It looks like the Star Citizen project is now also a Hollywood Star Citizen’s project. Sandi Gardiner is Star Citizen‘s VP of Marketing, yet she’s recently been spotted as having a role in a reality show based on casting talent for media productions.
As originally reported by PC Invasion, the Squadron 42 portion of the Star Citizen video game makes an appearance on the debut of an upcoming reality show called Cast Me. This was discovered when one of the hosts, Ajay Rochester, posted a preview screenshot of the episode on instagram. Digging in the situation further reveals filming took place back in March 2016, five months after Squadron 42 was revealed at the 2015 CitizenCon event gathering.
This raises the question as to the identity of Squadron 42 in itself. While advertised as being a Star Citizen related video game experience by Chris Roberts, the Hollywood names attached to the project (Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson), along with the extensive motion capture work that appears to have been done for the game (and still ongoing) – the question is raised as of how the crowdfunded game’s cash is being allocated.
The person appearing with Ajay in these photos is the co-founder of the company, Sandi Gardiner. Who was the subject of controversy last October when the Escapist published an article with claims made by current and former employees of the company, in which they stated that Sandi misused backer funds and other materials for personal use. Roberts responded with conspiracy accusations, claiming that Derek Smart was somehow scheming with the Escapist in order to make the article’s narrative. Chris had his lawyer Ortwin Freyermuth publish an official demand for an apology, promising legal action against the Escapist in any case otherwise. The situation came to an impasse when the Escapist refused to retract the article, with Freyermuth never delivering on the litigation battle he claimed would happen.
In the months following, video evidence surfaced online that appears to show Sandi Gardiner using the Star Citizen offices as set props for independent pieces. The most startling of these examples is one where Alex Mayberry is seen co-starring. Alex was a high level Executive Producer on the game, who departed from the project in June 2015 “for personal reasons”.
Another video has Sandi using the offices for some sort of “horror” sketch. While listed as a “Reverse the Verse” performance video, none of the video’s storyline or plot has any relation to Star Citizen or Squadron 42 in any form.
Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are video games that were crowdfunded back in 2012, but there’s no clear release date for any of it.
