CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[Kaltauba47]

Can you imagine what it must be like to be at Loeb & Loeb, tracking this shit? At a certain point do you think they ever stop laughing at what an imbecile Peters is being here?

You kind of have to wonder if anyone at Loeb and Loeb has laughed so hard they've wet their pants yet?

 

[Kaltauba47]

I wonder how the Axaturds are gonna respond to Peters treasonous statements?!?

What ever his Holiness Alec states is law, didn't you know?

 

[Karzak]

Sigh. Alright. Well. It was a surprise to me.

I was the one who posted it the other day.

I wanted to go, and ask Peters a few questions:

"Excuse me, what are you even doing here?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Peters, do you own Star Trek?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Peters, what is your position on doxxing other people?"

Alas, unlike Peters I have a real job that requires my presence to do work in exchange for the pay I earn. I realize this is an advanced concept and one which Peters seems to have difficulty processing but it is what it is.

As we say on Earth, c'est la-vie.

 

[Kaltauba47]

I've said all this before elsewhere, but I don't know if I've shared it here so I'll just say it now.

Alec Peters has no problem attacking others when it suits his needs, or if he feels cornered (because he can't defend his appalling behavior) or if he thinks it will deflect negative attention or focus on his very clear and blatant wrongdoing. Time and again Peters shits on Star Trek Continues and Vic Mignogna in particular, and as recently as a few weeks ago threw his own "good friend" James Cawley under the bus as well.

It doesn't end there, either. The internet is littered with legions of people from various sites -- including here at the TrekBBS (where Peters has been banned three (THREE!) times -- who are sick of his petty, immature and childish behavior. This man-child has no concept, no microscopic sense of the word "accountability" for his own actions, consistently and continuously offloading blame and responsibility for any wrongdoing to others.

Tony Todd isn't with the production anymore? Oh, well that's because he wanted too much money! It can't possibly be that Todd is a respected actor who has worked consistently in Hollywood for over 30 years having issues with Peters' ineptitude as a producer. Perish the thought!

Well said Sir.
CBS sues because Peters tells everyone that he paid himself nearly $40K to work "full-time" on his fan film? Oh, well that's not fair at all! How is Peters supposed to support himself? It can't possibly be that CBS/Paramount are actually doing their due diligence to protect their property and property rights now that they feel someone has crossed a line beyond their generosity.

And let's not forget that Peters used the money he collected from goodwill of the fans and on the strength of a name and franchise he doesn't own to fund his own for-profit studio... and then announced exactly that plan to the world. That can't possibly be relevant to this case, could it?

As for Axanar "competing" with Star Trek Beyond, give me a fucking break. Prelude was shot well and the visual effects are pretty to look at because unlike Peters and Burnett, Chrisian Gossett and Tobias Richter actually knew what the fuck they were doing. But the piece itself is a glorified interview, a bunch of talking heads up against a green-screen discussing war. War! That's not what STAR TREK is, that's not what STAR TREK ever was, and it's not what STAR TREK is about. I've been more riveted by Bill Moyers interview with Joseph Campbell on Mythology than this sizzle reel, essentially all flash and zero substance but there is no way in any reality (or version of it that conforms to even the most liberal use of the word "reality") where Prelude to Axanar or the shitty Vulcan scene would ever seriously be taken as "competition" for any of Paramount's films. Axanerds claiming this as their defense are even more deluded than Peters if they believe the schlock he's selling them on that one.

The reason CBS and Paramount are suing is likely because Peters, the fool that he is, not only made money off this project but he broadcast it to the world and that -- making money on the STAR TREK IP -- has been, consistently, the one thing CBS and Paramount have said over and over and over again NOT TO DO.

Axanar is the only group that seem to fail to grasp this simple little concept.

New Voyages, Exeter, Continues, Potemkin, Farragut, Valiant, Intrepid, Secret Voyage, Hidden Frontier, Excalibur, Captain Pike, Exeter Trek, Lexington, Dominion, et al... they all play/played by the rules. Alec Peters and Axanar are the ones who have chosen to color outside those lines and are now paying the price for it.

