Axanar dropped a plot spoiler about a month ago

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

In Axanar's recent press release they raise the issue of Star Trek Continues billing itself as "Official". What is their justification for that? I done some searching and found no answers.

If memory serves, what had happened was that there were a few spoof Facebook pages using the name "Star Trek Continues" when the production first started up. So Continues added the word "official" to ensure people that their Facebook page was the right one

It's something that Axanar's production, particularly Alec Peters, continues to harp on. But Peters, under his various monikers here on the BBS (Loken and Linnear), seems to have beef with that particular production, going back several years now.

See:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=6119017#post6119017
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=6121063&postcount=19

 

[BillJ]

And to be fair, when we pull out, what they listed for Perk costs, that left them with 547.5K, however, as you see, they padded each of their goals to help cover those expenses.

Shouldn't that have been itemized itself and figured into the production budget?

That's hard to do, since the kickstarter/amazon payment processing comes right off the top... they padded each item by 25%which, if you look at the perks cost on their annual report, combined with the fees, it was closer to 15%....

Why is that hard to do? It is a percentage of what they collect. It should be simple math to add the cost of an item then the percentage that is collected for processing together to come up with the total you actually need.

Bridge set = $125,000
Processing (10%, spitballing here) = $12,500
Total needed = $137,500

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

Shouldn't that have been itemized itself and figured into the production budget?

That's hard to do, since the kickstarter/amazon payment processing comes right off the top... they padded each item by 25%which, if you look at the perks cost on their annual report, combined with the fees, it was closer to 15%....

Why is that hard to do? It is a percentage of what they collect. It should be simple math to add the cost of an item then the percentage that is collected for processing together to come up with the total you actually need.

Bridge set = $125,000
Processing (10%, spitballing here) = $12,500
Total needed = $137,500

That's what they did do... they had their budget, $100,000 for set build... and then said, they needed to raise 125,000....

 

[BillJ]

That's hard to do, since the kickstarter/amazon payment processing comes right off the top... they padded each item by 25%which, if you look at the perks cost on their annual report, combined with the fees, it was closer to 15%....

Why is that hard to do? It is a percentage of what they collect. It should be simple math to add the cost of an item then the percentage that is collected for processing together to come up with the total you actually need.

Bridge set = $125,000
Processing (10%, spitballing here) = $12,500
Total needed = $137,500

That's what they did do... they had their budget, $100,000 for set build... and then said, they needed to raise 125,000....

I somehow doubt Amazon charges 25% to process a payment.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Ok, I figured it was only for Facebook.

Once you reach a certain likes you can not change your Facebook page name. There is a great fan page called "It's Mark Hamill" Which is a reference to his introduction in Jay and Silent Bob. Many people wrongly assume its his official Facebook page. The girls who run it never intended to mislead anyone. But they have way too many likes to change the name of the page. So they constantly repost an image explaining the name.

I don't think its a real issue, its just they are always getting posts and I am sure messages, directed to Mark himself. Mark's own wife is listed as following the page. So they see no harm in just someone posting rare pictures of him.

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

Why is that hard to do? It is a percentage of what they collect. It should be simple math to add the cost of an item then the percentage that is collected for processing together to come up with the total you actually need.

Bridge set = $125,000
Processing (10%, spitballing here) = $12,500
Total needed = $137,500

That's what they did do... they had their budget, $100,000 for set build... and then said, they needed to raise 125,000....

I somehow doubt Amazon charges 25% to process a payment.

Based on their expense report Amazon looks to have been at like 4.5%, Kickstarter was 5%, and then you have to add in for Perks... Patches, CDs, DVDs, and Blue Rays.... It looks like only 14.5% of that money was used for those purposes... with only 50K left, they didn't save money for the DVDs or Blue Rays which means getting those perks depends on future fundraisers... (Aren't we stepping close into Ponzi Scheme territory here)

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

Ok, I figured it was only for Facebook.

