CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar 2 - Electric Boogaloo-Fanboys gone WILD-too many hyphens

[urbandefault]

I haven't heard the podcast, but as I read the guidelines it's pretty simple. You can make replica props and costumes yourself. No problem. But if there's a licensed source for replica props or costumes and you're buying instead of making, you should not buy from some unlicensed source.

Make replicas yourself = OK.
Buy licensed replicas = OK.
Buy or commission unlicensed replicas = Not OK.

English is a complicated language, but native speakers should not be having this much trouble.

 

[dmac]

I haven't heard the podcast, but as I read the guidelines it's pretty simple. You can make replica props and costumes yourself. No problem. But if there's a licensed source for replica props or costumes and you're buying instead of making, you should not buy from some unlicensed source.

Make replicas yourself = OK.
Buy licensed replicas = OK.
Buy or commission unlicensed replicas = Not OK.

English is a complicated language, but native speakers should not be having this much trouble.

That's about how I understood it as well.

 

[Maurice]

Ok, I hadn't heard about that. I'm sorry, but if they don't give you a specific release date, and it's common knowledge that this stuff can take years to come out, then IMO it's a bit ridiculous to be suing them over it.
As for Lane's movie, even if he doesn't trust Anovos enough to go with them, then there are still other people making costumes. Hell, Rubies makes Trek Holloween costumes, and they're only like $20-$60. Obviously they won't be as good as something like Anovos, but IMO it would work for the kind of thing he's talking about here. If this was a big ongoing series like Continues, or New Voyages/Phase II,or a completely original production that's going to be going to film festivals and competing for bit awards like The Oscars, I could see spending the kind of money he's talking about, but it's ridiculous for a one-off 10 minute fan film short.

Honestly I'm just sick of wanna-be-filmmakers with their tin cups out to for first efforts instead of actually making some no-budget films and learning the basics before they try to make something expensive.

 

[Admiral2]

Honestly I'm just sick of wanna-be-filmmakers with their tin cups out to for first efforts instead of actually making some no-budget films and learning the basics before they try to make something expensive.

As I've said before, my only regret is that I can only like this once.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

@urbandefault, I basically agree with you, with some caveats.

4. If the fan production uses commercially-available Star Trek uniforms, accessories, toys and props, these items must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations of such commercially available products.

To me, items that are "not bootleg items or imitations of commercially available products" implies that you can't buy unlicensed items that are largely identical to, or compete directly with, licensed products. Furthermore, "commercially-available" implies that the items being acquired are available prior to purchase rather than contracted. So I think this guideline is aimed at counterfeit products being distributed without license rather than custom made props and costumes that someone has commissioned someone to manufacture. This, I'm not convinced that the "Axanar" uniforms would be affected by this guideline. No licensee is actually commercial producing that costume variant.

 

[Maurice]

As I've said before, my only regret is that I can only like this once.

 

[urbandefault]

I haven't heard the podcast, but as I read the guidelines it's pretty simple. You can make replica props and costumes yourself. No problem. But if there's a licensed source for replica props or costumes and you're buying instead of making, you should not buy from some unlicensed source.

Make replicas yourself = OK.
Buy licensed replicas = OK.
Buy or commission unlicensed replicas = Not OK.

English is a complicated language, but native speakers should not be having this much trouble.

@urbandefault, I basically agree with you, with some caveats.

To me, items that are "not bootleg items or imitations of commercially available products" implies that you can't buy unlicensed items that are largely identical to, or compete directly with, licensed products. Furthermore, "commercially-available" implies that the items being acquired are available prior to purchase rather than contracted. So I think this guideline is aimed at counterfeit products being distributed without license rather than custom made props and costumes that someone has commissioned someone to manufacture. This, I'm not convinced that the "Axanar" uniforms would be affected by this guideline. No licensee is actually commercial producing that costume variant.

You seem to be reading words that are not there. The guidelines say that if you're buying replicas, buy licensed. Period. Axanar uniforms are not replicas, they're just bad derivatives.

Today's Handy Tip: When you come to the end of a sentence, it's the end of the sentence.

