Mr. Mark Burchett, the director of a couple of our Star Trek Phase II episodes passed away a short while ago. Although mentioned by S'Kai in the "Mind-Sifter" thread, I thought he deserved his own thread. Mark directed our earlier attempt at shooting "Mind-Sifter" back in 2011. Although it is being reshot in it's entirety by a different director, some of the footage directed by Mark is still floating around on YouTube: [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzwNXLzu5Hw[/yt] Mark also directed our episode "Bread and Savagery" the following year--in the summer of 2012. (It's still not released; there are a couple of pick-up shots we need to get.) Mark also directed our vignette "Boldly Going" at the same time as "Bread and Savagery." Being a short vignette, we were able to get that out the door in late 2012. I can think of nothing more appropriate than showing his short memorial service to our fallen Trek family--which now, sadly, needs to include him. [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLyUGwzPFdU[/yt] Mark also directed our Back to the Wild, Wild West episode "Night of the Golden Spikes." It, too, needs a couple of last-minute shots. Mark was a fun guy and a tireless worker; he will be missed by the entire team. You can find his IMDB entry here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120858/
My sincerest and most heartfelt condolences to Mr. Burchett's family and friends and of course all who knew him in the Phase II family. This kind of loss is never easy to deal with and we are all a little less for the loss. This just is just an awful week for the fan film world it seems. Rest in peace, Mark. Thank you for your contributions. You will be missed.
Leaving aside the loss of a good friend, I can't imagine a greater asset for a fan production team than a professional director. It's obvious his loss will be sorely felt by everyone who knew him and worked with him, but I'm sure his skills and knowledge will also be terribly difficult to replace. His passing is a loss for all of us.
Damn...I really like Going Boldly and can only now imagine what else might have come out of his bag of tricks... Too young to go....sympathies to family and friends...
Please accept my condolences. As I have shared elsewhere in this Forum, these losses really focus our time together. I am sorry for the loss.