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Axanar found 100K to cut from their budget....

It looks like Axanar's copyrights "Axanar Works" is Paramount's/CBS's biggest objection when I read through the complaint..

I think "Axanar Works" refers to what they've produced thus far and what they're going to produce with elements from CBS' IP.

Ahh makes sense...

Either way, I knew this would come eventually.... They used CBS/Paramount IP to raise funds for a for profit entertainment venture. And before anyone says, no they didn't, they raised funds to make Axanar... That's not what the production said, when people asked where the 650K from the Kickstarter went. They said it was always supposed to go to lay the framework for Aries Studios, which is a for profit venture.
 
My speed reading of the legal document seems to suggest it's a template to shut down any and every fan production, as I guess they've always had the option to do so. Perhaps as others have said for ages, Axanar just pushed it too far and so they're being made an example of. Though it's hard to see how they can just close down Axanar on those grounds and not the others.

They can seek legal recourse at any time if they feel their IP is being infringed. I don't know if they consider other fan productions to be as "dangerous" to their IP.

I think the idea of turning Axanar studios into a for-profit operation was the last straw. The moral high ground for fan productions is when they can say and prove that they are not making money anywhere off their efforts. Trying to say the money was from the studios and not the production might have sounded good, but given that all of us involved in fan productions realize (or damn well should) that we are able to pursue our passion solely on the sufferance of the studios, pushing the envelop in any manner is taking a big risk.

I agree.
 
Nice to see Alec Peters get what is coming to him. Though I feel bad for the people who gave money to this swindle.

+1

Could it be that Axanar raised too much money or is Paramount/CBS going to go after other fan productions?

They may have went after Axanar because they were using CBS IP to build a business. Seems like some people here saw this coming. :lol:

The hell you say!
 
Please try to contain your joyful glee at the fall of your White Whale.

If Peters didn't have the ego of said white whale, I'd probably feel bad for him. If Peters had accidentally ran afoul of CBS, I'd probably feel bad for him.

This is a guy who had dollar signs in his eyes and thought he saw a way to exploit CBS' IP and fans desire for Trek other than what Abrams produce to get ahead.

I never had a problem with people needing cash to create/finish something they love (I donated to Pacific 201). I never had an issue with the content of Axanar (really liked Prelude...). Some of these folks at the head of Axanar were simply wringing money out of someone else IP and paying themselves for the privilege. I had had enough when it was leaked Peters was paying his girlfriend a salary to take care of rewards, yet those rewards being handed out were spotty at best.

They lived the good life for a while, now it's time to pay the piper.
 
Please try to contain your joyful glee at the fall of your White Whale.

If Peters didn't have the ego of said white whale, I'd probably feel bad for him. If Peters had accidentally ran afoul of CBS, I'd probably feel bad for him.

This is a guy who had dollar signs in his eyes and thought he saw a way to exploit CBS' IP and fans desire for Trek other than what Abrams produce to get ahead.

I never had a problem with people needing cash to create/finish something they love (I donated to Pacific 201). I never had an issue with the content of Axanar (really liked Prelude...). Some of these folks at the head of Axanar were simply wringing money out of someone else IP and paying themselves for the privilege. I had had enough when it was leaked Peters was paying his girlfriend a salary to take care of rewards, yet those rewards being handed out were spotty at best.

They lived the good life for a while, now it's time to pay the piper.
I don't know any of the political background, but beyond that vacuum it's also possible, and common, for people to start a project out of love and unintentionally fall into a pattern of doing anything to get it done even when it becomes self-destructive. Either characterization might apply.
 
I don't know any of the political background, but beyond that vacuum it's also possible, and common, for people to start a project out of love and unintentionally fall into a pattern of doing anything to get it done even when it becomes self-destructive. Either characterization might apply.

Their intent was to build a for-profit studio from donations made based on CBS' IP. I can't believe they didn't know this was coming at some point.
 
I don't know any of the political background, but beyond that vacuum it's also possible, and common, for people to start a project out of love and unintentionally fall into a pattern of doing anything to get it done even when it becomes self-destructive. Either characterization might apply.

Their intent was to build a for-profit studio from donations made based on CBS' IP. I can't believe they didn't know this was coming at some point.

I still say, they Retconned the for-profit-studio into that kickstarter when people started getting all ansy about the 1.3 million dollar ask with the Indigogo....
 
I don't know any of the political background, but beyond that vacuum it's also possible, and common, for people to start a project out of love and unintentionally fall into a pattern of doing anything to get it done even when it becomes self-destructive. Either characterization might apply.

