The crew for the independent Trek web mini-series ‘Of Gods and Men’ (henceforth referred to as OGaM) did some location shooting in L.A. last weekend and TrekMovie.com was there. The first thing you notice when pulling up to the location is that this does not look like the proverbial ‘bunch of fans in a barn’ scenario. The scene looked like a typical L.A. filming location complete with honey wagons, equipment trucks, trailers, P.A.’s running around screaming into their headsets and extras milling about. What was different about this is that most of the extras had pointy ears. OGaM has turned a little corner of the San Fernando Valley into the planet Vulcan.
Can it break the ‘fan film’ barrier
Although figures are not available, it would be no surprise that OGaM is the costliest Trek fan film ever made. Of course the producers don’t really use the term ‘fanfilm’ at all, referring to it as an ‘independent film.’ They have big dreams for Of Gods and Men…they want CBS to license it as an official Star Trek product. They point out how CBS have put together ‘fan fiction’ into official trek book compellations (the ‘Strange New Worlds series) and see fan films as just the next logical step. Other fan films like Star Trek New Voyages have the same goal, but it appears according to our sources in CBS that OGaM is the test case. To date Paramount and CBS have taken what they call a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ approach to fan films. They have had a simple rule that boils down to: do what you like but do not charge money. The OGaM team want to change this dynamic and begin to charge for their mini-series, but only with the blessing of CBS. One major complication with official licensing seems to be the issue of unions, but Sky Conway says that at least for the actors they have that covered. All members of the Screen Actors Guild who appear in OGaM have been paid the ‘internet scale’ rate. No decision has been made by CBS, but the notion of licensing is under consideration. If OGaM does become an ‘offical product’ it could be the start of many more licensed Star Trek films on the net. TrekMovie.com has spoken to another well known producer in Hollywood who is interested in producing Trek for the web but is waiting for CBS open the door to licensed ‘webisodes’. Sky Conway tells TrekMovie that regardless of any decision that gets made, the first of 3 episodes of the Of Gods and Men mini-series will be released by the end of the year.
To read this fascinating article in its entirety with some great on location photos visit: The Trek Movie Report Website.
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