Dorn Kickstarter Project Launches
2 min read
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine‘s Michael Dorn has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a romance comedy, Through the Fire.
The Kickstarter campaign began yesterday and has already raised over $12,000 towards the $750,000 goal, which Dorn hopes to realize by October 5.
“Through the Fire is a romantic comedy about a couple of dazzling New York urbanites who are set-up on the worst blind date ever, only to find out they have more in common than they realize,” said Dorn. “Despite their professional differences (she is an acclaimed Broadway actress and he is the theater critic who gave her a horrible review) they cannot get each other out of their minds. Through the Fire shows what happens in the ultimate battle between the head and the heart.”
Dorn gave his reasons for wanting to make Through the Fire. “I am making this movie, along with several of my friends from Star Trek, because we want to get back to the craft of filmmaking,” he said. “Our formula is simple … great script, great actors, great crew, and great directing, equals great profitability.”
Trek alumni participating will include Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink. Sirtis would play “my best friend in the movie, who is my best friend in real life,” said Dorn. “Armin Shimerman who plays an actor, his wife plays another actor in a scene on stage which everyone says is one of the funniest things they have ever read. Nana Visitor has a wonderful part. Bob Pine, father of Chris Pine, is in there too.”
For more details or to donate to the project, head to the link located here.
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I absolutely LOVE this idea! I want to see the movie!
What happen to all that star trek money? Can you settle a bet between my sister and me? She says you frittered away your money on cheap women and booze. I say it was donuts and cheap women?
This is a formidable sum to raise. I knew that this was one the way & put money aside accordingly but it will require a lot of support from the broadest fan base to raise. I hope he does so. It will really chuck the wind up non-talents like Abrams who think a brand-name & vacuous CGI effects is the only way to make a film
Perhaps the crowd-funding revolution will begin here
I can’t wait until Star Trek 2 🙂
Then set the wayback machine for 1982, Sherman.
This may shock you, but not all actors finance their films out of their own pockets. Doing so would eat into their donuts-and-cheap-women budget.
It also occurs to me that Kickstarter is a good way to determine if there’s actually enough interest in the project. If there is, great; and if it doesn’t make goal, the film doesn’t happen. And Michael will pay the fee.
Probably out of his donut money.
You’ve got Dorn all wrong…he spent the Trek money on ex-military jet planes to fly around in. (Seriously.)
Your second point struck me, too, Kang. Even if Mr Dorn doesn’t raise what he needs, a half million in pledges from Kickstarter will look damn good in any subsequent meetings with investigators. You don’t think there’s a market for this film? Get a load at what people were prepared to pay just to see it made….
That said, i still think Mr Dorn has aimed too high with his base figure given Kickstarter’s all-or-nothing-at-all rules (unless he has additional investors lined up backstage which he can use to push the sum over the top). He seems to have put a full commercial budget up on the site, which is as surprising as it is risky
There have been pro films funded on Kickstarter before (Paul Schrader got one up as has Charlie Kaufman) but they’ve generally aimed for a bare-bones budget of around $100-200t & used the extra money they raised to add production values to the project. Space Command – which looks a lot of fun (writer of Far Beyond the Stars & the fan-film World Enough & Time; & good character actors like Armin & Ethan, with Amber Benson for the Wheedon marks) – asked for $75t & made $225t. $750t will be tough
But i’m there. Of course i am. The thing about crowdfunded films is that we’re no longer restricted to the utter rubbish the Hollywood studios keep dropping on us from a great height & can actually choose to support films that include things like plot, acting & heart. I’ve already supported films with Worf, Quark (2 plus this one), Neelix & Leeta & i’m hoping to add Kira & Deanna to my list with this one. It’s what i do. I don’t lust watch Star Trek. I try to live it
lol predictable reply I was fishing for 🙂
No wonder people think Trekkies live in their parents’ basement.
No. Most of us work hard for a living & expect a little more from the entertainment we pay for than rebooted garbology
Holy shit! You’re right! I never new that! Now THAT’S an expensive hobby. Right up there with hookers and blow, cost-wise.
