Star Trek: Axanar

[Tosk]

He already responded to it.

The original guy seems to be confused anyway:

"Your published budget was a joke, and you know it. So enough with your lies and spin. Nobody needs that much money to rent a studio and build one set, and shoot one 20-minute bluescreened short-film."

The studio and set have nothing to do with the already finished short. They are for the feature length Axanar, not prelude.

 

[Karzak]

Yeah, it sounds more like he's just trying to badmouth the production there. But he does raise some interesting (to me, anyway) points and reallly, Peters replied to only the first comment. I'd be very interested in hearing his response to the posts that came after:

Jeremey:
Troll? No little guy, I’m just VERY pissed off — and I have the numbers to back it.

I posted a lengthy outline of the point-blank false claims you made to donors during your second Kickstarter, your false claims about where you planned to spend that money, and about how the money you raised was “almost the whole budget” — direct, cut-and-paste, chapter-and-verse — on your blog, and you deleted it (yes, I have screencaps). I asked point-blank how much you were paying yourselves, and you deleted it (again, I have screencaps). So to say that you delete nothing is a lie, and a provable one.

Your published budget was a joke, and you know it. So enough with your lies and spin. Nobody needs that much money to rent a studio and build one set, and shoot one 20-minute bluescreened short-film.

Every dime of Kickstarter money you’ve spent on stuff like a car (yep, we know about that!) WILL be revealed. And as for those who’ve left your project with all these inside details — yep, it’s ALL coming out. Soon.

But then again, since you’re a “lawyer” (teehee), you should be prepared.

starfleetcommand:
Playing devil’s advocate here: Your Kickstarter currently states you needed $404,000 (Including and accounting for Kickstarter fee overages) set construction, sound stage rental, sound stage renovation and pre-production costs. Your original goal was $100,000 — So, you’re saying you under-estimated your set construction/location costs by $300,000k? What were you even hoping to do with the original goal of $100,000?

Whatever. So, you spent the $404,000. How about the other $234,000 you have left over... That is only a couple hundred thousand from your estimated feature budget of $325,000 - $425,000. So, then I ask you, where is this figure of an ADDITIONAL 960K coming from? Are you actually attempting to raise nearly a MILLION more dollars on top of the $638,000 you’ve raised? Or am I misunderstanding you? Do you intend to post a detailed budget breakdown to explain where the extra $1.5 million dollars worth of costs came, as compared to your original goal of $100,000?

Whoever is producing your project needs to work on their budgeting skills, because they’re either stealing money from you or simply don’t know how to bring in a project on budget. Furthermore, any fan who shrugs and thinks “oh, well. Films must be expensive” aren’t grasping just how out of control this budget is. You guys make good work, there’s no doubts there, but I hope someone makes sure the producers are being held accountable because this is a smack in the face to your donors.

Gary Sebben:
Alec, I find it hard to believe that someone who was banned from TrekBBS for abusive behavior is calling someone else a troll. There are a lot of questions and discrepancies in your project including accusations of using the money for a for profit studio instead of the film and that someone on the project bought a car with some of the money. There is no public ledger. There is no public record of how much you guy’s took in outside of Kickstarter. There’s no real explanation as to why nearly a million dollars is not enough to make a gritty pew-pew space film. This whole thing is going to be a fiasco that will probably set back fan films for years.

All questions whose answers I'd be very interested in reading. Then again, I'd love it if that first guy - Jeremey - would back his assertions up as well. otherwise its just a bunch of nerds getting their thongs in a twist.

 

[BigJake]

Hm. Sounds like someone we know.

(Maurice, your link is now just redirecting to the original article, not sure if you're aware.)

 

[Tosk]

(Maurice, your link is now just redirecting to the original article, not sure if you're aware.)

No, you just have to give it a moment. It will pop down to the linked comment he is linking to after the page loads.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

(Maurice, your link is now just redirecting to the original article, not sure if you're aware.)

No, you just have to give it a moment. It will pop down to the linked comment he is linking to after the page loads.

You have to enable JavaScript for that to happen.

 

[Harvey]

Hm. Sounds like someone we know.

Who? Doubleohfive? I don't have any idea who this Jeremy person is (An upset donor? Someone with a previous axe to grind against Alec Peters? A disgruntled former member of Axanar?), but he isn't doubleohfive.

 

[BigJake]

Tosk: Huh, not happening for me. Guess maybe some of my third-party apps could be blocking it. At any rate what Karzak quotes there gives me the basic flavour: same old, same old.

Who? Doubleohfive? I don't have any idea who this Jeremy person is (An upset donor? Someone with a previous axe to grind against Alec Peters? A disgruntled former member of Axanar?), but he isn't doubleohfive.

All due credit to him, it wasn't doubleohfive's way to get into making particular public claims like "we know you bought a car," so maybe you're right. Good, if so.

 

[Barbreader]

What northstar said. (And thanks Lowdarzz, was just coming here to link that article myself. Sweet.)