Their intent was to build a for-profit studio from donations made based on CBS' IP. I can't believe they didn't know this was coming at some point.
Yeah, it's difficult to attribute any benevolence to that.
 
I still say, they Retconned the for-profit-studio into that kickstarter when people started getting all ansy about the 1.3 million dollar ask with the Indigogo....

That is definitely a possibility.

Though I know they posted somewhere that they had negotiated to film a David Gerrold pilot at Ares Studio and they have the building that they paid a years rent on.

http://www.axanarproductions.com/ares-studios-launches/

This will allow us to not only make “Axanar” but other Star Trek projects after Axanar and other Sci-Fi projects. (Robert Burnett and I have already acquired the rights to a fantastic book series by David Gerrold.)

I do wonder where they got the cash at to land the rights to a book series?
 
I still say, they Retconned the for-profit-studio into that kickstarter when people started getting all ansy about the 1.3 million dollar ask with the Indigogo....

That is definitely a possibility.

Though I know they posted somewhere that they had negotiated to film a David Gerrold pilot at Ares Studio and they have the building that they paid a years rent on.

http://www.axanarproductions.com/ares-studios-launches/

This will allow us to not only make “Axanar” but other Star Trek projects after Axanar and other Sci-Fi projects. (Robert Burnett and I have already acquired the rights to a fantastic book series by David Gerrold.)

I do wonder where they got the cash at to land the rights to a book series?

When you look at the Kickstarter using the Wayback machine... Ares studios wasn't mentioned... neither was any other films. They id mention a ski fi film school and other things, but overall most of the kickstarter at that time focused on preproduction and such... The ares studio stuff wasn't added until later in the campaign...

Oh well, atlas we are getting a season of MST3K....
 
Please try to contain your joyful glee at the fall of your White Whale.

If Peters didn't have the ego of said white whale, I'd probably feel bad for him. If Peters had accidentally ran afoul of CBS, I'd probably feel bad for him.

This is a guy who had dollar signs in his eyes and thought he saw a way to exploit CBS' IP and fans desire for Trek other than what Abrams produce to get ahead.

I never had a problem with people needing cash to create/finish something they love (I donated to Pacific 201). I never had an issue with the content of Axanar (really liked Prelude...). Some of these folks at the head of Axanar were simply wringing money out of someone else IP and paying themselves for the privilege. I had had enough when it was leaked Peters was paying his girlfriend a salary to take care of rewards, yet those rewards being handed out were spotty at best.

They lived the good life for a while, now it's time to pay the piper.

This.
 
The arrogance really starts with the huge upping of the "required" money that was going on with the crowdfunding. Saying "We need 650 to build sets and make the movie." Fine, I can see that.

Then jumping to "We need 1+ million dollars." and "We're not making a fan film now, but an independent movie" No, i'm sorry. You're not allowed to make an independent movie. You're allowed, only as far as CBS allows it, to make a fan film. You have not signed a contract with CBS.

Alec taking a Salary and giving one to his lady friend is a HUUUUGE NO. That's making a profit. The same goes for using the funds to build Ares studio, and I don't really see how that not being part of the initial kickstarter makes that any better. That's a misrepresentation of the intended use. Eesh.
 
I think this whole thing will go down as the biggest flame war in 'net history...

It's really sad that things got this bad, but here we all are...

Rome is burning, Nero Fiddles away...
 
Please try to contain your joyful glee at the fall of your White Whale.

If Peters didn't have the ego of said white whale, I'd probably feel bad for him. If Peters had accidentally ran afoul of CBS, I'd probably feel bad for him.

This is a guy who had dollar signs in his eyes and thought he saw a way to exploit CBS' IP and fans desire for Trek other than what Abrams produce to get ahead.

I never had a problem with people needing cash to create/finish something they love (I donated to Pacific 201). I never had an issue with the content of Axanar (really liked Prelude...). Some of these folks at the head of Axanar were simply wringing money out of someone else IP and paying themselves for the privilege. I had had enough when it was leaked Peters was paying his girlfriend a salary to take care of rewards, yet those rewards being handed out were spotty at best.

They lived the good life for a while, now it's time to pay the piper.

This.

You know what? I don't think much of that is true other than the observations about Alec's ego. It's pretty clear that most of the resources here were going exactly where they claimed and that they were working really hard toward making the very best movie they could.
 
You know what? I don't think much of that is true other than the observations about Alec's ego. It's pretty clear that most of the resources here were going exactly where they claimed and that they were working really hard toward making the very best movie they could.
This is certainly my experience having visited the studio. It was pretty obvious to me that they were working hard to make the best film they could.
 
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