THIS QUOTATION by Goethe has sustained me for 20 years, but it’s proving truer in the run up to the shoot for my film, Judas Kiss, next month. I share it as a followup to  the incredibly successful conclusion on Friday of our online fundraising effort on Kickstarter.com, and  just in case karma wants to continue to smile in my direction:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
— Goethe

LOS ANGELES — What if you woke up one day at summer camp to discover all the adults had disappeared? That’s how the kids’ adventure series, eScape, begins when it comes to the Web this summer, producers announced today.

Created by Mike Feurstein of New York-based MovieQuest Productions and co-produced by Runic Films, eScape tells the story of a group of campers seemingly abandoned by their counselors. They soon discover they are trapped in a video game that grants them amazing abilities. But in the real world, this game is the object of a power struggle between powerful corporations and mysterious military interests.

The first three seasons of eScape will premiere on the Web this summer on its Web site, www.eScapeTheSeries.com. A trailer and a preview of the show are available on the site now.

The show tells a great story in the same vein as Lost. Young and older viewers alike connect with its characters’ struggles to make the right life choices in the face of adventure, danger and unimaginable odds. — Series creator Mike Feurstein

eScape’s third season is currently in production in and around Albany, N.Y., starring local actors and school children. The students also worked behind the scenes to help produce the series.

“Wide release of eScape this summer will introduce viewers to the space- and time-bending world of the show,” said Runic Films producer Ben Alpi.  “It’s a world we plan to continue to explore.”

eScape is the latest project from Runic Films, which comprises the creative team behind the Web series Star Trek: Phase II, winner of TV Guide’s Online Video Award for Science Fiction, and nominee for the Hugo and Nebula awards — science fiction’s highest honors.

Alpi, who had contributed visual effects to the first two seasons of eScape, introduced series creator Feurstein to his Runic partners — writer-producer Carlos Pedraza, cinematographer David Berry, and visual effects artists Joël Bellucci and Matt Jolly — after their recent departure from the Trek series.

Watch the Trailer

Feurstein and his young filmmakers have produced movies that have won gold medals in New York state competitions and top prizes in regional film contests. Feurstein himself earned Best Local Filmmaker kudos in readers’ polls from the Albany, N.Y., Times Union, and the Metroland newsweekly. He has also produced an international educational DVD series on autism, contributed to the blockbuster award-winning Guitar Hero video game and owns Cucumber Alley, a film lighting rental company.

“Ben, Carlos and the rest of the Runic guys came aboard to help make the third season of eScape the best yet,” Feurstein said, “and its release on the Web is an exceptional showcase for the cast and crew.”

Runic Films is a production and entertainment company developing original properties for Web, film and television. Now located in Los Angeles, Runic was founded by two brothers in New York, and has grown to a staff of award-winning writers, directors, artists and technicians. Dedicated to upholding the rich traditions of storytelling, Runic Films harnesses cutting-edge technology and visual effects to create amazing worlds for dramatic tales grounded in humanity.

Based in historic Schenectady, N.Y., MovieQuest Productions is a motion picture production company dedicated to offering young people educational opportunities to create quality films.

###

Links

• eScape Web site http://www.eScapeTheSeries.com
• Runic Films http://www.runicfilms.com

I was honored to learn that TrekMovie.com, the leading Star Trek movie news site, named the Star Trek: Phase II production of my screenplay, “Blood and Fire, Part 2” the best Star Trek fan production of 2009.

That, along with Joss Whedon telling Rolling Stone that “World Enough and Time,” the Star Trek: Phase II production I co-executive produced, inspired him to create Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog, made my year.

Rolling Stone, btw, named Phase II, which I wrote for and produced, one of their five must-watch Web series.

“Blood and Fire” is based on a script Gerrold originally authored for Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was never produced because its passing reference to a male couple aboard the Enterprise was considered too controversial by the producers.

I adapted the script for the original Trek series-based Phase II, expanding the story to include Captain Kirk’s nephew Peter as one part of the male couple. Interestingly, two decades later, that portrayal proved plenty controversial when “Blood and Fire, Part 1″ debuted a year ago.

Fortunately, Part 2′s release this past November was greeted by far fewer objections.

Randy Hall of SciFiPulse reviews “Blood and Fire,” Parts 1 and 2.