Just suppose an actor who gets a TV “hit” like Trek actually lives low-profile, invests all proceeds other than basic living expenses for a modest house and family, and builds a solid portfolio through the 1970’s and 1980’s. Then comes 2001 followed by 2008. Maybe this portfolio is producing living expenses very nicely, but it’s VALUE is locked up tight like a “house under water” mortgage. To launch a new venture, venture capital must be collected.
Now look at Dorn’s age, then look at the current 20-somethings social networking connectivity. Suddenly all your old, cynical assumptions about Dorn fly out the window and you see from a whole new perspective.
HERE is a man who is as “with it” as any 20 year old, who is driving toward a vision, who has the experience to know what he’s doing and the Wisdom to do it using the most modern tools.
My admiration for this man shot through the roof when I saw this kickstarter project!
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Primary Author of the Bantam Paperback
STAR TREK LIVES!
More like pretentious and think Star Trek has deeper meaning than it really does 🙂
Personally, i found ST XI full of pretense. It pretended to tell a story, it pretended to have actors & – most important of all – it pretended to be Star Trek. That people tolerate slovenly films like this is why film as a medium is dead
Or you know I don’t take movies as seriously as you do and realize its a form of entertainment and not a way of life 🙂
I’d agree with you more whole-heartedly Jaqueline if i was sure Mr Dorn had thought crowdfunding through. When it comes to this, i’m old-school – i’ve been supporting people through Kiva (600 loans – if you don’t believe me, my Trektoday identity leads to my Kiva page via Twitter) et al & entertainment projects for 18 months
(This doesn’t include my support for such projects as the Havergal Brian Society, which dates back to the 80s)
I know of two Trek figures have attempted crowdfunded project before this (i missed out on Zachary Quinto’s & Manu Intiraymi’s, so i can’t comment on what happened there – Icheb has my name now; & has promised me this won’t happen again): Chase Masterson (Leeta) & JG Hertzler (Martok). Neither were real social media figures (@ChaseMasterson does a bit of twitter, often in support of social causes such as Homeboy Industries) & both seem to have been testing the waters. They didn’t look at crowdfunding like Amanda beeping Palmer (@AmandaPalmer) does – a new way of making different things happen – more as a hybrid of conventional funding & convention fever. Ms Masterson admitted as such when i had the chance to ask her about it at a convention
Through the Fire feels the same to me. Its wonderful that Mr Dorn is trying something new but he seems to be holding back somewhat. I wish he hadn’t. This could still be a revolution but i wonder what might have been….
My comment wasn’t really specific to this project, but more on the order of a caution not to make assumptions about people you don’t know personally on a level where you would, say, loan them your car or give them your credit card. It’s a matter of watching out for the tricks an analogue based brain HAS to use to comprehend the world. You must reduce the data-flood to types, categories, lumps just to survive. But humans are way too individual to be handled that way without great caution.
So I’d advise people not to lump Dorn in with all actors — not because he’s Dorn, but because he’s probably human … well, mostly.
