Open Invitation to Fanfiction Authors

[jmarcusxavier]

I'm J. Marcus Xavier, director and producer of the 'Silent Universe' scifi podcast (www.silentuniverse.com).<br /><br />I'm posting on the space.com forums because I am seeking talented and passionate fanfic writers, who are interested in gaining professional exposure by participating in a collaborative scifi series development program. As an avid fanboy and an old fanfiction writer myself, I'm very familiar with the way that larger professional production companies tend to treat their fan base: apathetic at best, with subpoenas at worst. After interning at the Sci Fi Channel a few years ago, I realized that the attitude among studio executives toward us is overwhelmingly negative. Thinking scifi fans incapable of producing quality and entertaining stories, our ideas are often unfairly ignored. But it wasn't always this way...<br /><br />The 'Silent Universe' is an edgy space drama with an interactive twist, which mixes thematic elements of "24" and the new "Battlestar Galactica" into an all-original scifi adventure. If you want to know more details, please visit our press release on PRWeb or listen to the "teaser trailer" on iTunes or any generic podcast reader.<br /><br />Authors and contributors who participate will be given <b>full recognition</b> for direct material used in an episode of the 'Silent Universe' podcast. We have a professional cast of voice actors, and a group of story supervisors who all apreciate the dramatic possibilities of science fiction. Everything we're trying to do with this production is to push the envelope of professionalism: the core premise of the 'Silent Universe' is to turn the assumption that fans can't creat

 

[nova_explored]

I was looking for that myself. What is the storyline you are building off of? I went to the official website as linked but couldn't find anything.<br /><br />Sounds a bit complicated but very interesting and different. and different is always good.<br /><br />personally i have always wanted to see STNG move forward. It keeps moving backward and every other show the same. Maybe we can only go so far i guess. but point being, this premise kind of rekindled that idea of the Star Trek The Next Generation...Generation. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>As an avid fanboy and an old fanfiction writer myself, I'm very familiar with the way that larger professional production companies tend to treat their fan base: apathetic at best, with subpoenas at worst.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Well, there are reasons for it. One of the biggest is the fear of lawsuits BY fans. It has happened, and fans have won, when a professional outfit by chance happened to produce an episode somewhat similar to a fanfic. Most therefore operate by the policy of never allowing themselves to view fanfiction, guaranteeing that if they do mimic a fanfic, it is truly a coincidence.<br /><br />Of course, you're right that a lot of them are also pretty dismissive of fandom. There are a few notable exceptions. J Michael Strazinsky, for instance, was famously close with the online fan community during the production of "Babylon 5". And on Doctor Who, the current producers and writers are almost all former fans and fanfiction authors. (And the guy who now does Dalek voices is also a fan who's been producing unauthorized Dalek and other Doctor Who videos for years.) So there are exceptions. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmarcusxavier]

For those curious about the "world" of the Silent Universe, this may help clarify <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><b>Episode 1 of the Silent Universe is now available for download.</b> <br /><br />As before, if you'd like to subscribe to this podcast, please visit iTunes or add this URL to your podcast reader.