Want to make your own Star Trek film?

By: H&I Staff     Posted: August 8, 2017, 1:42PM   

Image: YouTube/Star Trek New Voyages

Star Trek fans are some of the most creative fans out there, exemplified by everything from their cosplay costuming to the fact that some create entire Trek episodes themselves to put on the internet. There is more fan fiction than actual episodes and some of the fan-made videos are arguably better thought out than the big-budget movies. It's no wonder, then, that CBS and Star Trek New Voyages would team up to give fans the opportunity of a lifetime: to learn from their favorite filmmakers and produce their own Trek fan film alongside people who worked on the actual productions.

This new project, the Star Trek Film Academy, was announced by New Voyages producer James Cawley at the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention, on Aug. 5. There will be a few scripts for fans to choose from when it comes to making their own film, and will likely have to trek to Ticonderoga, New York - the location of the New Voyages sets which have now been coverted to a museum. According to ARS Technica, fans will be able to begin making their own films in the fall, with finished products released in the spring. It's expected that there will be two sessions per year.

CBS and Paramount are notorious for recent attempts to put the kibosh on fan-made productions, citing copyright violations to just about anything in the Star Trek universe from the Klingon language to prosthetics. While the recent Prelude to Axanar kerfuffle may have discouraged film-savvy Trekkies from embarking on their own mission aboard the Enterprise, this new Fan Film Academy may be a beacon of hope.