I’m not sure i was disagreeing with your previous post much, Jaqueline; but i’ll put that possible miscommunication on my part to one side
The point is – with crowdfunding projects; & unlike, say, Kiva – you’re NOT lending to the filmmaker. If you only have a dollar or two you can make a gift of that as a way saying thank you to Mr Dorn et al for his/their previous work; but very quickly, you’re buying the opportunity to see the film. With Through the Fire, this occurs at $10 (if you like digital downloads, which i do, though i’ve gone in higher). This is one thing Mr Dorn has definitely gotten about crowdfunding which some others have missed – if people want to support you, it may be because they actually want to see something the barren multiplexes would never carry. He’s given people a cheap buy-in for that
(Space Command did the same. On the other hand, i’m supporting another Kickstarter project – a documentary about Grand Negus Zek’s former dinner partner, Andre Gregory – which is struggling because in the crucial early days they didn’t offer any viewing option & even now, the DVD purchase isn’t particularly cheap)
The point non-participants miss about crowdfunding is that it isn’t just a way of funding the film, its also a way of making money distributing it (essentially by selling off-the-plan, as builders would say). It allows you to effectively bootleg your own picture, make money doing & have actual numbers to prove an audience to mainstream distribution. Potentially a very powerful weapon for creative people silenced by mere entertainment
Damn right i take it seriously – wanna see my Bell & Howell 16mm projector with anamorphic lens attachment? (good for films by Fellini, McElwee, Brakhage, Altman, Truffautt & Spike Lee) – & i would be more likely to drink cold bloodwine with Kang than watch a second-rate film just because it was entertainment. That’s not what i do. I work hard – for the record, i drive a forklift & lug train parts around – & a film ain’t getting the money i make if it doesn’t interest me personally
I’m not a blind, passive consumer. Give me what i want – give me the chance of getting what i want – & i’ll pay for it. Give me garbage & i won’t. There’s only one person in ST XII i’d currently pay to see – old nerd-do-well Simon Pegg; although Zachary Quinto seems to have potential – & the people behind the camera don’t exactly inspire me to wave my paypal account around. Frankly, i would more happily pay to see the steampunk Mythbuster Grant Imahara play Sulu (Star Trek Continues) than John Cho & Kay Stinger (several fan films, including STC) than Zoe Saldana because at least these people are interesting as performers
Through the Fire – like Before and After Dinner & El Sistema & Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in America – interests this cultured barbarian. ST XII doesn’t
Unfortunately
Sadly
Silently
Mr Dorn has talked about his flight obsession in a few documentaries. There’s one out there where he tells humans what to look for in a second-hand jet
I prefer airships myself….
Lmao! I hope you realize that I did not read any of the pretentious crap.
I agree with Jacqueline more wholeheartedly, if it was confirmed that I thought Mr. Dorn and crowdfunding. When it comes to it, I’m old school – I Fang, sleep with (600 loan, you are if you do not believe me, the identity Trektoday I took a page of Kiva me via Twitter) people through the people Entertainment for the project 18 months has been, and to help
(This does not include support for me as far back as 80, to projects such as community herbalists such Brian Gall)
Before I know a number of the trek of two, (I so missed Zachary Quinto and Manu Intiraymi crowdfunded tried this project, I am about what happened there can not comment – Icheb is now promised with my name, I do not happen again, would sleep with). Chase Masterson (Leeta), JG Hertzler (Martok). Personality of a true social media (@ ChaseMasterson is to support social causes, such as industry fellow, often, had a Twitter several) are for both and was to test the waters both seem to have. They (@ AmandaPalmer) have not seen Amanda Palmer crowdfunding beep sound – like a hybrid of traditional loan agreement and heat – a new way of doing things are different. I mastered damaged, such as the following recognized when there is an opportunity to ask a question about it, sleep with, in tournament
I feel the same as through fire. Although it is nice to try something new Mr. Dawn, seems to have a little back end, but nice looking. I think not. This may be the revolution, I could have been …. what would
Are you experimenting with the cut up/fold in, Ensignahkinum (if so, i can recommend some great Ginsberg texts to improve your technique)? Or are you just drunk tweeting? I put my money where my mouth is – always have, always will. I don’t go around trolling people whose passions fail to agree with my own
(By the way: i WILL delete this comment if you edit your’s to make it vaguely sensible)
Of course not. Why spoil your perfect ignorance?
Thank you, Kang. I’m looking forward to sharing proper bloodwine with you. Not a Klingon, regretably, but i believe body temperature is the correct serving warmth….
… & any moron who believes that someone who puts his own gold-pressed latinum in support of something he believes in is pretentious needs to learn the English language….
Spambot on overload!
Wow- not even an Update to the Kickstart project and less than 10% raised. Let this be a lesson to other would-be Hollywood Kickstarters. 1- Have a good idea. 2. Have modest budget. 3. Have a good idea. Dorn missed all 3 with this one…
And now he has canceled it.