"Enemy Starfleet!" Release Date: Thursday, October 21st, 2010

[Zeppster]

Re: "Enemy Starfleet!" Release Date: Still Undetermined

Officially, I'm confident that we won't hit our longest time lag between episodes (which is one year and five months--which would happen in April). Unofficially, my best prediction is a bit better: we're probably about a month away.

I know The Child is nearly done too how long will it be for that one? Months or closer to a year?

Probably somwhere between the two.

You do understand that we shoot these things pretty much once a year, don't you? If we shoot one episode a year, we're going to release them pretty much once a year. (If we release two episodes closer together than one year, that means that some others are going to have to be released farther apart than one year in order to make up for it. "I canna' change the laws o' physics.")

And besides: we probably wouldn't want to shoot ourselves in the foot and cannibalize our viewership's interest in "Enemy: Starfleet" by releasing "The Child" before interest in "E:S!" has fully waned and run its course. We need to ration these things. (Even Britney Spears is bright enough to not put our a new single until the interest in her previous single has wound down.)

I kinda figured. I just know both were basically close to being ready. I know there's about 4 episodes in one form of post production or another right now. I've pretty much been following P2 since 2005 or 2006. So pretty much since the release of TSAMDs or was it IHW? One of the first couple. I know it's usually one shooting per year although I think it 2 for a couple years back. That's probably why ES and The Child won't have as long a wait. I just wanted to confirm that.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Re: "Enemy Starfleet!" Release Date: Still Undetermined

I kinda figured. I just know both were basically close to being ready. I know there's about 4 episodes in one form of post production or another right now. I've pretty much been following P2 since 2005 or 2006. So pretty much since the release of TSAMDs or was it IHW? One of the first couple. I know it's usually one shooting per year although I think it 2 for a couple years back. That's probably why ES and The Child won't have as long a wait. I just wanted to confirm that.

"Close to being ready" can be misleading. The Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 Rule): a mere 20% of our effort will complete 80% of the episode. But the remaining 20% of the episode will consume the 80% balance of the effort. So it gets more difficult as you go along, not easier. That's why *any* fan effort that can get anything out the door has our enormous respect. We know how hard it is and we know how the final endpoint on these productions can become asymptotic.

 

[Maurice]

Just to chime-in, I think it's fair to say that people who haven't actually worked in post-production can't really imagine how much work it is. The number of elements and steps involved is daunting, and if you're not doing it full-time, it can take more than quite a while.

 

[Barbreader]

I wouldn't even ATTEMPT to make a fan film... I am strictly a fan film fan... too much work! But I am writing a non-Trek "Hard" Science Fiction novel (meaning... I stick strictly to technology which is theoretically possible, no faster-than-light travel, not time travel into the past, etc.). I finished a draft Christmas Eve. My sister, who doesn't understand the phase, "It's not in the writing, it's in the re-writing" immediately contacted somebody she knows in publishing. That would have been great... six to eighteen months from now! I imagine writing a novel is more akin to just writing a script (I have written a play). The draft gives you a chance to get a feel for the whole story, in a way a mere outline cannot. But it's not a finished product.

I really find it mind boggling that you folk do so much work on these films with no hope of compensation. (So, ... I index them!) The dedication of the Star Trek Fan Film community boggles the mind! And the dedication of Phase II... well, you well deserved the bit parts in STXI and the mention of "The Ticonderoga" in Enterprise.

Concerning worry that people will get tired of Phase II if you put too many out..., I'm quite comfortable if you won a mega-millions jackpot and could spend all your time on these and could put out 5 each year, they'd all find audiences. The Phase II films are great!

 

[MikeH92467]

Re: "Enemy Starfleet!" Release Date: Still Undetermined

I kinda figured. I just know both were basically close to being ready. I know there's about 4 episodes in one form of post production or another right now. I've pretty much been following P2 since 2005 or 2006. So pretty much since the release of TSAMDs or was it IHW? One of the first couple. I know it's usually one shooting per year although I think it 2 for a couple years back. That's probably why ES and The Child won't have as long a wait. I just wanted to confirm that.

"Close to being ready" can be misleading. The Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 Rule): a mere 20% of our effort will complete 80% of the episode. But the remaining 20% of the episode will consume the 80% balance of the effort. So it gets more difficult as you go along, not easier. That's why *any* fan effort that can get anything out the door has our enormous respect. We know how hard it is and we know how the final endpoint on these productions can become asymptotic.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: as someone who works on audio production and finds it more than enough work, the idea of doing a video production is enough to give me a case of the cold shivers. The enthusiasm of fans is heartwarming, but there are times when you feel like saying "you just don't understand"....

 

[PattyW]

"It's not in the writing, it's in the re-writing"

Mark Twain never rewrote anything. But then, he submitted every work to the publisher with the following note: "Please sprinkle : . ; ? . , throughout at your discretion." I once told a writing teacher that, his reply: "You're not Mark Twain!"

I imagine writing a novel is more akin to just writing a script (I have written a play). The draft gives you a chance to get a feel for the whole story, in a way a mere outline cannot. But it's not a finished product.

