away a little disappointed. It was OK but there was nothing here that would, if I was a casual viewer, keep me interested in this show. Even the small amount of backstory sprinkled for each character didn't perk that much interest but having seen Haunted first I know that this was very much the water-test.

Now, I like Frank Parker as Grissom but again, here he's very much finding his way in the role and was a lot more convincing in Haunted. There was more depth to the commodore and it was a lot more personal. The rest of the senior staff we see here in Anchors Aweigh are given a few lines and some brief background and I hope that they are given more screentime and exploration in the third episode which has yet to be filmed.

It is the first time these characters have met and are, for the most part, feeling out the first tentative steps of what could be long-term working relationships and friendships during their time onboard the Dominion. I do want to see where this goes and having Haunted premiere first was a very good move in retrospect. It's easily the stronger segment produced to date, the acting is much better and the story worked more successfully. I definitely felt the writing in that episode was a marked improvement over Anchors Aweigh. Having Grissom step aboard the Dominion and lay his ghosts to rest made a more solid opening, almost negating the need for this flashback, bar-talk episode.

"The premise around Anchors Aweigh was simply to get "our feet wet" with our characters." said Gary (pictured right), "Starship Farragut had a vignette that they shot called Just Passing Through. It was simply in a bar on a starbase with different characters there as they reminisced about past meetings. Frank Parker Jr. envisioned Anchors Aweigh with the same premise. So this was pitched as a single set, one shot vignette that introduced the characters, and set the tone for the rest of the story. We've taken both Anchors Aweigh and Haunted and combined them and will be releasing it as a "Producer's Cut".. making it one episode. The combined offering makes it a "normal" length episode and I think Haunted compliments it and balances it out as an introduction to the action."

Maybe that's something I'll try - combining the two and watching it through as a full length episode. Thing is I think that even though only a month passed between the two shoots, there does seem to be a noticable improvement in standards from all involved. 

So not a huge review for this little installment but I like to keep my eye on this new arrival on the scene and am certainly keenly awaiting the arrival of their next story which I believe will be Redemption at Red Medusa which will see us revisiting the events that led to the near-destruction of the USS Dominion at the Cromwell Nebula incident.

Said Gary; "Episode three will be a "normal" length episode of hopefully 45 minutes or maybe longer. It is a "full blown" episode unto itself. Episode three is written and scripted and we are getting everyone's schedules and suggestions for when we may journey to our studio to film the ship scenes. 

"We will also have one or two off-site filming segments that don't involve the ship sets that we could shoot where the actors are already home based."

Excellent news from Dreadnought Dominion then that they will be giving more. Gary did note that they will be getting episode three completed before even considering embarking on a fourth story. What that might be is still open to suggestions I would believe.

You can watch the first two episodes of Dreadnought Dominion now via their website 

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Haunted by the Memories: Dreadnought Dominion Leaves Dock

While investigating the wonders of Exeter Trek I managed to get word on another fan series that's just kicked off.

Dreadnought Dominion has gone into production with a nice 20 minute bite-size episode entitled Haunted. If you're waiting for the arrival of Star Trek Continues' fourth episode to go live on 30th May, I'd certainly take a shot at this show.

Fans will immediately know the USS Dominion from the Starfleet Technical Manual researched and compiled back in the 1970's by Franz Joseph with that distinctive third nacelle, double deflector dishes and forward-facing shuttlebay. 

But let's find out a bit more about the series - for one thing, where did that spark of inspiration come from?

"Frank Parker Jr. was an extra and set builder for the web series, Starship Farragut." explained series producer Gary Davis, "It got a lot of folks, and him, REAL excited about The Original Series.

"Both Frank and I were also members of a Star Trek fan club, Starfleet International. Chapters were formed into ships and were mainly Star Trek: The Next Generation themed. Frank petitioned the club to change eras and reformed as a The Original Series chapter. He wanted something different for the Dominion fan club, so chose the Franz Joseph design for the Dreadnought Class for the chapter. After that, he then took it a step further, and asked the producers of Starship Farragut if we could use the Farragut Studios sets in Kingsland, GA to bring the adventures of the Dominion to life."

Thus was born Dreadnought Dominion. Looking for a plot for the adventure, Frank took a short story written by Gary and gave it to Randy Wrenn for a script treatment which turned into a near-total rewrite but eventually became Haunted and the episode we get to to see today.