It was sure nice to have a break from people professing to get the vapors that Axanar is fundraising again and how dare they. (Right up there with being shocked, shocked that CBS legal hasn't gotten involved. Shocked.) Maybe we can make the next break even longer.

Sigh... dreaming.

 

[BigJake]

I know, I know...

 

[northstar]

If that troll poster at IO9 were a backer, he would know where the money was spend, why certain things were more expensive then they have budgeted.

It´s not that Peters has produced something that big before, so I imagine it is very easy to think - oh, with that much money we can easily do it, only to encounter later that - if you want to do it the "real" way - it costs a lot more.

And I could very well imagine that their goals are now set even higher then before, with all the success and praise - so that produces additional costs.

As far as I know they have the guy that budgeted the Trek series - so he should know what he´s doing. Most people have no idea what a professional production costs, where all the hidden costs are hiding. And if they bought a car - so what? You need a car to drive stuff, almost every company has one.

And even at a price point of 1.x million - that is much lower then your typical SyFy movie crap costs to produce. For a fan-film, it´s enormous, but that´s not the standard they are going for.

 

[Wulff359]

To me, the only important question is: Will I get my DVD/Download of a Star Trek Movie with a well written story, mindblowing VFX and a good acting cast? I don't have any doubt on the VFX part, as I know Tobias Richters works. I don't have any doubt on the story, if I read who is working on the script. I don't have any doubt on the acting, reading who is on the cast. Will those ingredients automatically warrant for a good movie? The answer is Terminator Genisys - No. But it still looks good so far. If they need longer than they first stated. Ok. I've been waiting for my PebbleWatch also longer than they promised and I still got a banging product.
So, I payed a certain amount of money to get a precisely described product. How they get to there - I don't really care. If they take my Money to feed Icecream to a cat, I don't care. As long as I get what was promised. And I have a good feeling about that.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I really hope this production doesn't collapse under its own weight. Between the budget bloat, shifting directors, less-than-transparent financials and what appears to be an increasingly defensive skipper (Alec), I'm afraid some are sniffing blood in the water. Those comments appear as circling sharks to me.

Also somewhat disappointed that they've abandoned the FASA 4YW source material in favor of an approach more "canon-friendly". Still looking forward to seeing this one day, but it really seems like this thing is having some major problems that aren't going away.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

... I'm afraid some are sniffing blood in the water.

Meh. It's just another day ending in "y." There are always some people making things out like there's blood in the water, even when there isn't any.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ I genuinely hope so.

One never truly knows the agendas those people have for stirring up such discontent. Or why...

 

[Barbreader]

Robert Meyer Bernett, who is working on Axanar in his free time and has worked on the Blu-Rays for TNG, has posted a response on Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/axanarfansgroup/permalink/473365062839663/

For those of you who do not have access to Facebook, I'm copying the post:

Folks...I'd like to address these recent accusations directed against us on Reddit and the TREK BBS.
In a nutshell, they are completely baseless. First of all, Alec Peters drives the same car he's always driven since I've known him...and he was grousing just yesterday he has to pay 800 bucks to fix it AGAIN. My own 15 year old Honda's transmission blew up coming back from a documentary shoot in Arizona, so I now drive a used Hyundai. Diana Kingsbury drove her own car out from the Midwest when she relocated to Los Angeles. We're not exactly TOP GEAR all up in this hizzle.
AXANAR is, bar none, the most transparent crowd-funded film project in history. Alec published the REAL budget for PRELUDE TO AXANAR, so you could see EXACTLY where the money was spent. In my 26 years of working in the film business, I've NEVER seen that done. He's publishing the 2014 AXANAR Annual Report as well, to show exactly where all the money from the last Kickstarter continues to flow.
In terms of our studio facility...well...if we didn't have it...where would we build our sets? Where would we shoot the film? Additionally, any idea how much it costs to build a bridge, including the labor and materials, not to mention tools? If we didn't have our warehouse...where, exactly, would all of this take place? And with our warehouse completely taken up by construction, how, exactly, are we running a for profit business out of there...?
With all the videos, photos, podcasts, social media postings and the direct interactions we have with our Donors, you can be rest assured we have absolutely NOTHING to hide. You can ask us anything at any time. If you want to come see the Bridge set itself, inspect our automobiles or play with my action figures, we welcome and encourage our donors to stop by and see for yourselves.
Something else to consider...you know all those embroidered patches we love to make and you love to get (heck...I love to get)? Well...after the last AXANAR Kickstarter, Alec wrote a check for $22,000.00 to make a huge batch of those patches. Our recently released Soundtrack CDs? Where do you think those come from? Our wonderful Donors themselves make those perks possible.
You might ask where your PRELUDE DVDs and BLUs are. Well, it's certainly not the tireless Diana Kingsbury's fault you don't have them...I squarely take the blame for those delays...because I have a day job. I got paid six figures to create the special features for the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION blu-rays. I've done the same thing for PRELUDE TO AXANAR...but for FREE. I'm able to do this because I have a day job. Currently, I'm editing a very cool Science Fiction Thriller called PARADOX starring Zoe Bell. I've been on it since March. Everything I do for AXANAR I do in my spare time, including conceiving, planning, directing, editing and post-supervising the first scene from the AXANAR feature film our Donors will see on Wednesday.
Also...it was suggested by "Jeremy" in the comments section of yesterday's Io9 AXANAR story they should do some investigative journalism as to the reasons Christian Gossett left the AXANAR project. I say to "Jeremy," why not go on Christian's FB page and read, in his own words, why he left the project? It's certainly not a secret.
I'm putting all of my heart and soul into AXANAR and I intend nothing less than to make the greatest TREK film of all time. A tall order? Absolutely. But if Alec and I and the rest of Team Axanar weren't shooting for Alpha Centauri here...we wouldn't be doing our jobs.
Judge us by our actions and the work we're doing. Watch the first scene from the AXANAR feature I've spent the last two months creating along with the rest of the team and then tell me if you think what we're doing is worth your time and money...
And if ANYONE wants to accuse us of any wrongdoing...or any kind of financial misdealings...I invite you on as our guest to the OFFICIAL AXANAR PODCAST where we'll address your accusations directly and broadcast them all for the fans and donors to hear and then judge for themselves.
In the meantime...I can't wait to share the first scene from the AXANAR feature film with all of our loyal Donors, Supporters and Fans. Without you, the AXANAR project wouldn't exist.
Thank you for your time.

