BREAKING: Official Fan Film Guidelines Issued

[Amaris]

I've been reading the facebook reaction to this and my first thought was looks like a lot of people might be jumping off the Star Trek bandwagon with the new Fan Film guidelines. Anyone remember when a fan film was something you did with friends in a backyard and you didn't ask for money from the fans to just cast it?

Amazing how big of a story this was and how, maybe, jaded (?) people are with the current state of Star Trek at the moment.

While there have always been fans who hate change, or anything that deviates from their accepted worldview of the series, the internet has brought about a sense of entitlement, that because we're fans, we have a say in the actual production of the show right down to the money itself, and that we can just borrow from the till anytime we want.

 

[Philip Guyott]

We'll call it "Blazing Ball of Gas Burning Billions of Miles Away Journey!"

"BRILLIANT!"

I wonder if these guidelines will apply to parodies.

 

[BillJ]

I wonder if these guidelines will apply to parodies.

I doubt it, as parody is considered protected speech.

 

[Earthrise]

I think any people who are "jumping off the Star Trek bandwagon" over this are a bunch of crybabies who refuse to acknowledge that there's a line between fannish expression and ownership.

People jumping ship over the guidelines make me wonder about their actual motivations. Were they truly doing it to make a fan film or were they doing it for the minor celebritydom within fandom and, for some, to bolster their resumes? If it's the former then guidelines might change their approach, but it won't end their involvement. If it's the latter than I can see how they might be soured on the whole thing.

 

[tomalak301]

While there have always been fans who hate change, or anything that deviates from their accepted worldview of the series, the internet has brought about a sense of entitlement, that because we're fans, we have a say in the actual production of the show right down to the money itself, and that we can just borrow from the till anytime we want.

You're right about social media and the sense of entitlement. It's a shame though because at least based on the new series, I'm very excited where Star Trek is at the moment, but the biggest story is about a fan film and how the producer of said fan film crossed the line. Happy Anniversary Star Trek.

 

[mos6507]

The no alcohol rule is sort of pointless, by the TNG era they drink Synthehol, and in TOS as long as you don't state what the funny colored liquid is in the funky bottle, it could be anything.

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[Amaris]

I wonder if these guidelines will apply to parodies.

It's beautiful. *sniff*

Production starts tomorrow.
I'm going to need $1.5 million dollars.

You're right about social media and the sense of entitlement. It's a shame though because at least based on the new series, I'm very excited where Star Trek is at the moment, but the biggest story is about a fan film and how the producer of said fan film crossed the line. Happy Anniversary Star Trek.

Yep. Leave it to Alec Peters to fuck it all up for everyone, and what's worse is that he doesn't seem to care one whit.

 

[Venardhi]

I doubt it, as parody is considered protected speech.

Which means from here on out everyone just has to have several hardcore sex scenes in their fanfilms and call it a porn parody.

 

[mos6507]

Which means from here on out everyone just has to have several hardcore sex scenes in their fanfilms and call it a porn parody.

Call Mark Cushman--stat.

 

[Amaris]

Which means from here on out everyone just has to have several hardcore sex scenes in their fanfilms and call it a porn parody.

This sounds like a challenge.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

David Gerrold has been calling the guidelines "unfair" and "draconian" all day. They're more restrictive than the "win-win" he felt CBS ahould have pursued. What he ignores is that CBS never had to be magnanimous in that way; fan films were using their properties without permission, and the fan films aren't operating from a position of strength.

In a subsequent post, Gerrold reveals his real beef -- he'd written a Phase II script that the guidelines scuttle. I'm mildly sympathetic -- it sucks to write something that becomes unusable for reasons outside your control -- but there was always a risk that CBS would drop the hammer on fan films. They weren't likely to continue forever with CBS turning a blind eye.

 

[Amaris]

David Gerrold has been calling the guidelines "unfair" and "draconian" all day. They're more restrictive than the "win-win" he felt CBS ahould have pursued. What he ignores is that CBS never had to be magnanimous in that way; fan films were using their properties without permission, and the fan films aren't operating from a position of strength.

In a subsequent post, Gerrold reveals his real beef -- he'd written a Phase II script that the guidelines scuttle. I'm mildly sympathetic -- it sucks to write something that becomes unusable for reasons outside your control -- but there was always a risk that CBS would drop the hammer on fan films. They weren't likely to continue forever with CBS turning a blind eye.

I'm mad at him because he banned me after I disagreed with him, so I don't feel bad for him in this regard. That might seem petty to some, but all I did was disagree, and out I went. I had supported him many times before, and now this? Feh, I say.

 

[mos6507]

I'm mad at him because he banned me after I disagreed with him

Don't feel bad because he's got a habit of getting into spats with people on his wall.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm mad at him because he banned me because I disagreed with him, so I don't feel bad for him in this regard. That might seem petty to some, but all I did was disagree, and out I went. I had supported him many times before, and now this? Feh, I say.

I don't feel especially bad for him, either. He's been a professional long enough to know that projects you've poured yiur heart and soul into will fall apart for random reasons.

I'm surprised that someone who's been in Hollywood as long as he has can hitch his wagon, protestations that he has no side in the fight, to a cause that is not only losing but is categorically wrong.

 

[Ovation]

Wow- someone's feeling threatened, aren't they?
Dear Paramount: you aren't meeting demand.
I wonder if there would be any fear of fan backlash if all the current fan productions continued and the studio sued all of them?

Oh wait. You're serious. Well then,

 

[Maurice]

In a subsequent post, Gerrold reveals his real beef -- he'd written a Phase II script that the guidelines scuttle. I'm mildly sympathetic -- it sucks to write something that becomes unusable for reasons outside your control -- but there was always a risk that CBS would drop the hammer on fan films. They weren't likely to continue forever with CBS turning a blind eye.

Yes, his glorious "Escape from the Planet of the Tribbles". That planet being Mars since that's where Flat Cats were stolen from, amiright?

 

[Karzak]

 

[Noname Given]

We'll call it "Blazing Ball of Gas Burning Billions of Miles Away Journey!"

"BRILLIANT!"

Off Topic:
Sounds like a literal Japanese to English translation of a Space Battleship Yamato episode.
/Off Topic

 

[mos6507]

Off Topic:
Sounds like a literal Japanese to English translation of a Space Battleship Yamato episode.
/Off Topic

 

[Indysolo]

Which means from here on out everyone just has to have several hardcore sex scenes in their fanfilms and call it a porn parody.

"Been there. Done that."

Neil