It's been 19 months since the Dominion began her refit following a disastrous mission which saw the deaths of several members of her crew and Commodore Samuel Grissom (Frank Parker Jr) is still feeling the effects. This is very much focused on the commanding officer, tackling his feelings over the loss of so many crew and his own ability to lead the ship. Visited by the vision of his deceased first officer, Commander Don Chamberlain (Dan Scanlan) as well as a disturbing nightmare in which he is taunted and scorned by the bridge crew, Grissom does regain some of his confidence. So begins the new voyages of the USS Dominion.

Haunted is, not surprisingly, confined to the ship although there is a great intro sequence with Commodore Grissom and his Chief Engineer Stephen Denson (David R Wrenn) arriving at spacedock onboard their shuttle. This gives us a great first look at the Dominion but the problem is aside from that external titillation of this large starship, the physical differences pretty much stop on the surface. The interior shots all take place on sets that fan series followers will identify in a split second and unless you knew that it was supposed to be the Dominion you would be forgiven for expecting this to be another web-series based onboard the Constitution Class. 

"When Frank asked Randy to write the first episode, he knew that Randy was a fan, but he isn't a walking Star Trek encyclopedia." said Gary, "He definitely wanted to stay true to the original series in many ways, but wasn't interested in more of the same that we saw on The Original Series or other fan productions for that matter. That pretty much is what we are about. Our goal is to produce exciting, funny, and touching episodes. If we're really lucky, we might even make you think!

"You probably won't see episodes in which we continue, or refer back to a classic episodes either. We will just be making our vision to present a new and different crew while in the same venue of the 23rd Century Star Trek. 

"Star Trek Continues and Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II chronicle Kirk and company’s years which missing from the Enterprise’s five year mission. However, as mentioned and shown in The Original Series, there are other starships out there, other crews, and certainly other adventures. The popularity of shows like Starship Exeter and Starship Farragut, we see that folks do enjoy seeing other crews as well.."

If they do make more - and I really keep my fingers crossed that they do - there need to be some subtle changes or even some big changes in what we see on the screen - maybe additional bridge consoles, different seat placement, or more references within the script to the superiority of the Federation Class over the twin-nacelled Constitution Class. The availability of sets rather than building expensive new ones for this pilot would, understandably, mean that there is restriction initially yet with the intention to give a Dominion spin in the future. What I do think is a great point made by Gary is that they purposely won;t be making reference to The Original Series and will be, effectively, going it alone in their own way.

"We know that there are differences between the Dreadnought and Heavy Cruiser class ships, such as the location and number of turbolifts that open onto the bridge." said Gary, "We would have loved to have made the changes to make our sets canon, but the sets we used were existing sets and were being used by three other productions at the time. So, due to the complications of sharing the sets and the prohibitive expense of modifying them, we decided to forge ahead with the amazing sets that we had access to and hope that the fans would understand. 

"The studio has been since sold to the producers of Star Trek Continues, and are therefore unavailable for any future shooting. We have been in contact with another group of set builders to see if we could visit them and shoot another segment on their sets which are equally amazing sets. Again, these sets are shared by other productions in the venue of The Original Series, so altering them will not be possible. However, we don’t think that its actually necessary to be distinctly different in sets being that the starships from The Original Series were standardized and the look and feel is what makes this so exciting. 

"It's that feeling of familiarity with the sets and lighting that makes folks enjoy the shows all the more. The differences lie in the characters using those sets and the uniqueness of our stories. We do have our own commissioning plaque and the red diagram of a Dreadnought Class next to the bridge turbolift doors. Both these tiny differences play into the fact that while we’re on identical sets, however, it’s the Dominion…"

As to the cast, it's mainly Frank Parker who gets to shine here as Grissom since it is about his mental recuperation to a major extent. While the rest of the main cast dip in and out during the episode we really only get to know the commodore mainly due to the 20 minute run time. I know that this is something that will surely be corrected as we go forward. As it is, all involved give steady performances and there's nothing here that will make you wince or turn off - all is good on the Dominion.

"Haunted was a centrepiece show highlighting the captain’s struggle overcoming his guilt and gaining his confidence again to get back in the centre seat to continue the mission." continued Gary,  "It was a bit focused on that character in that it was his internal struggle, and literally his nightmares, which were the centrepiece of the story. Our third outing will continue the story that was introduced in Anchors Aweigh and Haunted, therefore more focused outward on the action. If we get the opportunity to do future episodes pas that, we hope that we would focus on other characters and other aspects that would prove interesting and entertaining. We definitely do not want our stories to be predictable. 

