Official ST Fan Film Guidelines

http://www.startrek.com/fan-films

And let the war begin....

 

Well call them the Star Wars!
Star Trek Wars?
Star Wars Trek?
Trek Wars?
Wars Trek?

There's another thread about this in the fan production forum.

 

It was bound to happen sooner or later, especially in light of certain recent developments that have already been discussed for hundreds of pages in another thread.

I think the limit on the running time is rather strict, but oh well.

Kor

 

Thousands, Thousands of pages.

 

Not unexpected, but I'd have liked a slightly longer episode length time (if it were to be limited, say 25 minutes).

 

I'm not surprised by them issuing guidelines, but some of them are rather surprising. Oh, well, now people can complain about the guidelines rather than the lack of guidelines.

 

They are allowed to do two part stories with a combined runtime of 30 minutes. That's more than enough! Look what shows like Steven universe do in 11 minutes, it's all in the writing.

Sure, they won't be able to do an epic galaxy spanning story with dozens of characters that would be the Lord of the Rings of Star Trek with those limitations but that's not what fan productions should be anyway.

I especially love the rule that everybody who has worked on Star Trek is forbidden from participating in fan productions.

 

The running time limit is my only real complaint. It kills full episodes for ST: Continues and ST: Phase II. Other than that, it's a company protecting their copyright while trying to throw a bone to the fans.

 

Steven Universe, and shows like it, have multiple 11-minute episodes to create an overarching story arc with, though. Yeah, they have good solo bits, but not only good solo bits. You missed this part:

You're not allowed to do anything but a one-and-done production. Single episode or two-parter, and that's all. No continuity to further productions you might make whatsoever. Every single fan film production now has to be a stand-alone work.

 

And no actors that have ever been part of Star Trek can be in a fan-production?

Seeing how many have already done so, with joy, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd spoke up about this.

 

I don't see how this could possibly stand up to legal scrutiny. For a start, it impinges on an actor's right to work, paid or unpaid. I would suggest that somewhere in US law, there's a rule that says you can't stop a person from earning a legitimate living. And if no Trek actor has ever signed a contract forbidding them from working on a *STILL* legal fan production, I don't see how CBS and Paramount can do anything but put up with it.

 

CBS and Paramount can shut them down, there are no legal fan productions, they're all violating copyright (if they didn't they wouldn't be recognizable as Star Trek anymore), there are just the ones CBS and Paramount tolerate and only they decide what they do and don't tolerate. No one has the right to do a fan production in the first place and that means CBS and Paramount aren't violating anyone's rights no matter what rules they come up with.

It's also important to note that those rules are in no way binding for the companies, a fan production can follow all the rules and CBS and Paramount could still shut them down.

 

I would think the onus is on the person producing the fan film project to make sure s/he isn't using anybody who has worked on official Trek. And it seems that the part saying "creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs" already rules out anybody who makes their living in TV or movies and is part of the system of professional guilds/unions for the industry.

Kor

 

Just closing this thread down. Go over to the other Fan Gilm a Guidelines thread, please,