A Word from John Hudgens
Director of "SITH APPRENTICE"

That line from The Godfather is very appropriate here... "Just when I though I was out, they pull me back in!"

I'd said The Jedi Hunter would be my last Star Wars fanfilm, because I didn't think that there would be any way to top it - not the film itself, not the experience of winning Audience Choice in the 2003 Official Fan Film Awards, none of it...

I should have known better...

Sith Apprentice was another of those accidental ideas. We'd toyed with the idea of doing another one for 2005, since I thought the release of Episode III would be the end of the official contest... but none of the ideas we'd come up with really worked past the initial joke of the title... CSI: Tatooine, Mr. Vader's Neighborhood, amusing ideas, but not iconic enough to really sustain a parody the way I wanted... add to the fact I was deep into the editing of American Scary (the feature documentary on TV horror hosts I'm making), and I didn't think there was time to do another one.

And then on New Year's Day, just barely two months before the deadline, while banging our heads against a wall trying to make *something* funny out of one of our earlier ideas, but getting nowhere, Lowell saw an ad for The Apprentice. After months of essentially nothing, overnight we had pages and pages of notes and ideas for a new film. It was The Jedi Hunter all over again, as the thing nearly wrote itself.

Luckily, the stars aligned themselves in our favor, all my friends banded together to get this thing made against a near impossible deadline, and Sith Apprentice took shape and was ready just in time for the 2005 contest, where (to my complete surprise) we again took home the Audience Choice award.

And while it's been an incredible experience, I can honestly say that this time, even as I thank you all for the awards, the laughs, and the recognition, I'm probably done with making fanfilms, as I really don't know how I could top this one.

But there's that pesky 30th anniversary of Star Wars coming up in 2007, and the official contest looks to continue at least through then - I may have to think about this for a while...

John Hudgens (Fenn)

Director, Sith Apprentice