PART 2 of “Blood and Fire,” the Star Trek: Phase II episode I co-wrote with David Gerrold was released Nov. 21, nearly a year after Part 1. Part 2 features Star Trek: The Next Generation star Denise Crosby in a great guest-starring role. I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had time to track down all the reviews, but here are excerpts of some I’ve come across so far.

Part 2 doesn’t seem to have engendered the vitriol that Part 1 did with its depiction of a relationship between two male officers aboard the Enterprise (one of them Capt. Kirk’s nephew. Shocking!).

This episode features Star Trek: The Next Generation star Denise Crosby in a great guest-starring role and amazing visual effects by my dear friend Joël Bellucci. ¡Hire him! Dave Berry was the director of photography and Ben Alpi the second-unit director — all three are my partners in Runic Films and associates of the production company, Blue Seraph Productions, owned and operated by me and J.T. Tepnapa (who also debuts in the episode as the newest Mr. Sulu).

The Reviews

• SciFiPulse.net (Randy Hall) —

The “gold standard” of independent Trek productions. … I have to wonder how much longer Phase II can continue to be considered an “amateur” series.

• TrekMovie.com (Anthony Pascale) —

Director David Gerrold keeps an even better pace with part 2. … It flows like a Star Trek episode. … The script, by Gerrold and Carlos Pedraza (based on an unused TNG script by Gerrold) also (mostly) rings true for classic Trek, full of traditional themes like family and sacrifice. … The effects are top notch for a fan film (and even many ‘real’ TV shows).

• Treks in SciFi blog —

This series of fan films has always been my favorite and they do a great job of capturing the feel of the original series and also giving us things we never got to see in the past. The sets are incredible and detail is amazing. Each episode gets better and better in terms of production values and they have many more episodes planned.

• TheLogbook.com (Earl Green) —

Another outstanding entry for Phase II. … I guess my ambivalence about [Part 2] is the allegory went. For years, tales have circulated about “Blood and Fire” being an appropriately fiery criticism of the lack of forward motion on a cure for AIDS, with the bloodworms standing in for the disease; Part 2 really seems to drop that ball. I was ready – and rooting for – David Gerrold to tear into all sorts of social injustices, and somehow it just doesn’t happen. Maybe over the years the legend became bigger than the story itself. In any case, the script as written/rewritten is expertly executed.

That’s a really legitimate question: One I’ll take on when I get a chance. Meanwhile, the review and comments on the gay-themed AfterElton blog were a bit sharper, and make some good points. Here’s a snippet:

• AfterElton.com (Ed Kennedy) —

Don’t get me wrong – this is an amazing product for a fan production. It just didn’t strike the right emotional tone to feel like Star Trek. Star Trek doesn’t do romance, at least not like this. Swashbuckling style is what it does well. … And I can’t recall a family moment like the Kirks had, even between Picard and Wesley Crusher. This was more of a Lifetime movie set on the Enterprise. And as Lifetime movies go, it was pretty good. But it wasn’t Star Trek.

What did the fanboys think of it? Last time it was pretty harsh. This time, the forums seem to have quite a few gay men in them, who appreciate the story. As for the review? It’s pretty much the opposite of what I said. Don’t worry, I’m used to it.

Don’t forget to read the comments.

An Associated Press article run in the Washington Post today notes that major studios are starting to back more Web series with talent and cash. The subject of this article, the series The Bannen Way, got $1 million in funding from Sony Pictures through their online network, Crackle.

Here’s an excerpt from the Washington Post article with a link to the full story:

Hollywood adds money, talent to made-for-Web shows

By RYAN NAKASHIMA
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 20, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Web sites that buy original video clips often pay so little that “The Bannen Way,” a flashy crime thriller debuting online, looked destined to be made poorly if it could be made at all.

Yet budding filmmakers Jesse Warren and Mark Gantt managed to hire 40-odd staff, including a boom operator, camerapeople – yes, more than one – and even production assistants on hand to offer sunscreen and sandwiches. And the production had actors familiar to some TV and movie audiences, including Michael Ironside, Robert Forster and Vanessa Marcil.

The secret to their success? Treat the Internet run like a TV or movie release, which often loses money on its on-screen debut, but can make healthy profits when issued on DVD or Blu-ray and later sold for reruns on cable or overseas.