Now, I don't believe that they started out this way intentionally nor do I believe that it was Peters' plan all along to hoodwink so many fans out of $1.1 million. I very much can see the likelihood that "scope creep" could be at fault as much as any of Peters' own stupid hubris and arrogance.

But make no mistake. Peters is arrogant as fuck. He encricles himself with an echo chamber on his Axanar Fan Page on Facebook, where only the "true" fans are safe from being banned. Peters, Burnett and Terry McIntosh are completely incapable of handling even the slightest negative commentary against them or their vanity project, or any critical discussion about anything Axanar or Peters may have done wrong to warrant this lawsuit. Peters himself has an IV of his own Kharn Coffee-flavored Kool-Aid hooked right into his bloodstream and he believes each outrageous and stupid comment he makes until it backfires on him and then he quickly backpedals it all.

Newsflash, Darth Garth: If you only meet one asshole today, they're the asshole. But if EVERYONE you meet today is an asshole, then chances are, YOU'RE THE ASSHOLE.

Alec Peters and Robert Meyer Burnett have spent the better part of the past two years going all over the internet, podcast, convention and social media world loudly proclaiming all their plans for what they would be doing with Axanar, Ares "Studios" and how they'd profit off it while at the same time taking massive conversational shits all over the official Paramount Star Trek films. Now, with this list of infringements, it's hard to defend all the wrongdoing by Peters and his cronies. Even if these jokers survive discovery during trial and somehow win, they still have to face the obvious and looming second reality of all this:

The simple fact is the other studios ABSOLUTELY WILL join in the inevitable and certain appeal CBS and Paramount will launch. You think Disney is going to sit idly by while someone else establishes law that says Joe Blow Trekkie can freely do whatever he wants with Mickey Mouse? Good luck with that.

No, Peters is screwed, and he deserves everything he's getting now, including, weirdly, doxxing himself, which he seems to stupid to realize he has done at least twice since the lawsuit was filed. Relatedly, he has not trouble doxxing others (as happened to me a few weeks ago) but becomes the same enraged hypocrite he becomes on other issues when he inadvertently revealed to someone that his address for Propworx (at the time) was his home address or when @Michael Hinman investigated the property in Florida that we learned later (from Peters himself!) was actually where his godchildren lived.

He's alienated, attacked, cajoled, threatened, trolled, insulted, demeaned, interrogated, bullied, doxxed (himself and others), and annoyed enough people online on FB, Twitter, TrekBBS and the comments sections of every single outlet that bothered to discuss Axanar that those same people are now speaking up.

The only person Peters has to blame for any of this is himself and his own stupid greed, hubris, and inexperience. He is a spoiled brat, a man-child incapable of standing up and taking the heat for his own actions and will be summarily crushed by the legal right CBS has to destroy his bug-eyed stupid ass for infringing on their rightfully-owned property.

 

[muCephi]

Can you imagine what it must be like to be at Loeb & Loeb, tracking this shit? At a certain point do you think they ever stop laughing at what an imbecile Peters is being here?

You kind of have to wonder if anyone at Loeb and Loeb has laughed so hard they've wet their pants yet?

Well, if you recall, Axanars attorneys did say at the very start that they also had a bunch of staff anxious to be on the case... maybe some of them wanted a break from the usual...

 

[Kaltauba47]

No.

I agree, I think only the faithful feel that the fans own Trek I think the real professional actors, don't care who owns it they just want to work and probably now just hope they don't get drug into this.

 

[HIjol]

JENNNNNNNNYYYYY!!!!!!!

 

[Kaltauba47]

Yes he could be classified as exempt, but I counted up his wages on an hourly basis just to see what he could be paid since he was whining so much about not being paid minimum wage. Exempt in California is 2x minimum wage or $37,440 for 2015.

I would think he would be a salaried employee, because if he's not and didn't get over time then that's a violation of law in CA, if he didn't take a lunch after four hours that is a work violation and Axanar could get fined. As a matter of fact anyone who works for Axanar Productions and is an hourly employee could create a fine for the company if the Labor Board walked in and asked to see the time sheets, or time clock punch read outs. That would be interesting and it would mean everyone would have to be salaried to avoid a mountain of fines.

