CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar 2 - Electric Boogaloo-Fanboys gone WILD-too many hyphens
- Thread starter jespah
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Spent almost 2 hours watching while thinking to myself... Who is this Alec he's talking about?
IDK - The stuff he said made HIM look pretty bad too.
Some of the stuff that got me:
- "I'm not a Thief..."
Yet RMB admits that Alec gave him $30,000.00 (plus a few hundred here and there)
Admits he too wanted a studio for future PAYING projects
^^^
This especially makes him and Alec 'thieves' in that they both were looking to treat this like a 'more professional' production - and again, RMB likes to bring up that 'people are paid for work - yet, RMB KNOWS FULL WELL that when you work "in the Business" and want to use someone else's IP - you approach them, get approval an PAY A LICENSING FEE for the use of said IP. Gee, your group didn't do that? Then you're a THIEF trading on an IP you have no right to use FOR PROFIT.
- "I never looked at the Books" and "Alec was putting in his own money..."
In relation top ANYTHING regarding the AXANAR Crowdfund financials; sorry, if you never looked at the Books, how the hell can you claim to know Alec was putting ANY of his own money in? Why? Because Alec SAID he did? How dense is RMB.
As YES it WAS the Star Trek name that GOT them the crowdfunding at that level. Many people HAVE tried to Crowfund original science fiction based project in the same vein after successfully crowdfunding a Star Trek fan film in the past - but hey, big surprise - take 'Star Trek' out of the equation, and suddenly backer interest dies to the point they can't get a 10th of the money they got when 'Star Trek' was in the project.
Basically, I think RMB is finally realizing Alec's and his own big dreams of having their own studio for projects (paid for by Backers) is dead; and he somehow hopes that these videos will get some industry people willing to hire him for some sorty of DVD authoring/documentary work.
Personally though, if I had anything going I would touch him with a 100' pole as who wants a person who has ZERO respect for IP rights?
Is Rob squeaky clean? No. In all of this Tony Todd is the guy who looks the best in hind sight. He heard that donor money was being spent unwisely and immediately left the project. Rob stayed loyal for far too long to a carpetbagger/snake oil salesman. There is enough guilt to go around for all. I do think Rob just wanted to make the film, for personal and professional reasons. When the lawsuit hit he was in so deep that in his mind the best thing to do was hunker down and let the film speak for itself, if they survived the lawsuit. They DID and then I think he saw when they moved to GA that the film was NOT EVER a priority to LFIM. I think RMB would still be quiet had LFIM not threatened to sue in for 45K and now again for 30K and started emailing business partners saying he wanted to ruin him.
Come on guys, Axanar has provided us more entertainment and sheer crazy in the past few years than a 90 minute pewpew Garthwank ever could.
Watching Rob’s second video it does underline to me why CBS had to step in. Nevermind allegations of funds being misused or any of that stuff. The line between Fan Film and pro production had become ridiculously blurred and even if Axanar had been made with zero controversy I still think CBS were in a position where they *had* to bring the hammer down on the fan film arms race.
Just listening to RMB underlines it. At no point throughout any of this does he sound like someone who was making a fan film. He continually discusses how much his time was worth etc.
In fairness he was offered $3k a month to be full time director on a Star Trek film, his dream project. I don’t blame him for that. I’d have probably done the same. But that offer never should’ve been on the table, and I suspect if it wasn’t RMB wouldn’t have taken the gig.
Compare with Prelude where he makes the point that his work was for free. Fan films are supposed to be a hobby. Fans getting together and making them for fun. Axanar proved how over the line things had gotten. And it’s not even a comment on quality. Tommy Kraft’s Horizon is a full length, great looking feature film. Minimum fundraising and we know how much Tommy did off his own back on that project.
Just listening to RMB underlines it. At no point throughout any of this does he sound like someone who was making a fan film. He continually discusses how much his time was worth etc.
In fairness he was offered $3k a month to be full time director on a Star Trek film, his dream project. I don’t blame him for that. I’d have probably done the same. But that offer never should’ve been on the table, and I suspect if it wasn’t RMB wouldn’t have taken the gig.
Compare with Prelude where he makes the point that his work was for free. Fan films are supposed to be a hobby. Fans getting together and making them for fun. Axanar proved how over the line things had gotten. And it’s not even a comment on quality. Tommy Kraft’s Horizon is a full length, great looking feature film. Minimum fundraising and we know how much Tommy did off his own back on that project.
Why is Alex suing RMB?
Probably because he finally spoke the truth publicly about how the original project was managed and such quaint little things don't sit well with Mr. Peters, apparently.
From the sounds of things he’s claiming money owed from RMB taking materials (computer equipment etc) from the project. Except RMB is making the point that the hardware was gifted to replace existing equipment so it’s his. And in terms of the footage, RMB points to the copies which were made for Alec, which he left dumped on the floor of his Ares Studio office and now has presumably lost in the move. At least, that’s my understanding on it all.
Apparently a previous lawsuit for $45k fell apart when RMB demanded proof this was owed. Alec’s now suing with a different lawyer for $30k while emailing threats to RMB’s business partner (which has caused him to go public).
Also interesting is (ex?) Axanar PR man Mike Bawden responding to Alec’s rants on FB urging him to keep quiet as he knows he’s only telling half the story.
If Alec couldn't keep his mouth shut during the Axanar lawsuit, he won't here.
Good synopsis.......and of note it wasn't just Mike, but also Axanar's International PR guy Morey Altman urging Alec to stay quiet........Alec deleted BOTH their comments begging him to STFU about it......Screencaps were taken of them before they were deleted.
Lol. The last lawsuit went so well for Alec.
RMB knows where the bodies are buried. This is silly.
Yeah. RMB certainly makes the point that he’s one of the ones that stuck with Alec throughout the whole thing and this is how it’s ended up. Especially since it’s broken his professional relationship with CBS and Star Trek.
RMB has already dropped previously unknown stuff about Gary Graham nearly quitting over Alec’s acting ability and how Rob had lined up people to sort out the studio, but then Alec got involved and the deal fell through.
It was interesting to hear Rob’s defence of making the first 30 minutes of the feature versus 2x15 documentaries. I’d always thought the latter made more sense, and admittedly theres still an element of making a professional calling card of an incomplete product to the former. But Rob’s argument that the needed sets were mostly done, the green screen ready, CGI mostly done and just taking that work and getting it out there makes sense when presented that way.
RMB has already dropped previously unknown stuff about Gary Graham nearly quitting over Alec’s acting ability and how Rob had lined up people to sort out the studio, but then Alec got involved and the deal fell through.
It was interesting to hear Rob’s defence of making the first 30 minutes of the feature versus 2x15 documentaries. I’d always thought the latter made more sense, and admittedly theres still an element of making a professional calling card of an incomplete product to the former. But Rob’s argument that the needed sets were mostly done, the green screen ready, CGI mostly done and just taking that work and getting it out there makes sense when presented that way.
Oh goody! That should generate fifty or sixty pages more posts in this thread before the next (inevitable) event in the saga.
If Sun Tzu were alive today, he'd probably look at this and add another passage to The Art Of War:
Never turn a friend into an enemy, for he knows all your weaknesses.
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Like I said, every time it gets quiet for a little while, AP does something stupid to keep us entertained.
WHERE'S THE MOVIE, ALEC?
WHERE'S THE MOVIE, ALEC?
I still think RMB should’ve known better than to use someone else’s IP to raise funds for a for profit venture. He got greedy.