With that in mind, major movie studios are now getting behind such productions, giving them a lift in budgets and quality – a far cry from the shaky camerawork and dubious special effects prevalent when Web video became a new phenomenon a few years ago.

Read the entire article >>

Horrible Turn — Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog gets its own full-length fan film, a prequel with younger actors playing the major roles established in Whedon’s Web-epic.

The Houston-based group that produced it won praise from The Font of All Knowledge (i.e., Entertainment Weekly). These folks, who’d never made a film before, were inspired by Whedon’s Web production. Whedon himself credits the work of myself and my recovering colleagues at Star Trek: Phase II for inspiring him to make Dr. Horrible. Funny how one thing leads to another, huh?

Check out the fan film’s trailer below, then watch the whole thing from their Web site, horribleturn.com.

Image from Deadline Hollywood.

IT’S CALLED THE BLACK LIST — film executives’ favorite scripts written in, or somehow uniquely associated with this year but not be released in theaters during this calendar year.

In previous years, the list has catapulted dozens of scripts into production and screenwriters out of oblivion. Diablo Cody’s Juno, Nancy Oliver’s Lars And The Real Girl, Scott Neustader’s and Michael Weber’s 500 Days Of Summer, are just some of the scripts that were made after appearing on the list.

Ninety-seven screenplays appear on the just-released version, according to Deadline Hollywood. Here are the Top 10 (as summarized by the folks at Entertainment Weekly and Deadline Hollywood):

1. The Muppet Man, by Christopher Weekes. The life and times of the late Jim Henson, the man behind Sesame Street and The Muppets.
2. The Social Network, by Aaron Sorkin. Chronicles Mark Zuckerberg’s complicated journey towards creating Facebook. Sorkin depicts both the founder’s motivations for starting the largest social network in the world and the human casualties that came with his profound success. Bonus: Currently in production by Sony, the film stars my beloved Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. Justin Timberlake is also attached.
3. The Voices, by Michael R. Perry. Jerry, a schizophrenic worker at a bathtub factory, accidentally kills an attractive woman from accounting. While trying to cover his bloody tracks, Jerry starts taking advice from his talking (and foul-mouthed) cat and dog.
4. Prisoners, by Aaron Guzikowski. When his young daughter and her best friend vanish on Thanksgiving Day, a Christian survivalist named Keller Dover takes matters into his own hands, imprisoning and torturing a suspect whom the police have set free. But does Dover have the wrong man? And if he does, who really has his little girl?
5. Cedar Rapids, by Phil Johnston. Tim Lippy is a small-town insurance man who’s somehow made it to middle age without having quite done anything. Everything changes when he unexpectedly gets the chance to represent his company at the Cedar Rapids insurance convention, where comedy ensues, of course. Now in production, the cast includes John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Sigourney Weaver.
6. Londongrad, by David Scarpa. The writer of The Day The Earth Stood Still and co-writer of The Last Castle does an adaptation of Alan Cowell’s 2008 book, “The Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder,” chronicling the life and strange death of Alexander Litvinenko. Remember in 2006, when that ex-Soviet spy was allegedly poisoned with radioactive tea at a London sushi joint? That’s him.
7. L.A. Rex, by Will Beall (based on his novel of the same name). Rookie LAPD officer Ben Halloran gets partnered with scarred and tobacco-spitting Officer Marquez, and the unlikely team hit the streets of L.A. on the brink of a gang-rivalry explosion. Amid run-ins with the Mexican mafia, brutal gang murders, and corrupt cops, we soon find that Halloran may not be as squeaky clean as his brand new badge.
8. Desperados, by Ellen Rapoport. Wesley Robbins, a 30-something single attorney with an unhealthy obsession with coupling up, thinks she’s found the perfect man. But when he doesn’t call for days after the first time they sleep together she freaks out and sends him a scathing email, only to learn he’s been laid up in a Mexican hospital with some broken bones. On a whim, she and her girlfriends travel down south to erase the email before she ruins what she believes could be her one true love.
9. The Gunslinger, by John Hlavin. When a Texas Ranger is horrifically tortured and killed, his sharp-shooter older brother, Sam Lee Hensley, plots revenge against the mysterious, sadistic leader of a notorious drug cartel. Sam Lee’s quest for vengeance will cost him seven years in prison, his right hand and one eye. It will imperil his young nephew and wreak havoc on the lives of those who love him. And it will not bring him peace.
10. (tie) By Way of Helena, by Matt Cook. Set in the South at the turn of the century, Texas Ranger David Kingston and his Mexican bride are sent down to the mysterious town of Helena to investigate the multiple Mexican bodies washing up in the river. What they discover is an idyllic-like town where everything is not as it seems — Pleasantville meets High Noon. (tie) The Days Before, by Chad St. John. A man from the future keeps hopping one successive day into the past desperate to stop a vicious race of time-traveling aliens from wiping out humanity — a lightning-paced, time travel adventure is Back to the Future meets Independence Day meets Demolition Man accompanied by a gargantuan production budget.

