BREAKING: Official Fan Film Guidelines Issued

[Professor Zoom]

The 15 minute rule is for "a single self-contained story". Prelude is not a single self contained story, it's a prelude. It then goes on to say "or no more than 2 segments, episodes or parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total." It does not specify that both segments must be 15 minutes long but that both segments must not exceed 30 minutes total. Not that any of this matters as Axanar breaks most the other guidelines anyway .

Exactly. Peters is barred from ever working on a fanfilm.

 

[Squiggy]

Exactly. Peters is barred from ever working on a fanfilm.

Having every other fan film hate you also doesn't help with his future endeavors there.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Having every other fan film hate you also doesn't help with his future endeavors there.

And he can't produce his own. So: done.

 

[BrEnDoN]

I think one could make a fine short film in 15 minutes with some interesting characterization and events, but if Star Trek had been a single 15 minute short that aired in 1966 it's a little hard to imagine that we would be having this conversation today. What made Star Trek memorable was its characters in all their strengths, weaknesses, idiosyncrasies and backstories, and characters like that take time to establish. And to further the thought, imagine creating a great character like Spock, and then having him only appear once in a 15 minute short, ever, with no chance of any further adventures or stories with him. Seems like kind of a waste.

You're not wrong, man, you make a great point about why series are good, but nothing to justify why you should be able to do that in somebody else's sandbox when the owner of that sandbox doesn't want you to.

And if Star Trek had been one short film or, you know, a failed pilot episode like it almost was, it's possible we wouldn't be talking about it today. Or maybe we might be. Many failed pilots have been talked about for years after they weren't picked up so who knows. And yes, you can't do in a short what you can do in a series because a short is not a series. But it's also not inferior to a series. If you want to create a series and characters as good as Spock, do it, just set it in your own sandbox. But if you want to make Star Trek, follow the rules and make a great short film. It's a valid art form, they give Oscars to those things, but, again, you'll need to create your own sandbox for that...

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

http://startrekreviewed.blogspot.com/

Nice! The kind of, archiving?, idea I was mulling around. Now, is this you? Someone else? I've never run into it before, therefore would like to see that it is better promoted as, you know, existing.

I love Continues. I love Intrepid. I love Red Shirt Diaries. I love the variations on the The Firm's Star Trekkin'. (and really ENJOY lots of others I'm not listing here) Getting caught up in the Continues stories and production has just been FANtastic. The Red Shirt Diaries are brilliant parody. I haven't missed one of them. Star Trekkin' variations never gets old to me, especially for some reason during the end of year Holidays.

And I imagine some of us will remember the drive, the inspiration, some of us experienced as younglings watching our Star Trek to take cameras and make fan films. There was no YouTube back then... but there is now. And we have lots of younglings still, and now newly, falling in love all over again with our beloved Star Trek. I'm wondering about finding 'something' that better helps them to be seen among the wonderful though very big adult gun fan homages in the YouTube world of film homage to Star Trek.

"Back in 1969 ten-year-old Peter ("Stoney") Emshwiller created his own version of a Star Trek episode using his dad's 16mm camera. The, um, fabulous special effects were created by scratching on the film with a knife and coloring each frame with magic markers.

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[dmac]

Nice! The kind of, archiving?, idea I was mulling around. Now, is this you? Someone else? I've never run into it before, therefore would like to see that it is better promoted as, you know, existing.

No it is not mine, A lady named Barbara Reader runs it.

 

[asurob]

"Back in 1969 ten-year-old Peter ("Stoney") Emshwiller created his own version of a Star Trek episode using his dad's 16mm camera. The, um, fabulous special effects were created by scratching on the film with a knife and coloring each frame with magic markers.

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This may well be the greatest Star Trek fan film I have ever seen..thanks for this!

 

[dmac]

LoL Yes but would it meet the guidelines?

 

[captainkirk]

I've seen people complain that you can't tell a compelling story in 15 minutes. Never mind that you've actually got 30 minutes, using the Star Trek universe gives you a lot of shortcuts in that you don't have to establish a new sci-fi universe like you would with a completely original story. You can bring in a Vulcan and everyone will understand why they act like they do with no explanation. So that frees you from the task of world-building and instead you can use the time to develop characters. Unfortunately characters tend to get pushed aside in favor of explosions and diminishing shield percentages.

