On this site, I've often featured interviews with filmmakers outside the mainstream, so I want to draw everybody's attention to this great site that I just learned about. It's called Planet Fandom and it features all kinds of news and updates about the world of fan-created films on the Internet and beyond. I think this is a really interesting phenomenon of our times: talented fans acting in and producing Star Trek and Star Wars-related films with incredible special effects. I saw one at the FantaSci convention in Chesapeake, VA recently, and I was blown away. It was a Star Wars film filled with light-saber battles that looked the equal to anything seen in Revenge of the Sith. Lest we forget, fans can be extraordinarily resourceful, and these movies prove just that.
When I was in high school - way back in the late 1980s - I founded Z-Grade Studios and began producing, writing, editing and directing a string of independent, low-budget films with titles like Rock'n'Roll Vampires From Hell, The Exchange Student, The Solaris Enigma, Slaves of the Succubus, Intruder, Hit & Run, and Salvation's Eclipse, but today my beloved movies (filmed on old-fashioned VHS camcorders...) look like artifacts from another civilization, especially in the era of digital filming, computer-generated effects and the like, so this is a really interesting new development to me. I'm always just one step away from making my new film, and my bio - until 2002, when I had to stop to focus exclusively on writing - listed me as an "independent filmmaker" in my own right.
This personal experience making films gives me an understanding of the "fan film world." Many of my own movies were made in a similar vein, as "homages" (that means "rip-offs') of movies that somehow inspired me. Slaves of the Succubus was originally Halloween 5.5, a way of explaining what the hell the ending of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers was about, but then I changed it to a more original storyline and took out all connections to the Haddonfield mythos. but the fans who produce new episodes of Star Trek (accurate to the original series down-to-the-last-detail) or Stargate are inspired by their favorite series and have created true labors of love with accurate props, realistic costumes, action and more.
Okay, here's a challenge: who is going to make Space:1999 - The Next Generation? And where can I sign up to write the first episode?
Planet Fandom is my blog's recommended "link of the week," because it provides critical information on upcoming fan "releases" and reminds us that an appreciation of Star Trek/Star Wars is actually often a critical first step into the Hollywood moviemaking world. Which of these artists, inspired by sci-fi, will make something truly daring and original next? We shall see.
So check out Planet Fandom!
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