I did not copy the comments.

 

[Barbreader]

Alec has posted the Axanar budget on Facebook, too. It's here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/axanarfansgroup/473370186172484/?notif_t=group_activity

Since Alec was banned from this forum, I will not copy his post unless an admin says that is OK.

 

[Barbreader]

Alec has made the Prelude to Axanar financials available for download, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/axanarfansgroup/473372429505593/?notif_t=group_activity

Again, respecting that this board has banned Alec, I can post this if a moderator says that that would be OK.

 

[Karzak]

^^ Both of those links just go to the most recent thread in the Axanar Fan Group Facebook page.

Thanks for sharing, Barb. I was curious about the alleged Reddit post that Burnett referenced, but couldn't seem to find it anywhere. Do you happen to know what he is referring to?

EDIT: Never mind, I found it.

 

[Duane]

Posting this here and on reddit, addressing the OP. I think i got most of the facts right.

Dude, the Axanar team have moved the goal posts for perfectly valid reasons. There is SO much interest in quality independent Trek and the Axanar guys have proven they can deliver. Now we have a studio dedicated to Trek and other sci-fi productions. How cool is that! Sure, filmmakers will have to pay something to shoot there and that's fair as the studio has running costs.

The OP is not following the Axanar project closely enough. The 600k also paid for some or all costumes and some or all CGI. Most of the CGI will be done before the actual shoot.

The former director stepped down as he was offered a far higher paying job. Thew new director directed 'Free Enterprise which won four awards, including a Saturn award.

Vanity project? For whom? Prelude to Axanar proves to me that everyone involved is skilled. Sure, the actual movie will be much harder to make and we can judge it when we see it. My expectations are high and I expect to be more than satisfied with the final product and expect to watch it again and agin, just like I do with Paramount/CBS Trek.

The Axanar team is much better organized than the other teams, but I'm not going to bash the other teams because I love more Trek and they are giving it to me and I love it.

The CGI and make-up look great and I give the dialogue in prelude to Axanar a score of 9 out of 10.

Where has the 600k gone? Again, the OP has not followed the news flow out coming out of Axanar. Donors have been promised full accounting at the appropriate time. This deep into pre-production is not the right time to release this as the final numbers aren't complete, plus the Axanar team is super busy. (Alec posted solid numbers on Facebook which I saw minutes ago after this post went to reddit.)

Volunteers volunteer. If I didn't have a blind dog to look after I would be volunteering in a second. The dog is in Thailand and she cannot fly with me to LA as her 5.6 kg weight exceeds the 5.0 kg allowed by the only airline that allows dogs inside the plane.
If you follow their blog daily (which I do) you will draw the conclusion that the money is being spent extremely wisely.

Further investment is voluntary. No one is forced to give.

The OP states that "further investment is an enormous risk." Again, the OP is not following the project. I do and I see 0% risk.

The OP has an axe to grind in my view and I am donating for the third time on July 8 at Indiegogo. If you did not donate before, you can donate as of July 10, I think. Axanar treats donors so much better than the other 15 or so projects I have donated to on Kickstarter.

To the OP and anyone else, my real name is Duane Bruner and you can find me on Facebook if you wish to friend me and engage in a PM exchange. Just look for the behind-the-scenes photo from TMP and that is me.

Sorry for any typos. I have recently injured a hand and will be a one-handed typist for the next week or two.

 

[Bixby]

The former director stepped down as he was offered a far higher paying job.

As soon as Prelude was put online, the above was only a matter of time.