First off, sorry I have been so lax with posts…work has been hectic, and stuff.
As you may recall I did a short interview with Axanar Executive Producer Alec Peters a couple of months ago. Well here is a short recap of everything that has gone on both prior and since that interview.
Axanar Productions Crowd funded and released Prelude to Axanar in 2014, and prepared to release the 90 minute film in 2016. This was derailed by the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by CBS/Paramount in December 2015. The lawsuit dominated all of 2016, with fans of Star Trek and Fan Films on both sides of the suit.
The suit was settled on January 20, 2017(a week before the actual trial was to start). The settlement allowed Axanar to be made, NOT as a 90 minute movie, but as two 15 minute segments(in line with the fan film guidelines), Axanar Productions was allowed to have professional actors reprise their roles from Prelude(which is different from the guidelines,which bar anyone with Trek or professional experience).
2017 has seen Axanar Productions move cross country from LA to the film hotbed of Atlanta, GA(setting up in the Lawrenceville GA suburbs). The new studio got naming support from One World Computing(hence the studio named OWC Studios). Thanks to the effort of volunteers, the sets were moved, reassembled, and repainted in the new studio.
Axanar also entered “pre-production”, with the 90 minute script both rewritten, and at the same time taken apart to conform to the settlement, and work better as two 15 minute films. Costumes are being made by fans in Italy, and Axanar Productions is aiming to complete the film early next year.
Of course the script has gone through various edits, by fans who have supported the idea for the film since the beginning(nope, haven’t gotten to read it yet, and I really want to). Well this past Friday Axanar gained what could only be described as a “coup” for the final rewrite of the script prior to shooting next year.
Marvel Comics Writer Paul Jenkins has joined Axanar Productions as a Co-Writer for the final rewrite. Who is Paul Jenkins….Glad you asked, he is only the writer who created the origin story for one of Marvels most iconic characters “Wolverine”.
When asked about Jenkins Marvel’s editor in chief Joe Quesada said “I would trust Paul Jenkins with any Marvel character. Let me repeat that a bit louder: any Marvel character.”
Paul is one of the premier creators and writers of comic books, graphic novels and video games in the world today. After five years working with the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the fields of editorial, production, and licensing, Paul began his freelance writing career in 1993 as scribe of the DC Comics Hellblazer (upon which the 2014 TV series is based). In 1997 Paul won an Eisner for his work on Marvel comics Inhumans series.
He has since worked on virtually every comic character in the business, including Spider-Man, Batman and The Incredible Hulk, and the smash hit Wolverine: Origin, for which he won five Wizard Fan Awards. Much of his work has been appropriated for film, including Wolverine: Origin and the Inhumans series. Other work for Marvel includes the blockbuster Frontlines series, a part of the Civil War event, the Mythos series, and Captain America: Theater of War. In addition, his creation The Sentry has become a mainstay of the Marvel Universe. Paul has been featured at Number One on the New York Times bestseller list for his graphic novel work. He recently completed the first of two novels – entitled Curioddity – for St. Martin’s Press, which was released in August of 2016.
In the gaming industry, he has served as Writer and/or Creative Director on such titles as Twisted Metal: Black, Soul Reaver, God of War, and Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. 2007’s The Darkness earned him a BAFTA nomination for storytelling and characterization, as did Vivendi Universal’s 2008 smash hit Prototype. His work as narrative director, 2K’s Darkness 2, hit stores in February of 2012.
Paul was asked by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to assemble and chair an advisory committee to educate the Georgia General Assembly on the evolution of digital and interactive technologies.
Paul added, “Alec and his team have created something to be admired, in the true spirit of entrepreneurial filmmaking. As a fan of the project so far, I’m thrilled to be joining Axanar and I’m looking forward to helping make some magic!”
As a fan of Star Trek fan films, and of Axanar, this is simply another reason to be excited for what Fans of Trek are doing and shows that Axanar Productions is doing something special.
Part of this post was sourced from Axanar Productions announcement by Alec Peters dated 6 October 2017 released on AxanarProductions.com