You can read the rest here.

The Star Trek: New Voyages episode, “World Enough and Time,” that I executive-produced was just nominated for a Hugo Award, one of science fiction’s greatest honors, joining some fine productions. The other nominees were all produced by large studios or networks in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“World Enough and Time,” written by Michael Reeves and Marc Scott Zicree, was nominated in the category Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, alongside:

• Battlestar Galactica, “Razor,” (SciFi Channel/NBC-Universal). Only the televised version was nominated, not the DVD release, which features an extended version.
• Doctor Who, “Blink,” (BBC).
• Doctor Who, “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood,” (two-parter, BBC).
• Torchwood, “Captain Jack Harkness” (BBC).

My self-congratulations aside, two things are significant about the New Voyages (recently renamed Star Trek: Phase II) nomination: First is that this is the first time an Internet production has received a Hugo nomination; second, this is the first fan film that’s been nominated for a Hugo. This is on top of the recent Nebula Award nomination for this episode (which is solely for the script; the Hugo honors the actual production).

We’re in the middle of what I believe is a revolution in media — where non-Hollywood productions go toe-to-toe with more expensively produced studio films. The chokehold on quality exerted by needing to succeed in mass media (i.e., network television and theatrical release) may be nearing its end. Inexpensive, independent productions made with the high quality afforded by affordable technology stand an economic chance, freed from having to ‘win’ a TV ratings war or having to appeal to specific demographics at the cinemaplex.

Want to see what such a production looks like? You can watch “World Enough and Time” online, streaming, or find out where to download here.

And if you want to vote for the Hugo Award, you can learn how on the Hugo Awards Web site.

Besides, executive producing “World Enough and Time,” I also served as script supervisor. And I got to direct all the bridge scenes that you see in the episode. Dream Come True — Nerd Edition™.

About the Hugo Awards

SCIENCE FICTION’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD The Hugo Awards have been awarded annually since 1955. The Hugos are voted on by the thousands of members of the World Science Fiction Society and awarded in 15 categories.

About ‘World Enough and Time’

A Romulan weapons test goes awry and traps the Enterprise. Lt. Commander Sulu returns to find himself 30 years out of place and the key to saving the crew of the Enterprise as the precarious grasp on their own dimension begins to slip. Guest starring George Takei, who returns to the role of Hikaru Sulu. View now >>

As co-executive producer of Star Trek: Phase II (formerly New Voyages) I was as surprised as anyone last week to discover that the board of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) voted unanimously to name our latest episode, “World Enough and Time” (we affectionately call it WEaT), on the final ballot for the coveted Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Script.

With that nomination — the furthest any Star Trek product has made in the Nebula process ever — Phase II joins such notable professional productions last year as Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, Dr. Who, The Prestige, and V for Vendetta. This should be good news, right?

Well, it’s all a matter of perspective, and it all hinges on that word professional. Naming Phase II as a professional production qualified the writers of WEaT, Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves, for the Nebula Award. It also has the by-product of endangering our whole show, which has been produced for years with CBS/Paramount turning a blind eye to what we’ve been doing as long as we didn’t make any money. And we haven’t. Trust me, my empty wallet testifies to that reality.

