What is the Sandrima Rising project?

The project is a pitch to LucasFilm, a one and a half hour feature that can be broken down into two forty-five minute episodes as a television pilot for a new Star Wars television series. Alternatively it can be shown as a full-length feature film at festivals, conventions and online video sites as a proof of concept in what our production company is capable of.

What's the story?

The Renaissance Chronicles (TRC) is a collection of tales about the starship Renaissance and its motley crew and their adventures across the galaxy, the timeline being some twenty years after the films. In Sandrima Rising, the crew pick up two children who require safe passage to Coruscant. The catch: they're being chased by Ban Cul, a ruthless CEO of a military weapons development firm who has unlocked the power of an ancient Sith prophet. Ban intends to overthrow the New Republic through his various sleeper cells in the underground cities across the galaxy and the children have all of his secrets. It's a race against time and fast ships as Ban uses every bit of his resources, including rival pirate gangs and dangerous prototype technology, to catch the children and their new allies.

Doesn't this sound like Firefly?

Funny you should say that, yes it does! While Sandrima has been in development for a little over 10 years (writing began in October, 1997), during the final edits we heard about this wonderful show by Joss Whedon and its tragic demise. Sandrima was initially intended as an homage to Ice Pirates and then became something so much more. When we realized that there was little we could do to avoid resembling the classic space western, we took to embrace it into our happy family of inspiration! Hopefully when it's all said and done, one can look at the project and see beyond the few parallels and into some of the more obscure references, but even so: Firefly was an amazing show that deserves its life on the silver screen. If nothing else, hopefully TRC can provide Browncoats around the world with a little something to tide them over.

Why did you pick Sandrima Rising?

Where most films focus around Jedi or some other form of Force user, TRC is about a cabal of space pirates who neither have any Force abilities, understanding nor any interest in the topic. We liked this idea as a story that has been a long time deserving to be told. TRC follows the more recent fanfilms as being a character driven story. While there is plenty of action, there is also a lot of development between characters, multiple agendas, sub-plots with dozens of minor characters that have plenty of potential for repeat appearances. Not many other projects are written specifically to follow the arc of a series. While Sandrima Rising can play as a stand-alone project in the fanfilm industry, it is also designed to inspire a multitude of future episodes.

What are the chances of you getting this thing to his doorstep?

We don't work on chances. ;)

George Lucas already has his writers working on a series. What makes you think he'll even consider this as a show now?

Well for one, we already have a budget, a finished script and we're almost through production which is lightyears ahead of LucasFilm's 2009 release date (well, at least 1 year ahead). At the same time, LucasFilm's current venture of pitting their show within Episode III and IV is boxed in and restricted by a plethora of plot points that they'd have to adhere by or risk upsetting the fans. TRC takes place after pretty much everything and is tightly focused on one small band of characters and their trusty starship, which would give LucasFilm almost unlimited play space. At the same time, given the period in which the series would occur, it would allow for some familiar faces of the first Trilogy to make their appearance. For example, Harrison Ford is as old now as Han Solo would be in TRC's timeline, etc. At the very least, Sandrima Rising could spearhead the Star Wars television series campaign or even accessorize it! After all, how many spin-offs did they make for Star Trek? Stargate: SG1 has Stargate: Atlantis. Buffy had Angel. Friends had...well...you get the point. The Star Wars industry is so expansive and so lucrative, if Mr. Lucas really wanted to, he could have a different spin-off for every day of the Chinese leap-year and people would still watch every one, and he'd make bank! So the question isn't why would he. Rather, why wouldn't he!

Is this a for-profit production?

Yes and No. The only way we are going to sell this at all is if Mr. Lucas picks it up. We won't be charging anybody money for DVDs or access to the finished product. Admission to the show at festivals, cons and theaters will be free unless otherwise stated by LucasFilm. We 100% respect Mr. Lucas' generosity in letting us play in his back yard. We would absolutely love if Mr. Lucas authorized our Production Company to continue to produce more episodes for the networks and then everybody would profit. But if he decides not to pick it up, then everything will be free and we make no money.

So then will there be DVDs available for this project?

For the people involved, yes. Everybody who helps out gets a copy because that's just the cool thing to do. As far as mass production, we're not sure we can afford that outlet at this point in time so the movie will most likely be strictly available for download online and viewing at various screenings. If we do get a deal with LucasFilm we'll try our hardest to convince them to let us give out free copies of the DVDs so long as the money comes out of our pockets and not theirs.

I want to help out with this project. How can I get involved?

We appreciate every bit of help we can get! If you want anything to do with Sandrima Rising, just let us know!

The Renaissance Chronicles: Sandrima Rising and all characters therein
© 2005 Crown Productions
Planets and Historical references as well as pretty much the ENTIRE GALAXY are the copyrighted property of Lucasfilm Ltd. or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies and/or third-party licensors.