 

[KennyB]

but if they don't give you a specific release date,

How about if they DO give you a specific date or say it is IN STOCK and years go by.............can you be pissed then?

 

[JD]

Oh definitely. If they promise by a certain date and don't deliver then I can see being pissed, and if the situation gets bad enough suing.

 

[dmac]

I think Interlewd's sub plot has something about 50 simply ways to improve your gut flora. Which makes this production an important future addition to the Star Trek legacy.
Damn-it Jim, just give them the money!

 

[KennyB]

Oh definitely. If they promise by a certain date and don't deliver then I can see being pissed, and if the situation gets bad enough suing.

Well that's where we are.

 

[JD]

Oh, the article made it sound like they never actually set any kind of dates, I guess I misunderstood.

 

[Maurice]

I would never "buy" goods I have to wait years to have delivered.

 

[JD]

Neither would I, but a lot of people do pre-order stuff before it has a release date.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Remember the good old days when charges that came long before an item was delivered was considered credit card fraud? Yeah... guess I’m just an old fart.

 

[fireproof78]

Remember the good old days when charges that came long before an item was delivered was considered credit card fraud? Yeah... guess I’m just an old fart.

I think that all went out with good taste

 

[carlosp]

J. Lane wrote:

Apparently others have raised the same concerns I did.

Of course, verifying that such a thing would not happen is a different matter.

It's also legally prudent to make a public statement of intent about something utterly unverifiable.

 

[carlosp]

Comparing the new budget to the old one...

Budget Decreases:

Food - It would seem this has been reduced by about $300. Might have something to do with schedule changes related to dropping Neutral Zone Studios.

Travel and Lodging - He's reduced this by about $700. I'm guessing he's not renting the car anymore, on account of dropping Neutral Zone Studios as a filming location. He may also have convinced Alec to let one of his directors stay in a spare room, although it's hard to tell by the articles.

Studio Rental - Reduced by $200, on account of switching to Glen Wolfe's sickbay set.

Uniform Turtlenecks - Lane saved $350 by switching to mock turtlenecks. (This will probably be cooler for the actors as well, because they'll be wearing few layers of clothing.)​

Budget Increases:

Production Insurance - $2,000. This is easily the largest reason for the budget increase, and it's exclusion seems like an oversight in the original budget more than anything else.

Contengency ("What could possibly go wrong?") - Increased by $200. This seems to be at the advice of his directors.

Service Fee - The crowdfunding service fee is percentage-based, so because the budget overall has increased, the fee increases proportionally by $50. Make sense, and compared to the rest of the budget, this is pocket change.​

Conclusion:

Given that he added $2,200 for insurance and contingency, and the increase in budget is only $700, I don't see any unreasonable changes here. Whatever you'd question in the new budget was already in the old one. Nothing to see here.​

Indeed, the budget changes aren't unreasonable. The problem is that he still refers to production insurance as if it's superfluous, something he can afford to cut if he doesn't raise enough money. This is not smart. Does any smart person consider insurance optional?

 

[Scout101]

Remember the good old days when charges that came long before an item was delivered was considered credit card fraud? Yeah... guess I’m just an old fart.

Just doesn’t make sense. You don’t charge the credit card until you reach critical mass and are ready to start production. Otherwise, you’re just sitting around taking interest on people’ money and may never deliver. And you don’t have expenses on the order until you start making something, so only reason to keep the money is to use it for other things or profit during the delay.

At worst, small deposit so they don’t back out or something, and say they lose it if they want to back out before production run goes live?

All just super shady

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Indeed, the budget changes aren't unreasonable. The problem is that he still refers to production insurance as if it's superfluous, something he can afford to cut if he doesn't raise enough money. This is not smart. Does any smart person consider insurance optional?

I was originally discussing the budget changes in the context of budget creep, and in that context, the insurance is both reasonable and the single biggest cause of budget increase by at lease an order of magnitude.

That said, I agree with you that the insurance should not be considered superfluous, and I would urge Lane that, if he doesn't get enough funding, he should look for other costs to cut before considering this item's elimination. After all, $2,000 won't pay for a lawyer to defend yourself if you don't get insurance.

Do fan films have a significantly harder time getting such insurance at a reasonable cost than professional production companies, though?