Marc Zicree pleaded with the SFWA board of directors to make WEaT eligible for the Nebula. In doing so, he characterized our production in a way that doesn’t quite jell with my understanding. According to the UK blog, Den of Geek:

Now “World Enough and Time” director Marc Zicree has weighed in with his point of view in a statement prepared for the SFWA. The argument he constructs is interesting in itself… but what’s more interesting is how incredibly candid he is about how connected Phase II actually is. The show’s fannish producers, lead by Kirk actor James Cawley, have traditionally been tight lipped about the privileged position Phase II and New Voyages before it enjoys with the studio. Not Zicree.

He tells us that “World Enough and Time” was produced with the full co-operation and knowledge of Paramount and CBS (from “Business Affairs on down”), that he was given directorial advice by no less than J.J. Abrams while shooting the show and that several key personnel were paid for their involvement – including George Takei, and Zicree himself.

From top: George Takei and Walter Koenig reprise their Original Series roles as Sulu and Chekov in the fan-produced Star Trek: Phase II; Denise Crosby (Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars in Phase II’s upcoming “Blood and Fire.”

The SFWA board acceded to Marc Zicree’s plea, mostly because their bylaws have never bothered to really define what ‘professionally produced’ actually means. But that’s a far cry from Marc’s characterization of our show being “produced with the [studio's] full cooperation and knowledge.” See, I don’t believe we have been tight-lipped about the extent of involvement by industry professionals in our production. Trust me, a tour of our press releases over the past few years confirms that. And our so-called position of privilege really only extends as far as Paramount allowing us our fun as long as we don’t make money from it. And that benign neglect extends to all fan films, like Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (where I was also a writer and producer), Starship Exeter, Intrepid, Farragut and the others.

So there are no secrets being revealed by Marc’s public plea for Phase II’s professional status; consider that Marc has a vested interest in portraying the show as professionally produced – he (not the production itself, mind you; the award is only for the script) can now win a Nebula. And I own the fact the we have a vested interest in remaining non-professional – our agreement with Paramount is that we can’t be professional (i.e., earn money) and continue producing our show. But in a pro vs. non-pro contest, I’ll put my empty wallet up against the empty space on Marc’s mantle any day. It would be a shame if the Nebula controversy ended up as a pyrrhic victory – Marc gets his award and the show is shut down by Paramount.

It also highlights a looming change in perspective that needs to acknowledge that the democratization of creative production, thanks to technology and Web-based distribution, has blurred the line between professional and amateur. That’s a controversy I welcome. In the meantime, can we lose the term fanfessional (fan + professional)? Sounds like I’ve committed a crime I should be ‘fessing up to. And I haven’t. Not yet, anyway.

I WANTED to report some positive results from using Tangler, a Web service that provides easy-to-manage discussion forums in real time anywhere on the Web.

You can even embed specific discussion threads on any Web page, including blog and profiles for MySpace and Facebook.

Visitors to your Web site can view on-going, real-time discussions wherever you want them to. They scroll through the discussions on the page, and if they want to post their own comment, a single button takes them to a sign-up window at Tangler, which takes a few seconds.

Users can also move to the discussion space you’ve set up at Tangler to house all your discussion topics. The look and feel of the Tangler discussion area can be customized to resemble the look and feel of your site (I did mine in about 10 minutes — no CSS required, though coding geeks can really go to town if’n they want).

I implemented Tangler yesterday on the promotional Web site for the film I’m writing and producing, Judas Kiss. Even though we have commenting enabled for our blogs and podcasts, using that feature requires an extra perceptual click, while the scrolling Tangler window feels more dynamic, more immediate, more like a conversation rather than just tacking up virtual Post-Its underneath a blog post.

The site is built in iWeb ’08 (because we’re trying to make a movie, not spend a lot of time coding a Web site), and adding Tangler just requires inserting an HTML snippet using iWeb’s Web Widgets feature. It’s so easy, you can even do it yourself, readers.

See the Share link at the upper right of the discussion window? Click on it and a little window pops up with the embed code you can paste into the HTML of your page, just like you do for YouTube. You can even embed in IM windows and emails. Easy peasy.

And the fact you can embed on any Web page means you’re not restricting by the fact iWeb’s built-in templates enable comments only on blog and podcast pages.

Check out Tangler and let me know what you think!

Working Example of Tangler

A (working!) sample of an embedded discussion from the forum for the promotional Web site of Judas Kiss, the film I’m writing and producing.