About Us
TheForce.net, also known as TFN, is one of the oldest and most visited fan-run Star Wars news websites.The site began in late 1996 as "Texas A&M University's Star Wars Page," founded by roommates Scott Chitwood and Darin Smith. Originally, the site was, in Chitwood's words, "a few pictures and tons of text," but it eventually outgrew its environment. In September 1997, TheForce.Net was born.
Soon the staff numbered over a dozen. Eventually, Joshua Griffin came on board as partial owner. Later, entrepreneur Philip Wise, owner of both the collecting site Rebelscum.com and the Lucasfilm-licensed autograph company Official Pix, joined Griffin as a co-owner of the site. The site's main technical staff are Anthony Baratta and Michael Spellacy.Early in TFN's lifetime, the site was a resource for spoiler information on the upcoming prequel films. However, as its profile grew, and as StarWars.com started meeting much of the demand for advance information, the site's focus moved away from spoilers and into more standard news reporting.
Based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Wise spends most of his time dedicated to Star Wars collecting and fandom. Besides running TFN, he also runs Rebelscum.com and is a partner in C2 Ventures, Inc., a promotion company with a significant focus in the Star Wars celebrity arena, as well as OfficialPix.com, which held the Star Wars and Indiana Jones license to print and sell licensed photos and autographs from 2002 through 2015.
Chris, a resident of Florida, is a site administrator & photographer who also reports news for Rebelscum.com in addition to TheForce.net. On a more regional level, Chris formed the Tampa Star Wars Club in 2005 and then in 2009, merged his group with the Orlando System to form and co-found the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance which covers the entire state of Florida. He previously co-hosted the Jedi Journals literature podcast with "Jovial" Jay Shepard.
Anthony -- who hails from Tracy, CA -- joined the TFN staff in November, 2000. Anthony likes to think of himself as duct tape, bailing wire and silly putty for the Internet. He is a confused Zoology student that wandered into the PC computer revolution many years ago and stayed for the endless supply of Jolt Cola it provides him. Besides a fan of run on sentences, Anthony can be found tinkering with the under-the-hood side of TheForce.Net web site. Anthony has been a Star Wars fan since the summer of 77, where he excitedly stood in line almost every weekend to watch "the most tremendous movie of our time."
Ryan's love of Star Wars began in 1997, when he sat in the theater to see the Special Editions with his dad at four years old. After a short stint as a sports journalist with stops at ESPN and Sports Illustrated, Ryan decided to channel his passion and love for Star Wars into hosting a podcast. He currently hosts The Forcecast with Daniel Berry and writes for TFN. He resides in Chattanooga, TN with his wife Kate and their son and daughter.
Jay lives outside Baltimore, MD but hails originally from Southern California. Having provided the initial slogan for Rebelscum.com, he is proud to be able to contribute to that amazing site. Having amassed a large collection of printed materials, Jay also manages the Jedi Journals section at Rebelscum.com when he's not reading or talking books here!
Frozen in Carbonite
Dustin Roberts resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Served as Content Manager from 2000-2020. He was always a huge fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, and his love of the toys and collecting habits were rekindled in 1995 when he started to see Kenner Star Wars action figures in stores again. Roberts' contributions to the online Star Wars community include involvement with many prominent fan based websites, like Yakface.com, Nerf-herder.com, Rebelscum.com, and R2D2central.com. In 2006, he won the title of Star Wars Fan Club President from Lucasfilm, and started The ForceCast, which quickly became the #1 Star Wars podcast. Nowadays, Roberts concentrates on being regular Star Wars fan and skateboarding.
Scott Chitwood
Co-Founder
Chitwood (Houston, Texas) co-founded this site in 1996 with Darin Smith when it was the Star Wars Page at Texas A&M. His goal for TFN was to make a site HE would be interested in visiting. You can find Scott over at ComingSoon.net these days, as well as Red 5 Comics. All reports that he tried to Rogaine himself into a Wookiee are completely and totally false.
Joshua Griffin
Partner
Josh Griffin (South Orange County, California) is a partner in TF.N, but no longer plays an active role in the site.
Mike Barrick
Content Manager
Mike Barrick (Abingdon, MD) was recruited by Dustin to help post news between 2007 and 2012, but no longer plays an active role in the site.
Steve Dunk
TFN Reporter
Steve was born on Vancouver Island and now lives just outside of Toronto and spend his days obsessing over most things in geek culture. A huge cinephile and poster/art collector, well travelled, doesn’t like sports and has lots of Star Wars books…and two dogs.
Jason Swank & Jimmy Mac
ForceCast Hosts
Hosts of the ForceCast from 2006-2013, they made the ForceCast an award winning Star Wars podcast, and created a community of Star Wars fans like no other. They can be found over at Rebel Force Radio these days.
Eric Geller
ForceCast Host / Reviews
Eric Geller (Washington, D.C.) joined our staff as the Social Media Director on May 2, 2009, overseeing our social media presences on sites like Twitter and Facebook. He also was TFN's Star Wars Rebels reviewer, the host of the ForceCast network's Rebels Roundtable, and a contributor to the main ForceCast program. From 2009 to 2014, he reviewed episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars for TFN. Eric moved on in 2015 to concentrate on political journalism in Washington, D.C.
Justin Bolger
ForceCast Host / Reviews
Justin Bolger joined our staff initially writing literature reviews. He soon became a regular on The ForceCast and eventually the host. Justin has moved on to work for the maker at Lucasfilm.
Erik Blythe
ForceCast Host
Erik was the sole host of the original podcast for TheForce.Net back in 2005. He returned to his Star Wars roots as a co-host, coordinator, and producer on the ForceCast network between 2013 and 2016. Since then, Erik has moved on and is running a podcast network at RandomChatter.com focusing on movies, television, and technology.
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