INTERVIEW: Joseph Negra of “Venus Rises”

Some of our readers may recall that back in May I posted an article on the site asking for any information about the "Venus Rises" web series that was in development a few years back, but seems to have kind of fallen off the radar recently. ( http://www.republibot.com/content/what-ever-happened-%E2%80%9Cvenus-rise... ) The same day that story went up, we were contacted by Joseph Negra, an actor from the series, who gave us a heads up on the state of the project, and he's kindly agreed to be with us today for an interview. Joseph, thank you very much for being here!

JOSEPH NEGRA:
Well, spank you very much for having me!

REPUBLIBOT 3.0:
Before we begin, I have to congratulate you and the entire Venus Rises team on the sheer audaciousness of what you're trying to do here. There are zillions of fan films on the web, most of them copyright-infringing things set in other people's well-known universes. There's a ton of Star Trek projects, a ludicrous number of Star Wars projects, superhero fan films, even some Firefly-based ones, and a lot of these are really, really good, but there's a surprising lack of *original* projects like yours that tell *original* stories in an brand-new fictional universe that *isn't* based on an old TV show or movie. Why do you think there are so many fan films and so few original startup stories like you're doing? I mean, the basic investment and time would be the same in either case, so why do you think it is that so many people are willing to spend all that time and money and effort to 'play in someone else’s garden' but so few people are willing to plant their own like you're doing?

JOSEPH:
I have to say that a lot of “fan”, “tribute”, “cover” (or insert your own insert appropriate description) projects get a lot of flak for not being original, including from myself in the past. However, I have to admit I would rather see a GOOD “copy” or “tribute” of something rather than a BAD rip-off. Take tribute bands vs. cover bands for instance; I hate to get dragged to see a cover band that just performs poorly executed rip-offs of popular bands just as I hate to sit through a C-Movie rip-off a popular sci-fi film. I would rather see a well executed and precisely performed tribute band who puts the time and effort into emulating their heroes just as I would rather see a true to form fan film of a popular sci-fi film or series.

REPUBLIBOT 3.0:
Fair enough. Point taken.

JOSEPH:
We also underestimate fans and their commitment to things. Where would Star Wars or Star Trek be without the hardcore fans? Yes, they were both successful in their own right (‘Wars more than Trek if you took out the hardcore fan aspect and went on filmmaking or ratings alone) but the longevity in mainstream news and media would’ve been far less without the fans.

With all of that being said, I think original (though, what’s original?) writing and performing is definitely more from the heart and soul with greater criticism from self and others. You take a chance planting your own garden and sometimes don’t reap what you sow but it’s much more rewarding than playing in someone else’s garden and ripping