That's completely and utterly his fault though. The old saying of dogs and fleas comes to mind.
Exactly. His hands are just as dirty as that other guy.
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar 2 - Electric Boogaloo-Fanboys gone WILD-too many hyphens
- Thread starter jespah
- Start date
*remembers to check into TrekBBS*
*reads up on a few pages*
*finds no link to the completed film*
*logs out.*
*reads up on a few pages*
*finds no link to the completed film*
*logs out.*
There will never be a link.
This multi-property fan film looks great. I wonder how many million$$ it took to produce?
WHERE'S THE MOVIE, ALEC?
WHERE'S THE MOVIE, ALEC?
The whole original kickstater was just to fund the studio. It was only the subsequent IGG that was for money for the actual movie. LFIM got greedy.
You're absolutely spot on with this analysis, imho.
CBS didn't sue because LFIM was misusing donor money to line his pockets, although he was, they had to step in to stop a "professional" production using their IP.
As you phrase it, there was an 'arms race' ongoing in the fan production world - it was a race to see who could make the closest thing to a real episode of the show. Axanar never achieved that of course, but boy did they talk the talk. Professional production, purpose built studio, professional director, Trek actors reprising their roles, merchandise, overtly positioning themselves as an alternative to official Trek.
It's really an unfortunate coincidence that LFIM also happened to be a greedy crook.
and the hits keep on coming. Over in the axamonitor facebook group, Bill Hunt has comented on the script that came out from RMB saying "It's not my fault. I was given a crap script and did what I could to make it something usable but could only change so many things" and I totallly believe him. Sounds like another person not happy with the results of working with peters.
LFIM is not having a good 2019 so far. Everybody seems to now want to distance themselves from him and doesn't care if he gets upset anymore.
LFIM is not having a good 2019 so far. Everybody seems to now want to distance themselves from him and doesn't care if he gets upset anymore.
A lot of people like RMB (very small fish in a BIG pond out here in the Hollywood area) probably thought that somehow, even after the lawsuit, Peters would get (and retain)his 'fan studio' - and those associated with him (who stuck by him) would get to use it for some of their moneymaking projects on the cheap.
You'll notice once Peters bailed and made the move to Atlanta, RMB bailed as his reason for supporting Peters (IE a usable studio very near the Hollywood scene) went away, so did RMB's support of the project.
RMB I think was different. I think he wanted to direct a huge feature film star trek in the hopes that he could use it to get other jobs in the future. Even once the settlement came down he wanted to film the first 30 minutes of axanar.
I think for RMB once it before two 15 minute mocumentaris I don't think he cared anymore about it since that wasn't going to help him. I don't have much sympathy for RMB becuase he was trying to use star trek IP to advance his career without permission.
Bill Hunt on the other hand appears to have gotten involved because he was asked to help, did the best he could, and isn't happy with how it all turned out especially getting pulled into the lawsuit. I do have sympathy for him because I think he just wanted to help and get dragged into things he didn't want as a result.
I would completely donate to a GofundMe to produce a "Con of Wrath" style documentary about this trash fire, featuring RMB's take and footage etc.
To be utterly honest, I come away feeling for the guy. Excepting his opposition to post-2009 Trek, he kind of presents like an old fan of my generation, whom I'd have a great time geeking out with about TOS. It's a shame so much of fandom has self-identified around hating a thing, as he said.
All said, after hearing all he said, I'm still left with a nagging question.
To be utterly honest, I come away feeling for the guy. Excepting his opposition to post-2009 Trek, he kind of presents like an old fan of my generation, whom I'd have a great time geeking out with about TOS. It's a shame so much of fandom has self-identified around hating a thing, as he said.
All said, after hearing all he said, I'm still left with a nagging question.
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I just don't get how he remains unaware of the phenomenon of people not getting paid to make fan films.
Yup. It seems like a weird blind spot for him, given his years in the industry. I get being caught up in the moment with the notion of getting to direct a Trek film, but I remain surprised he never bailed when the writing was on the wall and he could still salvage things with CBS. He says himself how his involvement in the lawsuit torpedoed the Blu-ray release of Free Enterprise.
The fact he still talks as if it was a normal paying gig and not at best a fanfilm and at worst an IP-infringing professional production is curious.
I think THIS is what got them sued. You call yourself a fanfilm.....raise 1.4 million then subcontract everything to professionals. That ain't a passion project, that's a unlicensed film funded by fans. Original actors reprising their actual Trek roles too could very well lead to confusion. You could never mistake anyone for Shatner or Nimoy playing Kirk and Spock, but Gary Graham playing the same character he did in Enterprise could make a casual fan think it was real Trek.
Especially looking at that Vulcan Scene. Leaving aside the fact that it was deadly dull, would a casual viewer see the difference between that and a scene from Enterprise? I bet they looked at that and read some of the rhetoric about how professional it all was and went "How about no".
For the longest time they called Axanar an "professional independant star trek film" and not a fan film. So his attitude would be appropriate if working on an indie film which I think is how he and LFIM thought of the project.
It became a fan film when he got sued.
Returning actors playing the same roles was not new to Axanar, New Voyages/Phase II, Of Gods and Men, Continues, Renegades all did the same thing before Axanar.
I skimmed a little bit of that, and that is really impressive.This multi-property fan film looks great. I wonder how many million$$ it took to produce?
WHERE'S THE MOVIE, ALEC?
Oh I think that’s definitely how they were approaching it. It’s just surprising that RMB was so caught out by the fact it was going to end badly (as I say, even if the movie had been getting made according to plan).
Of course, if it had been getting made according to plan with no talk of additional funding (after the first Kickstarter) maybe all they would’ve gotten from CBS would’ve been a stern “finish this project then *never* do it again”. Instead the promise. When it became a revenue stream filled with pros and Alec himself claiming a salary, the hammer was always going to come down.
The first axanar kickstarter was ONLY to build the studio. Even by the time that starter the scale was beyond what is should be. It was only the IGG that was going to movie production costs.
From the kickstarter page "This first Kickstarter will be for the sound stage and set construction. "
Now I don't think many donors at all realized they were jus paying for a studio and not the movie. They really wanted people to belive they were paying for the movie itself.
IMO, once they started splitting this up into multiple kickstarters, they were in trouble.
However, this is this nugget on that first KS page "Well, due to all your generosity, we have everything we need for the sets and studio and are well on our way to covering most of the budget."
Though by the time the IGG came around, they had no money for the actual production of the movie and even then claimed they only got enough for the first third of the movie which ironically is the length of movie they can make post-lawsuit so they should have the money to do 30 minutes from what they already raised.
Indeed, and it isn't that one thing that holed them below the waterline. But it's a factor that helped push them outside the fan film arena and into independent-but-unlicenced Star Trek film. They were paying the actors too, if memory serves. And of course having them directed by a paid professional director, and calling it anything other than a fan film.