OTW Fannews: Fans taking the reins

• Den of Geek wrote about fans stepping in to create more content. "As Star Wars fandom continued, fans became content creators too...Pablo Hidalgo wrote and illustrated Star Wars tabletops games before he was hired. Martha Wells...wrote fan fiction before she signed on to pen a novel about Princess Leia." And now two groups are creating video games. "Project Black Light is an effort by fans to write Knights of the Old Republic 3, the highly-anticipated KOTOR sequel that never was" and "Another Star Wars fan game in development is BattleCry, which development team leader Cameron Spencer calls 'a spiritual successor' to Battlefront 2."
• Provo, Utah's Daily Herald profiled Star Trek fan film creators. "It would be an understatement to say 'Star Trek Continues' wouldn't be possible without Mignogna. He produces, directs, writes, scores, edits and stars in the show. (In the closing credits he's even listed as a carpenter.) Mignogna was "fanatical" about the original series as a young boy, making 'Star Trek' videos even back then. In that way, Mignogna said, 'Star Trek Continues' was "an idea 40 years in the making."
• Of course sometimes it's the pros who go fannish. My ModernMet showed a variety of business cards for well known fandoms by "Italian creatives Benedetto Papi and Edoardo Santamato of Invasione Creativa".
• Billboard focused on how happy some creators can be with fan responses. "On the OWN show 'Oprah Prime',' the host played Williams a montage of fan-created YouTube videos adapted to his No. 1 Hot 100 hit 'Happy.' Following a series of videos from London, the Philippines, Iceland and more, the singer found himself in tears." He discussed the song's journey recounting "how radio stations were passing on the song until his 'Happy' clip debuted and fan-made videos began to create attention. 'It was no longer my song,' he says."

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