BREAKING: Official Fan Film Guidelines Issued
- Thread starter Danlav05
- Start date
It is easy to say that their rules are "generous" when your fan-film doesn't feature one of the original actors. Our fan-film now risks losing George Takei's scenes -- scenes that he filmed for free. We had over one hundred people work for free on our fan-film over the years. So we are greatly affected by these new rules, even though our filmed segments with George Takei are over 20 years old. They may be generous rules to some, but certainly not to everyone.
Even before these fan-film rules came out, I always planned on talking to CBS before putting it online, because of the uniqueness of George Takei being in it. I am hopeful that things will work out.
I have no anger towards the studio for these new rules. It is just unfortunate that the mistakes of others can affect a production that always played by the unwritten rules.
Last edited:
A
Amaris
Guest
It's easy to say their rules are generous because their rules are generous. Who said you could get one of the original actors and do so without permission from CBS/Paramount? No one. You took the risk, and the risk may have caught up with you. I sympathize, I really do, but it doesn't change that their rules are generous. The man who tries to grab $20,000 from the free money pot is always upset that the limit has been capped at $15,000.
Atkin, what you've done is cool, but you always KNEW that this sort of thing could happen. You secured no legal rights to any of this and pushed well past the boundaries of typical 'fan films'... Now that things went sideways, it's definitely going to be on you to make things right, if at all possible.
Again, no disrespect, but that's just basic adulting.
Again, no disrespect, but that's just basic adulting.
If you want to show respect, don't use the word "adulting" when trying to get your point across. Thanks.
As for pushing the boundaries of typical fan-films, it is worth noting that the Yorktown segments featuring an original cast member were filmed in 1985. There were no fan-film boundaries back then.
Yes, there were. They didn't need to be written down because it was pretty simple: be respectful of the IP. Fairly common sense.
Okay, fine then. A LITTLE BIT of disrespect. This calls for handling the situation like a professional and not ranting against how terrible CBS/Paramount is for taking back their precious.
Having worked an awful lot of conventions and dealt with a lot of powers that be even back then (particularly back then), I know very very well that that's not true. It's just that the quality and money involved made it pretty clear that these WEREN'T authorized by Paramount. A lot harder to say that these days.
A
Amaris
Guest
There were but they were implied. There are far more defined ones, now, and that production was never completed as released. So the rules apply to now, not then. Talk to CBS/Paramount. Maybe they'll make an exception given the unusual circumstances of a 30 year old in-production fan film.
Doing illegal drugs in your living room is a problematic analogy, as it's something that will land you in jail and make you no longer able to use your own living room. 
Anyway, the Star Wars guidelines are specifically for submissions to their official fan film contest, as far as I know. Do they have anything similar for other works that aren't being submitted?
Kor
Anyway, the Star Wars guidelines are specifically for submissions to their official fan film contest, as far as I know. Do they have anything similar for other works that aren't being submitted?
Kor
Last edited:
There was the "make no profit" rule. That's about it. You couldn't charge money to let people view it, and you couldn't sell copies of it. I am hopeful that the fact that it was filmed 30 years ago will give it a pass, but its hard to say. I do have a friend who is a producer that does work for CBS, so we will see if anything can be done.
If a fan production were limited to 30 minutes that could be doable given there were such things as half-hour dramas on television for many years.
But it could mean ongoing series like NV, STC and others could be finished IF they are not allowed to continue as a series of segments even if each story is not connected to the others (ongoing storylines) and are not sequels or followups to previous official productions.
But it could mean ongoing series like NV, STC and others could be finished IF they are not allowed to continue as a series of segments even if each story is not connected to the others (ongoing storylines) and are not sequels or followups to previous official productions.
So, this means Alec Peters is not allowed to carry on?:
I don't recall ever saying the studios were terrible, or that I was angry with them. In fact, I said this:
Last edited:
I hope so. Takei in that old NV episodes was one of the first times I saw a fan film simply because he was in it.
Plus more internet response...
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-official-star-trek-fan-film-guidelines-are-here-and-1782499052
No SAG minimum payments for "New Media:" Internet productions, video games, etc. SAG members can work for as little as they wish. Scale applies to TV and movies.