 

[HIjol]

This stuff just keeps getting "better" and "better"...

 

[muCephi]

I would think he would be a salaried employee, because if he's not and didn't get over time then that's a violation of law in CA, if he didn't take a lunch after four hours that is a work violation and Axanar could get fined.

is it certain that they aren't just running everyone as 1099 independent contractors? Or paying them out of a cigar box?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Are there any burghers of this good forum that think Alec Peter's has done NO wrong at all...? If so, I like to hear their thoughts

 

[Kaltauba47]

Peters' goal so far seems to be to paint this as a "David & Goliath" situation (an analogy he used on Day 1) and create the illusion that fans will be so outraged at the studios' attempts to shut down a fan-film that they'll lose money at the box office and get so much bad PR that it will hurt their bottom line.

My question is this:

Does he think that this tactic will work, and the studios will drop the suit? Or is he simply trying to create a scenario whereby when he inevitably loses, he can still look like the good guy?

PS: it's interesting to see him quoted about his love for the F&F films and excitement for the upcoming "Beyond" considering his public disdain for what Paramount has done with the new films, and the Axanar camp's general hatred of the Beyond trailer. I seem to recall that they tried to tell everyone-- in defense of the suit-- that the trailer was universally hated, while Axanar was beloved...

And don't forget that the this law suit was because, Paramount was afraid that Beyond could not compete with Axanar (shakes head in disbelief) what planet are they from?

 

[Kaltauba47]

is it certain that they aren't just running everyone as 1099 independent contractors? Or paying them out of a cigar box?

On the budget it's only listed as salaries, they still have to follow CA labor laws regardless of their being contractors or hourly.

 

[muCephi]

Interesting tweet... Might be nothing, but its curious given the recent reveal of the amended complaint!

it's the presence of that "Period." that has got them in so much trouble.

 

[carlosp]

For "West Coasties," Oregon's current minimum wage is $9.25, Washington's is $9.67, and California's is $10.00.

At the standard 12-hour day for films, in California at that rate is $110/day (8 hrs regular time + 2 hrs @1.5x). Of course, not all actors may work 12 full hrs in a day.

 

[Karzak]

At the standard 12-hour day for films, in California at that rate is $110/day (8 hrs regular time + 2 hrs @1.5x). Of course, not all actors may work 12 full hrs in a day.

I have found that this is roughly the same for most below-the-line production positions as well, at least in TV.

 

[muCephi]

And don't forget that the this law suit was because, Paramount was afraid that Beyond could not compete with Axanar (shakes head in disbelief) what planet are they from?

planet "Live Fast and Prosper". ow.

 

[carlosp]

On the budget it's only listed as salaries, they still have to follow CA labor laws regardless of their being contractors or hourly.

If they're paying actors as 1099/independent contractors that is a big problem. Actors are employees, not independent contractors. If they paid actors as contractors, the IRS and California may have some problems with them. California has strict penalties for classifying employees as independent contractors. Unfortunately, this happens a lot with independent films trying to hold down costs. But the IRS has recently begun aggressively pursuing productions violating the law. How to tell the difference between employees and contractors. Also:

An independent contractor sets her own hours, uses her own equipment, and determines where and when to work. You told the actors where and when to appear, how to dress, you sup plies make up and hair , and even told them what to say. As employees, they are entitled to assume the money you gave them was net after taxes You'll need to pay the taxes you were supposed to withhold and both sides of social security payments. (Source)​

 

[Kaltauba47]

At the standard 12-hour day for films, in California at that rate is $110/day (8 hrs regular time + 2 hrs @1.5x). Of course, not all actors may work 12 full hrs in a day.

In CA anything over 11 hours is double pay, anything over 8 hours is automatically over time, they do and 8 hour day not a 40 week.

 

[Karzak]

Really, Alec Peters, with his Donors Store full of perks and his endless promises of "the best Star Trek film EVAR!11!" effectively gave his loyal acolytes the perfect real-world bread and circuses.