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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Did anyone else repost this?

TerryMcIntosh said: ↑ Technically we're registered in California as a regular for-profit "S corp" and we're not going to bother going after formal non-profit status with the IRS, at least for now. Counsel has informed us about that process, and there are plenty of hoops and expenses to deal with, so that doesn't interest us now. Maybe down the road though, but for now that process is an expensive distraction.
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-axanar.189130/page-139
 
Once upon a time, I thought Axanar's biggest issue would have been the combination of Peters temper, and fans inevitably being fans once they'd seen the finished film. They were setting themselves up for a fall, even if the movie genuinely was pretty good.

It seems so long ago now. So naive.
 
To me, the hectic CGI battles and shakycam in "Prelude" looked way like more like the Abrams movies than any of the other hundreds of hours of Trek. So I really don't understand Axanar's snooty attitude toward JJTrek and saying that they have some kind of vision of "true Trek" that JJTrek is lacking. :confused:

Am... am I the only person here who watched ST09 and STID with the sound on? Because the way this drum keeps getting beaten, you'd think the only way you could tell an episode of TOS and one of the new movies apart is the production design (of the Kelvin) and the cinematography. As if, had you shown one of the many, many, many, people who've complained about the remakes the scripts, and not the finished movies, they would've been shocked at seeing this lost episode from the 1960s, which they'd stake their lives on having been written by Gene Coon himself. They'd weep at the beautiful purity of this distillation of everything they loved about the Star Trek they grew up with. They'd react like everyone did to The Force Awakens, to sum up.

I thought ST09 was a fine reboot, and STID had possibly the strongest first half of any of the movies (let's not talk about the second half), but I could still see there were differences in tone, focus, structure, character, and theme compared the original shows and movies, beyond the fact that the Kelvin was kind of excitingly chunky and the camera moved as if it were a sci-fi action movie made after Battlestar Galactica. I think the "true Trek" nonsense is complete tripe, but I'm not going to say that those who espouse it (to any extent) are full of crap because Axanar's visual style was somewhat modern. It's possible to go in a different direction from the new movies without having to completely burn away anything touched by their heresy.
 
At first I thought this post was saying the Axanar funds were used for Powerball tickets. I was like: "Whaaat?"

At this point, they'd probably get more for bang for the buck if they did... :devil:

And yes, I agree with Maurice: Good screenwriting is hard. It's easy (or fairly easy) to make a small trailer of things blowing up and small clips of larger speeches that may or may not be in the final product, it's another thing to actually have a story that doesn't fall flat (e.g. "Star Trek Gods and Men" and "Renegades" didn't that - screenwriting - too well either).

Yup. I have a half-finished screenplay 'round here somewhere (okay, maybe a tenth finished!), and 99.9% of my time was spent tinkering with conversations, trying to make them "feel" natural. And I still don't know if I got it right (and probably never will, since I doubt it will ever be finished, let alone made :D).

This is to say nothing of whether anyone would actually appreciate my sense of humor, which is an entirely different issue...

Once upon a time, I thought Axanar's biggest issue would have been the combination of Peters temper, and fans inevitably being fans once they'd seen the finished film. They were setting themselves up for a fall, even if the movie genuinely was pretty good.

It seems so long ago now. So naive.

Amen.
 
So, they're a for profit company that is not trying to make a profit? Um. OK. From what I read about S-Corps, they're profits are taxed as income. Don't know how it would affect taxes if a for profit S-Corp is more or less investing its money (donations) into the company to avoid making a profit. There's also the problem of under-paying salaries in an S-Corp. The IRS sees this as potentially trying to avoid certain taxes. If Peters only paid himself $38,000 out of the nearly seven figures the company has taken in, that may not be considered reasonable compensation for the income the company took in, and could be a red flag for an audit.

But, the IRS will almost certainly look at their crowd-sourced donations as income and tax it as such. Hope Peters has accounted for that (no pun intended).

(Mind you, I'm no tax expert. I say only six words to my accountant every tax season as I turn him over our papers, "Just keep me out of jail.")
 
