This is for a contest. Are the rules the same for general fan film makers who are just doing it for fun?
Star Trek: Renegades
- Thread starter Danlav05
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This is for a contest. Are the rules the same for general fan film makers who are just doing it for fun?
No. Star Wars fan films are limited to usually 5 minutes of parody.
You might have a point if any Star Wars fan film remotely approached what Axanar has managed to do.
That's what I expected. I don't see the point of saying "if only CBS and Paramount could handle this like Lucasfilm" if you're talking about productions that wouldn't fly with them either.
The ones that come to my mind that come close are IMPS: The Relentless but, as you say, it does lean towards parody. The production values on that particular batch of films, however, brings it close to Axanar levels, IMO, particularly with regard to smart writing and exceptionally well done VFX. There have been a few other shorts out there, mostly elaborate lightsaber duels with a hint of story interwoven in between. TheForce.net has a few gemstones hidden amongst the lumps of lead and coal if one has the patience to go digging for them.
Every journey begins with a first step. In this case, it's Axanar. It sounds like some people in other organizations are just now starting to head for the exit door in anticipation of that very thing. Snodgrass is merely the first, albeit pretty high-profile. You can't tell me the other productions out there aren't genuinely worried where the Sword of Damocles is going to fall next. If there was no chance of that happening, it would be business as usual, but the tension is palpable and rising. It's being discussed quite heavily on several forums out there and there is real worry.
Star Wars telling them to stick to parody might the fanfilmer as much as it does Disney's IP as parody is protected as transformative under fair use.
Famfilmer is protected because Disney couldn't (rightfully) sue.
Disney is protected because only an idiot would confuse the two.
And yet, there are still fan films that exceed that limit.
Star Wars: Spirits of the Force Trilogy
EDIT: Welp, cancel that. The first video has been blocked in the U.S. The second seems to be playing ok...
I stand corrected. Still not feature length though.
And I'd have to be Helen Keller to confuse that with actual Star Wars.
Agreed.
Though we'd be saying that about many of these fan films we're talking about right now if it wasn't for crowdfunding.
You're a good dude, but this post is almost completely wrong.
The fan film community is the NOT the Star Trek "fanbase." They are a small part of a small part of a small part of a small wedge of Star Trek fans. By pursuing this legal action CBS/Paramount are not impacting Star Trek's fanbase in any way.
CBS/Paramount are not trying to eliminate effective competition. There is no conceivable way that Axanar would have created a product that would have competed with any other Star Trek product. There is no way of knowing if Axanar would have competed with other fan films, especially considering how much of the magical million they raised was siphoned into the creator's pockets or spent building a studio.
Lucasfilm has "coexisted" with fan productions by turning them into pro-bono independent contractors, trading time and money for the chance to be included in future media release that will only make money for Lucasfilm. While I am sure that more than a few Star Trek fan film producers would gladly sacrifice their cat's left nut for that chance, the power is concentrated in Lucasfilm's hands, not in the actual creator's hands.
I think that Paramount/CBS has been more than fair to fan films and their creators, and I am sure that the Axanar suit is not motivated out of some animus towards fan films in general but rather motivated by the need to curtail the excesses of a specific production.
Okay, fair enough. All good points. And don't get me wrong, I'm not in any way defending what Peters did, if it's found that he's guilty of such shenanigans that could only serve to ruin it for everyone else.
I'm just recalling how things have shaken out in the past with regard to fan films, websites and unlicensed merchandise online and at conventions and how they were approached by Paramount/CBS, often with an overly heavy hand. There were some rough times before and I'm a big believer of previous behavioral patterns being a healthy indicator of future behavior patterns. Maybe this time will be better and a lot less bloody. I really do honestly hope I'm wrong.
I'm just recalling how things have shaken out in the past with regard to fan films, websites and unlicensed merchandise online and at conventions and how they were approached by Paramount/CBS, often with an overly heavy hand. There were some rough times before and I'm a big believer of previous behavioral patterns being a healthy indicator of future behavior patterns. Maybe this time will be better and a lot less bloody. I really do honestly hope I'm wrong.
CBS didn't gain control of the franchise until 2004 or 2005, and have seemed pretty hands off of things like websites, fan fiction and fan films until Axanar began licensing things for sale based off of the Trek IP.
This is something Mr. Peters unsurprisingly denies, but which everyone else represents as fact, with "alleged" omitted from all discussion. Don't we owe it to objectivity and the legal system to make the determination without prejudice about the truth of it, especially anyone not privy to the evidence?
I'd also like to know whether the for-profit studio was built on crowd-sourced funding of a non-profit project. But I'll wait for the verdict.
No. The legal system owes him that. Other people are perfectly free to have opinions before a verdict is reached... because, you know... human nature and such.
People who support Peters and think he has a case are also free to post their opinions and provide some evidence that what he did was in the right.
We'll wait. This thread isn't going anywhere.
He built offices with Axanar cash. A short-term fan project has no need for offices.
That's not even the worst part. He built offices, and then remodeled them. No production office on any low-budget operation has the money for shit like that. You just come in, set up, shoot your shit, and GTFO. That's the whole point. Time is money and the longer you spend on a project, the longer it will cost you (in this case, the fans). Even successful, high-profile television shows, during their first seasons, don't waste time pretty-ing up their offices and what not. Half the time people just don't know how long they're going to be there.
Peters abused that very simple operational norm. This is where it has brought him. He built his castle before he could conquer the land, and oops, here come the Knights of the CBS to retake their property.
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