 

[dmac]

It would be interesting to see "The Doomsday Machine" cut down to 12 1/2 minutes (plus intro and credits) just to see if it loses it's Trek flavor.

 

[BillJ]

It would be interesting to see "The Doomsday Machine" cut down to 12 1/2 minutes (plus intro and credits) just to see if it loses it's Trek flavor.

Which makes no sense as it wasn't designed to be that short. Creators know the rules going forward and can adjust accordingly.

 

[dmac]

Which makes no sense as it wasn't designed to be that short. Creators know the rules going forward and can adjust accordingly.

Exactly.
I'll be weighing options in the coming months as to which adjustment would be best to make.

 

[asurob]

30 Minutes is plenty of time to tell a store...all 3 of the major players...Continues...NV and Intrepid have done vignettes which drew you in pretty quickly since there was not a lot of world building needed with the source material.

 

[asurob]

Sigh...another blogger who doesn't get it.

/https://fococomiccon.com/2016/star-trek-case-study-dismantle-fandom/

"Bad rules are bad for business. You don’t have to be a Ferengi to see how icing fans between productions chills demand for all Trek. These guidelines represent a completely antithetical deviation from a franchise that once espoused that money wasn’t the end goal in the future. It would be nearly impossible for a fan film following guidelines 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 to have a significant financial impact on either CBS or Paramount so it’s hard to see why the remaining items are necessary outside of a lawsuit.

It would be nearly impossible for a fan film following guidelines 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 to have a significant financial impact on either CBS or Paramount so it’s hard to see why the remaining items are necessary to enforce outside of a lawsuit.

This Trekkie can no longer sustain being a fan. If you feel the same, let CBS and Paramount know."

I wonder how long I can continue to post there before the banhammer strikes.

 

[Warped9]

30 Minutes is plenty of time to tell a store...all 3 of the major players...Continues...NV and Intrepid have done vignettes which drew you in pretty quickly since there was not a lot of world building needed with the source material.

Telling a dramatic story in thirty minutes is not at all a big deal. For decades television has been telling stories of all kinds within the 30 minute time frame, and thats including commercials.

So the real issue for current productions is whether the way is now blocked to tell sequential stories using the same cast of characters. IF STC were told they could continue pretty much as is except that their episodes could be no more than 30 minutes in length that wouldn't be a huge and insrmountable obstacle. All they would have to do is study some dramatic series from the 1950s that were produced in half-hour format to see how it was done.

 

[Warped9]

What is shocking is how many people seem to be freaking out over this in regard to completely unrelated issues. It's as if they feel all fan activities are at risk.

This is only about fan films. It isn't about audio productions or podcasts or 3D modeling or scratchbuild modeling or artwork or fanfic lit. It's about fanfilms.

On the other hand I've heard of someone trying to get a kit manufactured of a 50ft. TMP refit. He claims he has received two C&D letters because he hasn't gotten a licence to manufacture said kit (for sale to others). He says he shouldn't have to "kiss someone's ass" to do this. He was informed he could scratchnuild models to his heart's content as long as it was for his own enjoyment, but seeking to profit from manufacturing a model kit without licence could only lead to big leagal trouble. He doesn't seem to get it.

 

[Griffeytrek]

After reading through this, I can't help but think CBS and in particular it's legal department are still stuck in the days of broadcast television and at best the 80's. What they just did was make the situation with the fans and fan films incredibly worse.

And the truly sad thing is they are building now, the perfect venue to solve everybody's problems, meet everybody's needs and to let the fans be fans. That CBS streaming service. They just put a bullet in the head of a crowd sourced virtually free content generator. It would have been this simple.
1. Offer a limited license for fan films.
2. set up a platform for hosting said fan films as a component of the CBS streaming service. Fan films must be hosted in this manner.
3. Fan films cannot be outside monetized, but can earn advertising revenue on the streaming service, similar to YouTube.
4. Keep the restrictions fairly basic and common sense. No adult content. No porn. etc. Everybody knows what Trek is and what it's boundaries are.
Let the fans work for you. Let the fans work with you. Make it easy for them to do and take part in that which they love. Give them the space to do this in a controlled manner that allows you to both reward them and maintain control of your IP. You make money off of it. They make money off of it. Heck you can even hold contests. Let people vote. Or take the best offerings and feature them on the new in continuity show. It really is that simple. They have the technology to make an everybody wins situation. If only they can see past their Reagan era Lawyers and aging studio dinosaurs.