So, they're a for profit company that is not trying to make a profit? Um. OK. From what I read about S-Corps, they're profits are taxed as income. Don't know how it would affect taxes if a for profit S-Corp is more or less investing its money (donations) into the company to avoid making a profit. There's also the problem of under-paying salaries in an S-Corp. The IRS sees this as potentially trying to avoid certain taxes. If Peters only paid himself $38,000 out of the nearly seven figures the company has taken in, that may not be considered reasonable compensation for the income the company took in, and could be a red flag for an audit.

But, the IRS will almost certainly look at their crowd-sourced donations as income and tax it as such. Hope Peters has accounted for that (no pun intended).

(Mind you, I'm no tax expert. I say only six words to my accountant every tax season as I turn him over our papers, "Just keep me out of jail.")

It's a business with expenses like any other. I actually don't see an issue with Peters' salary in terms of the S Corp. Remember, we don't know what he's told the IRS. And the statements he's made to the donors--i.e., the annual report and the December claim he's pursuing tax-exempt status--have no legal weight behind them.
 
The interesting thing is that, at least per the lawyer on the G&T Podcast that was linked to a few pages ago, the lawyer they had on the show seemed to think that it was interesting that Alec is the only named person on the lawsuit, but that she also strongly suspected that the first of the 20 other "John and Jane Does" would be Diana Kingsbury for her role in facilitating the "perk fulfillment"/merchandising of the Axanar works.

I can certainly see the logic behind that, but even more so if Kingsbury is still plugging away sending out orders as if its just business as usual.

As GeorgeKirk said -- they are both brazen and stupid.
 
Alec Peters said:
Over the past week, members of the Axanar haters group on Facebook have been discussing coming to the studio, even breaking in and stealing from Axanar. One individual even tried to gain access to the studio this past weekend. Fortunately Curtis Short was overseeing construction work and he turned the person away.

While we ignore the haters generally, this past week this group that is obsessed with hating on Axanar on Facebook has been discussing actually causing trouble at the studio. At least one of these threads was deleted by the admins, and our fans have reported a few more.

These types of discussions are incredibly irresponsible and attempts to trespass are flatly illegal. We are notifying Facebook about these actions and have talked to the local police as well.

It seems Alec doesn't like people on his property. How ironic.

Source: http://www.axanarproductions.com/captains-log-jan-11th-2016/

Neil
 
Peters' blog entries read like a fifth grader's book report. Every time.

I'm not aware of anyone discussing going to Ares Studios; the first (and only) time it was mentioned by someone, Squiggy and others quashed the idea and the thread was in fact deleted. I'm not aware of anyone else discussing it on the "I Stand With CBS" page. Peters may just be doing what he does -- trying to spin the story in his favor, taking advantage of the fact that most of his supporters aren't members there and will eat up every lie and exaggeration he spoonfeeds them and that his supporters who are, likely won't contradict Lord Alec either.

Either way, it just further speaks to Peters' continued inability to discuss the actual issues everyone else is concerned about and instead favoring just shit-talking anyone who doesn't drink the Axanar coffee.

To paraphrase John Harrison:

"Enjoy these final moments of peace, for CBS has returned... and they will have their copyright upheld."
 
Maybe he'd let people onto his property if they get permission first. I can understand being mad about unauthorized visits. And if you attempt to steal something, I agree, that's illegal.

Neil
 
Alec Peters said:
Over the past week, members of the Axanar haters group on Facebook have been discussing coming to the studio, even breaking in and stealing from Axanar. One individual even tried to gain access to the studio this past weekend. Fortunately Curtis Short was overseeing construction work and he turned the person away.

WOLF!!! WOLF!!!

Sorry, but I just don't believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore. I'm guessing that the "individual" was someone trying to get an interview with Alec or something, or maybe hoping to get a legitimate okay to see the set, and he's spinning it.

After all, ISTR they had a pretty open visitation policy before...

Wow, that make it sound like either a prison or a mental facility. How... apropos. :crazy:

Alec Peters said:
While we ignore the haters generally

If their activities to date are "ignoring the haters", I'd just hate to see what paying attention would look like...
 
There's one for a meme. ;)

:techman:

12565512_10102596561172547_6894106908592874148_n.jpg
 
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