Personally, I've found it inestimably easier to write the scripts than my novels...once you get the hang of NOT describing everything and telling the director his job. Sometimes the first draft merely needs a "buff" to polish it....but sometimes it's just a bunch of sticks piled up. You found all the right sticks, but you have to throw them up in the air again and sort them into a different order for them to work correctly.

And then, well, hope the director pays attention to what you DID write. I know people that have screenplay credits for movies that bear absolutely no resemblence to their script...or their intentions. (The director for Koenig's "InAlienable" filmed a happy ending, when what was written was in no way, shape or form "happy")

 

[Barbreader]

Screenplays, indeed, plays in general, are collaborative works. Novels are not necessarily collaborative. However, I have a few internet friends I've known for many years (but never met in person) who are reading it and giving me feedback, often very valuable. It ranges from "This paragraph made no sense to me." to "You have too many pronouns in this paragraph" to "Not enough description" etc. etc. In the first chapter, which was originally intended as a short story, there are some people who know enough about science that they see the ending coming and tell me I've over-signaled it, there was no surprise in the ending, and others who don't know the underlying science and say the ending comes out of nowhere. I've decided to not address that, at least for now.

The difficulty with a play is that the length is so controlled. You have to keep it so short, it's hard to develop an idea. In Trek, you can do certain shorthand, since you are in an established universe, I suppose, but I have never been a person who could stand to watch reruns, so I've never gotten the Trek details down enough to write Trek.

 

[Expo67]

What's the word on the upcoming releases of Enemy:Starfleet and Kitumba? I know they were delayed for post-production reasons.

 

[GSchnitzer]

What's the word on the upcoming releases of Enemy:Starfleet and Kitumba? I know they were delayed for post-production reasons.

"There is no 'delay.' It is the time we have chosen."

 

[Expo67]

Fair enough.

On the subject of writing screenplays and novels, I look at the entire creative process like this.

Writing a story is pretty much like filming and directing a movie.

The writer is pretty much his own director, casting director, and, in a sense, his own 'cinemaphotographer'. The latter being, visualizing and setting up the scene the way he thinks will fit into the story.

Being a fan fiction writer myself, I know how tedious and time-consuming it can be. Let alone a huge pain in ***.

However, if it's something that you like doing, it's worth all of the trouble in putting it together.

 

[Captain Robert April]

^ The difference being that when you're writing, you pretty much only have to worry about your own schedule.

Once you start turning that script into an actual production, now you're having to deal with a busload of other folks and their schedules, especially when they're all doing this in their spare time for no pay, along with all the added input to what you thought was a finished script, but now has grown a whole bunch of new pages that you never even thought of.

Suffice it to say, this adds a lot of time to the whole process.

In other words, keep yer shirt on, they'll get it done when they get it done.

 

[Expo67]

Why do you think I said fair enough?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Plus you've got folks like me, the executive producer, who's going to redline a lot of things that are either impossible to film or expensive to film.

I've gotten some interesting scripts, and some of them just aren't usable. An army of a hundred Andorians attacking a Federation outpost may sound really, really cool. But it's really really out of the realm of possibility for our budget of ZERO.

 

[PattyW]

along with all the added input to what you thought was a finished script, but now has grown a whole bunch of new pages that you never even thought of.

That's true even in standard TV & film production - except it's very unusual for the writer to have any input once the script is purchased.

Suffice it to say, this adds a lot of time to the whole process.

I don't know about any other fanfilm production, but in P2 only the exec producer, James, the co-exec, Greg, and a story editor have any input into the "finished" script... so the only "time" it adds to the process is when they don't have time to give back notes. All that adds time to is when the "very final" version of the script is ready for distribution. It would be absolutely insane to let everyone give their two cents... I imagine it would shut down production entirely.

Then, of course (as with all stage/screen/tele plays) the Director and actors add their "input" while it's being filmed. (a process no sane production - pro or fan - allows a writer to be involved in.)

All the "redlining" is done before the script is accepted into preproduction. "Yes, we'd be interested in filming this, but we need to see if you can ...." And hence the reason some scripts seem to go into limbo and virtually disappear. They aren't necessarily gone... they still aren't "filmable" yet.

and, boy, has this gotten off topic....

"Enemy: Starfleet" is coming sooner than later. "The Child", "Kitumba" and "Origins" are all in post production. "Mind Sifter" is in preproduction.

unofficially, of course....

 

[Capt_Pickirk]

Hey take as much time as you need guys. The more time you have, the better quality the finished product will be

 

[Captain Robert April]

In the interests of full disclosure, I was hoping my comments would make a dent in Expo67's rants regarding Exeter's delays. His comments about script writing indicated a lack of understanding about the rest of the production process, and I saw an opening.

We now return you to "Jake and the Fatman", already in progress.

 

[Expo67]

I fail to see the humor in that.

 

[dayxday1000]

I fail to see the humor in that.

Oh, I definitely see the humor in that.

 

[CaptainSerek]

To quote Data in ST-Generations: Very Funny!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I fail to see the humor in that.

Oh, I definitely see the humor in that.