Once you reach a certain likes you can not change your Facebook page name. There is a great fan page called "It's Mark Hamill" Which is a reference to his introduction in Jay and Silent Bob. Many people wrongly assume its his official Facebook page. The girls who run it never intended to mislead anyone. But they have way too many likes to change the name of the page. So they constantly repost an image explaining the name.

I don't think its a real issue, its just they are always getting posts and I am sure messages, directed to Mark himself. Mark's own wife is listed as following the page. So they see no harm in just someone posting rare pictures of him.

Alec and Vic have a long standing feud, that goes back to the Phase 2 episode Kitumba.... Apparently Vic had the footage (He directed the episode), and wouldn't (Or couldn't) give it back to James Crawley.

And then with Vic's involvement with Farragut, Alec made the claim that Farragut stole the sets from someone in DC I believe, anyway, if you google Vic and Alec, and look at the results from TBBS, you can see one person posting a lot, and trashing the other.

And that still continues on Facebook, like when White Iris was pulled from You Tube, and then another stellar rant by about Cease and Desist letters and such.... Most of it is petty, and most of it is one sided.... at least so it seems to me, on social media.

 

[Phantom]

They can't get any money direct from Axanar because their rights belong to CBS. They might or might not be eligible for a royalty payment from CBS for re-use of their characters depending on what their contract says.

But if they come to CBS looking for a royalty payment, CBS is either going to go to the Axanar group wanting a licensing fee or they'll just kill it.

Not disagreeing at all. Probably the later.

I know they changed Tom Locarno to Tom Paris for Voyager due to rights and royalties issues. There was some talk that Kira on DS9 was supposed to be Ro Laren, but that too was changed.

They changed Locarno to Paris due to rights, Ro Laren became Kira because Michelle Forbes wasn't interested in doing Star Trek full time and T'Pau became T'Pol on Enterprise due to rights. If I remember everything correctly.

Thank you. I'd forgotten about the last one. Though it is interesting that T'pau did finally appear on the show. That was for just one ep though (and I think she got name-dropped in a later one).

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

They can't get any money direct from Axanar because their rights belong to CBS. They might or might not be eligible for a royalty payment from CBS for re-use of their characters depending on what their contract says.

But if they come to CBS looking for a royalty payment, CBS is either going to go to the Axanar group wanting a licensing fee or they'll just kill it.

Not disagreeing at all. Probably the later.

I know they changed Tom Locarno to Tom Paris for Voyager due to rights and royalties issues. There was some talk that Kira on DS9 was supposed to be Ro Laren, but that too was changed.

They changed Locarno to Paris due to rights, Ro Laren became Kira because Michelle Forbes wasn't interested in doing Star Trek full time and T'Pau became T'Pol on Enterprise due to rights. If I remember everything correctly.

Thank you. I'd forgotten about the last one. Though it is interesting that T'pau did finally appear on the show. That was for just one ep though (and I think she got name-dropped in a later one).

Yup, but in that case they only had to give a writers credit for one episode, as opposed to every episode....

 

[Phantom]

Under 1%.

More usual is under half a percent. Of even as low as 0.05%.

Half a million dollars gets you $250.

I can remember CDs in the 5-10% range...God, I'm old...

 

[JoeZhang]

(Loken and Linnear),

Ah - that explains a lot - I've encountered this passive aggressive alias.

 

[Karzak]

Ok, I figured it was only for Facebook.

Once you reach a certain likes you can not change your Facebook page name. There is a great fan page called "It's Mark Hamill" Which is a reference to his introduction in Jay and Silent Bob. Many people wrongly assume its his official Facebook page. The girls who run it never intended to mislead anyone. But they have way too many likes to change the name of the page. So they constantly repost an image explaining the name.

I don't think its a real issue, its just they are always getting posts and I am sure messages, directed to Mark himself. Mark's own wife is listed as following the page. So they see no harm in just someone posting rare pictures of him.

Alec and Vic have a long standing feud, that goes back to the Phase 2 episode Kitumba.... Apparently Vic had the footage (He directed the episode), and wouldn't (Or couldn't) give it back to James Crawley.

