For most folks, the idea of dressing up as Star Wars‘ Boba Fett is silly. Even sillier is the notion of going out in public dressed as Boba Fett and being videotaped as you “battle” your friends… who just happen to be dressed like Stormtroopers. But, what’s silly to some is a passion for others, and making “fan films” is a passion for many aspiring filmmakers today. While these projects could easily be dismissed as a nerd’s folly — they might be an untapped resource for Hollywood studios to maintain and generate buzz for a film franchise.

The Backstory

Fan films are pretty much what you’d think: homemade movies made by fans that are based on someone else’s intellectual property. For instance, “Pink Five” (and “Pink Five Strikes Back” and “The Return of Pink Five”) was based on “Star Wars,” and the more recent “The Hunt for Gollum” was based on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Typically these fan films are made without the permission of the copyright owner, are crafted on a shoestring budget and don’t (or can’t) earn a dime. Thanks to cheap digital video equipment, easy-to-use special effects packages and free distribution on the Internet, fan films are more possible (and popular) than ever.

The Set-up

Why would someone give up their weekends to make a movie based on characters they didn’t create for a movie from which they can’t make any money? There are two mains reasons repeated over and over in my interviews with fan filmmakers over the years. First is simply that these people love the source material. As a fan filmmaker once told me, “Who wouldn’t want to be a Jedi?” The second reason is more practical — there’s a built-in audience already inclined to see the finished work. If you’re going to spend your time making a film, or if you want to become a professional filmmaker, why not make something people will actually see?

And people do see them. Take “The Hunt for Gollum,” for example. It’s a 40-minute fan film with a story that bridges J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Stylistically reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s big budget adaptations, this smaller version was made for a reported $4,500 and released on May 3, 2009. In the weeks since, it has been viewed more than 1.19 million times at video sharing site Dailymotion. And it did more than just attract eyeballs; it got people interested in and talking about the Rings franchise years after the last of Jackson’s films left theaters and well before the big studio Hobbit hits screens in 2012.

“The Hunt for Gollum” is a good example, because Tolkein’s estate gave the film its blessing (with the understanding that the film would be completely nonprofit). Over-protective copyright holders have adjusted their attitudes over the years. According to Clive Young, an expert on fan films and author of “Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind the Camera,” DC Comics used to send out cease-and-desist letters over Superman fan films back in the late ’90s, but today the company doesn’t mind, as long as the fan filmmakers aren’t profiting from the work. Lucasfilm was among the first copyright owners to embrace fan films, but initially it only allowed spoofs or parodies, not works of serious fan fiction. The company in the past few years has softened its stance and now allows those once-verboten works into its quarterly user-generated “Star Wars” Fan Movie Challenge.

“A lot of these companies see fan films as innocuous,” said Young. But now is the time to shift attitudes among copyright holders from one of ambivalence to one of more active participation.

The Pitch

Historically there’s been hesitation among copyright holders about encouraging fan films for legal reasons. The fear is that a copyright holder, by accepting or endorsing a fan film, could lose control of the story over a property’s lifetime, since it’s not uncommon for two or more people to come up with the same idea. Let’s take “Star Wars” as an example. A fan filmmaker could create a movie in which Han Solo dies. At the same time, Lucasfilm may be working on another movie featuring a scene in which Han Solo dies. Though the two scenes were developed independently, Lucasfilm wouldn’t want the legal hassle of some fan filmmaker saying their idea was “stolen” once the official movie was released.

But legal fears are giving way to new media realities. “The whole notion of building community has changed dramatically,” said Kraig Marini-Baker, partner and chair of law firm Davis Wright Tremaine’s Technology, e-Business and Digital Media practice. “You are more likely to convince a property that they will allow fan films because you are creating this passionate fan base.”

So, what can studios do to encourage participation in their copyrighted worlds and harness this fan base?

Set boundaries with would-be filmmakers. Marini-Baker says setting boundaries can be a good place to start. Studios can limit the length of submissions, limit their commercial potential, and ensure that works don’t defame the property.

Provide plain-language legal guidelines. A very helpful tool copyright owners could provide is a basic legal outline of dos and don’ts. Many fan filmmakers just don’t understand the complex legal underpinnings of copyright law. Explain how music can or can’t be used, how logos can’t be shown and what a basic actor release is to save on potential legal headaches down the road.

Offer brand-approved collateral to filmmakers. On a more tactical level, copyright owners should provide basic filmmaking tools, such as downloadable special effects, backgrounds for green-screens or costume patterns (that Boba Fett outfit’s not going to make itself!). By making these official add-ons, copyright owners could not only make a few extra dollars for almost no effort, and could help make sure that the finished fan film actually looks decent and holds up to brand standards. An additional carrot that could be offered to fan filmmakers is recognition, putting their work alongside their favorite films online or as extras on a DVD.

There is precedent for this strategy. Lucasfilm offers a production kit through Atom.com for Star Wars-inspired fan films, and it even allows participants to use official Star Wars music. That program has continued for nearly eight years and has expanded from a once-yearly event into a quarterly one. In another universe, the SciFi Channel has also experimented with offering official special effects for “Battlestar Galactica” fan filmmakers and has received hundreds of fan-made submissions, many of which were selected to appear on the Sci-Fi Channel’s web site.

Fan films won’t become a huge moneymaker for copyright owners anytime soon — or ever. But success isn’t always measured in dollars. By harnessing the energy and goodwill of its fan community, copyright owners can put a little of the Force into their franchises.

Chris Albrecht is the Co-Editor of NewTeeVee.