"Some episodes will concentrate more on being funny, while and others may lean more toward action or even romance. We do not want to constrain ourselves to a specific episode length. They could be anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour. It just depends on the story. Some stories are short stories, and some are novels."

"Our first episode, Haunted, was released on the internet in April. Our second episode, which was actually the first thing we shot, is very near completion and could be released within the next few weeks. We could have released these in chronological order, however, we felt that Haunted was much more polished and would serve better as an introduction to the series.

So far the team have mainly had positive reactions - apart from one which wasn't meant as mean-spirited trolling, but rather for constructive criticism concerning the sound levels. What receiving this kind of feedback does mean is that the team can improve, make changes and understand what things maybe didn't turn out just as they might have hoped.

Continued Gary; "We are fortunate that we have a ready made audience who enjoy fandom productions such as ours. Fans know of and watch Star Trek Continues, Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II and Starship Farragut. They know the sets that these are shot on are just plain DEAD ON to the real thing and when they watch Dreadnought Dominion, it’s a feast for the eyes."

Gary has always joked that the performances won’t win any Academy Awards, and even bad acting is improved by delivering lines on those awesome sets! Sometimes just looking good scores you points!  However, it's great that we had good story writing, great costumes, and folks who did gave a good performance in that they delivered their lines with feeling and were really into their characters. We even had some professional actors and those with performance experience in the past. You can tell who they are and they really added a shine to the production.

"Anchors Aweigh touches on the inquiry into the incident that damaged the Dominion as well as bringing our characters together for the first time. We have a script for our third episode which we are very excited about. It really serves as the completion of a larger story arc that began with the first two episodes. It is by far our most ambitious episode yet, with more action, more special effects, more aliens, and more fun."

What we do know is that the series already has another two instalments in the making - one which will premiere later in 2015 and a second lined up for 2016. Certainly there's no grass growing under the feet of this team and you can take a look at their progress and updates by visiting their website. We can look forward to Anchors Aweigh - a vignette which takes place two weeks before Haunted and Redemption at Red Medusa, both written by David R Wrenn who co-write the pilot with Frank Parker.

"It has taken us a great deal of time to get the initial productions together to where we could release them. We shot Anchors Aweigh in December 2013, and Haunted, January 2014. We released Haunted just this April of 2015, so that was a GREAT deal of time to get through post production." explained Gary,  "Our delays were incurred just trying to find the right group of talented folks who had the time and opportunity to DO the work. We had a GREAT SFX guy, Ken Thompson, who had all our opening credits, as well as ship exteriors, done very early into production. 

"For Haunted, we had to wait for an editor to put the live action shots together, and finally, to have sound and music added. Along the way, Randy and Gary taught themselves how to do the latter, and are now both versed in sound, music, and video editing. We are so excited to take on this work in addition to Executive Producers for our third shoot, and we fully expect to have that production much faster than our initial ones. In fact, we even did a sneak peek of Anchors Aweigh when we released Haunted. The production hadn't had music added yet, Randy and Gary took a night and in tandem to make a great music track using existing The Original Series music. We thought it came out great. We just have to tweak the audio and we’ll have our second production ready for release."

The Dreadnought Dominion team are planning on fundraising when they release Anchors Aweigh our prequel vignette. Gary noted that they have released what they consider to be the better product first, and hope that fans will tune in, watch the prequel and see that Dreadnought Dominion is really committed to provide an entertaining production. 

That fundraiser will help to fund the trip to a studio to complete filming. However, the team are committed to their shoot regardless, and if so, will foot the bill just as they we did with the two previous shoots. 

"Everyone involved just thoroughly enjoyed producing Dreadnought Dominion," recalled Gary, "I mean.. WHO wouldn't?! Putting on those costumes, stepping onto the bridge, walking those corridors.. While the special effects aren't added until later, when the doors open and close, you can really hear the WHOOSH WHOOSH in your head. When I sat in that captain’s chair for SIX hours doing two scenes one weekend, and even though the set was 40 degrees, there was no other place on Earth I wanted to be!"

You can see Haunted now by heading to the Dreadnought Dominion website HERE where you can also keep up to date with news on the show. Thanks to Gary Davis for his time in compiling this article and we wish the team every success!

Have you seen Haunted? What did you think?

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