And then with Vic's involvement with Farragut, Alec made the claim that Farragut stole the sets from someone in DC I believe, anyway, if you google Vic and Alec, and look at the results from TBBS, you can see one person posting a lot, and trashing the other.

And that still continues on Facebook, like when White Iris was pulled from You Tube, and then another stellar rant by about Cease and Desist letters and such.... Most of it is petty, and most of it is one sided.... at least so it seems to me, on social media.

The larger point being of course that Alec seems to be the only one perpetuating this particular feud.

 

[Tom]

That's nothing, you should see his feuds with Adam Schneider (Galileo Restoration) and several people in the Trek prop area.

 

[Campe]

Ya know, I just have to say, I don't know Alec. I've had little to no dealings that I know of online (until last week, which he ignored my calling him out about JJ Trek not being real Trek... I hate that shit) but when I read some of the things that have happened with Mignogna, Shneider and Don Hillenbrand, I ultimately don't know who I should believe.

What I do know is: I, personally, would trust none of them with an investment.

Whether or not he's done anything to wrong to Peters, there is something to be said for Mignogna's not commenting on this stuff, and admittedly, all I could find on Schneider is anecdotal, but the Hillenbrand and Peters stuff? Well, that just makes me shake my head. It's a juvenile attitude -- this he said/he said crap.

Now I'm not saying the pros have done it any better. Both Roberto Orci and Simon Pegg have made some poor choices in their words to Trek fans, but it hasn't devolved to something like this.

It all makes me less sure of Peters' intentions. Quote me any number of statements from Peters, his "State of the Union," that he didn't buy a car with the donations, fine, whatever. Like I said -- I don't know. It just makes me nervous for the investors of Axanar who are putting their faith behind this man who may or may not have their best interests at heart.

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

What I do know is: I, personally, would trust none of them with an investment.

I am going to give money to people with the best track Record, and honestly right now that is Star Trek Continues. They have released roughly 2 episodes per year, at 50K an episode. They are almost up to half the episode count of NV/Phase II and stuff gets released. (Apologies, nothing personal to those who work on NV/Phase II or other projects, just kind of pointing out the facts)

I gave to Axanar, in the last kickstarter, something small, $15.00, but still, when they came back with double the budget, I decided I wasn't going to chase bad money with good.

With that said, again without saying names, when someone seems to have a problem with everyone, to me, I have found, they are the problem.... I don't know the details of every situation, but thats just a broad generalization I have learned I can usually trust.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am all for a person wanting to start a new phase of his or her career, but I find that using various Internet fundraisers to finance that new phase to be more than I personally consider acceptable.

 

[Campe]

It just comes off to me as shady. I'm not saying that getting investments isn't a bad idea. Hell, get investments, make an independent film of your own work, not using someone else's IP, shop it around film festivals, get a distributor, prove yourself, then do a passion project like this.

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

I am all for a person wanting to start a new phase of his or her career, but I find that using various Internet fundraisers to finance that new phase to be more than I personally consider acceptable.

If you want to create a film studio for independent projects, and you want to crowd source your funds for your endeavor by all means do it. If you can find people to donate, Great! More power too you.

What I find shady, is using someone else's IP to sell a not for profit "Fan Film" where a good portion of the funds you raise are used to create a for profit business venture...

 

[Campe]

All of what I've said today, I do still hold by the fact that I'd love for the Axanar crew to do what they set out to do. It's an interesting concept and could be an amazing fan film. While I respect the idea of producing the highest quality production they can, there's no harm in scaling the budget back a bit and doing it for what they've raised in crowdfunding. I'm just not going to willingly support them. (I too contributed a bit, but I really wanted These are the Voyages 3 early. Yeah. I know.)

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am all for a person wanting to start a new phase of his or her career, but I find that using various Internet fundraisers to finance that new phase to be more than I personally consider acceptable.

If you want to create a film studio for independent projects, and you want to crowd source your funds for your endeavor by all means do it. If you can find people to donate, Great! More power too you.

What I find shady, is using someone else's IP to sell a not for profit "Fan Film" where a good portion of the funds you raise are used to create a for profit business venture...

You got my meaning...