 

[Sgt_G]

It's as if they feel all fan activities are at risk.

Because that's the narrative the Axanar crew repeated over and over. Say it often and loud enough, it's becomes the truth, right? Works in politics, so why not here?

 

[Amaris]

I worked on Aurora for over a decade and never asked for or took a penny for it, even when it was offered--no merch or ads either--so I figured I was safe, but the 15 minute/no recurring characters rule ruins it for me, or anyone else who wants to create a meaningful Star Trek story. You can't establish a fully-realized character and tell a meaningful story about them in 15 minutes, and what is Star Trek without characters? I don't dispute CBS/P's right to do whatever they want with their legal property--and I can completely understand their dispute with anyone actually profiting from their copyrighted material--but I question the wisdom of punishing fans who spend their own time and money on endeavors that ultimately benefit CBS/P by helping keep Star Trek in the public eye as a cultural force that matters.

Indeed, you played by all the rules you felt were necessary to both respect CBS/P, and still make your fan films (which I enjoy immensely). Now, though, we have Kickstarter, IndieGogo, and other fundraising platforms that have seen many fanfilms soar into six figure territory in order to produce anything from full episodes to feature length films using key characters played by their actual actors from official Star Trek entities. There was no reasonable notion that such a thing could possibly continue without CBS/Paramount stepping in.

I understand why the "no series" stipulation would bother you, and you likely weren't anywhere near the specific target CBS/P fired upon, but you and other smaller productions got caught up in the shockwave, and unfortunately for all of us, the effect has been devastating. That is the fallout from having to deal with Alec Peters. The man clamored for attention, claimed to represent all fans and fan film producers (and considering what he had at his disposal it would have a ring of truth around it), and demanded guidelines. That is the man who destroyed every fan production's hopes.

All you can do is try to pick up the pieces as best as you can and work with what you have. You can make a great character and have them fully realized inside of a 30 minute episode, I've seen what you've done with your own characters. Honestly, the best thing you can do is wait until the June 29th interview with the CBS exec and see just how they plan on executing this.

 

[Hallgarth]

And the truly sad thing is they are building now, the perfect venue to solve everybody's problems, meet everybody's needs and to let the fans be fans. That CBS streaming service. They just put a bullet in the head of a crowd sourced virtually free content generator. It would have been this simple.
1. Offer a limited license for fan films.
2. set up a platform for hosting said fan films as a component of the CBS streaming service. Fan films must be hosted in this manner.
3. Fan films cannot be outside monetized, but can earn advertising revenue on the streaming service, similar to YouTube.
4. Keep the restrictions fairly basic and common sense. No adult content. No porn. etc. Everybody knows what Trek is and what it's boundaries are.
Let the fans work for you. Let the fans work with you. Make it easy for them to do and take part in that which they love. Give them the space to do this in a controlled manner that allows you to both reward them and maintain control of your IP. You make money off of it. They make money off of it. Heck you can even hold contests. Let people vote. Or take the best offerings and feature them on the new in continuity show. It really is that simple. They have the technology to make an everybody wins situation. If only they can see past their Reagan era Lawyers and aging studio dinosaurs.

1. Most likely isn't going to happen.
2. Definitely isn't going to happen. They have no reason to.
3. Why would they let Fan Films earn ad revenue off of their IP?
4. How basic is basic? While it would be nice to have very easy going restrictions, the truth is they kinda tried that already, albeit they weren't official guidelines, more word of mouth.

What we want and the reality very rarely align. We've been through the golden age of Star Trek fan films and sadly it looks like it's coming to an end. Personally, my only 2 real issues are the no series and the 30/2 minutes. But do I have a right to complain? Not really. Can I complain? Yes, I can, but at the end of the day CBS/Paramount own the IP and it is there's to do with as they please.