CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[muCephi]

John Van Citters from CBS just gave an surprisingly informative interview about the Trek Guidelines. The fear and fainting in many quarters is unnecessary. As many people figured, Citters was quite clear they are trying to return some sense of normalcy to making a fan film, ending the celebrity-arms (and legs, and faces) race and the expanding warp bubble of crowd-fund sums to make fan films.

And fuck Axanar. While not explicitly stated, that was quite clear. :-)

Have a listen: https://overcast.fm/+GuW5Epb-k

interesting re money:

50k is for 15 mins. not for 30. You get another 50k for the other 15 mins.

"If a rich uncle wants to give you 200k", he says, they aren't going after that. They are just trying to cap the crowdfunding/merchandising cycle.

It does make one wonder fundraising on a website by soliciting donations, without perks, is capped. Only asking because someone will.

 

[Jody Wheeler]

It does make one wonder fundraising on a website by soliciting donations, without perks, is capped. Only asking because someone will.

Since they are asking for fan help in being responsible with the guidelines, if this is a naked attempt to skirt the rules, then no. If it's just a platform to raise funds, sure.

 

[Noname Given]

The podcast does help Axanar in one way though, however minor. He says that the guidelines have been coming down the pike for a long time now, and that they aren't directly related to the court case. "Ah, of course he would say that!" some will cry, but if you can't take him at his word on that point, then...

Doesn't mean the "Thanks a lot, Alec!" stuff will go away though.

Well, that's not exactly what he said. It was more (paraphrasing): "We've been discussing it for a while (releasing guidelines); and some recent incidents made us go ahead and decide this was the time to do it." What he did stress was that Guidelines were not tied to the Axanar case (IE they were not part of any settlement talks/offer.)

 

[dmac]

After yesterdays whirlwind events, I'd like to take the time in order to declare Team Axanar totally irrelevant to the true fan film community. Meanwhile I'd like thank John Van Citters for his insight and understanding of what the community consists of.

 

[Jedi_Master]

The podcast does help Axanar in one way though, however minor. He says that the guidelines have been coming down the pike for a long time now, and that they aren't directly related to the court case. "Ah, of course he would say that!" some will cry, but if you can't take him at his word on that point, then...

Doesn't mean the "Thanks a lot, Alec!" stuff will go away though.

It is true that Axanar is not the only production that pushed the limits of CBS' good will, but it is impossible to completely disentangle AP's actions from the release of the guidelines AND their composition.
When people say #thanksAlec they are - in my opinion - more focused on the fact that AP influenced the composition of the guidelines rather than inspired their release.

 

[drt]

They are just trying to cap the crowdfunding/merchandising cycle.

It does make one wonder fundraising on a website by soliciting donations, without perks, is capped. Only asking because someone will.

It appears that you're only allowed to raise money in $50k increments - also worth noting that the money that goes to that the "platform fees", i.e. Kickstarter/Indigogo fees, are included in that, so the effective amount you raise is less if you use those those platforms.

The lack of perks probably naturally caps fundraising as well. Does anyone honestly think Axanar would have raised over $1M without the draw of the merchandise perks?

 

[Sgt_G]

The lack of perks probably naturally caps fundraising as well. Does anyone honestly think Axanar would have raised over $1M without the draw of the merchandise perks?

Between that and the big-name actors who gave it the appearance of being a sanctioned film production, yes, I do believe those were the big draw for funds. Even so, I think the biggest draw of them all was the "Star Trek" name. Would he have raised near as much with all the great CGI, big-name actors, the cool swag, and everything else set in his own new universe not associated with Trek or any other known universe? I suspect not.

 

[Noname Given]

Between that and the big-name actors who gave it the appearance of being a sanctioned film production, yes, I do believe those were the big draw for funds. Even so, I think the biggest draw of them all was the "Star Trek" name. Would he have raised near as much with all the great CGI, big-name actors, the cool swag, and everything else set in his own new universe not associated with Trek or any other known universe? I suspect not.

Yep, and David Gerrold can attest to that:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2137726026/david-gerrolds-the-star-wolf

 

[Jedi_Master]

There is no way that Axanar raises 1.3 million without "Star Trek" appended to it or without the help of Uncle George.

 

[Fenrir767]

Yep, and David Gerrold can attest to that:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2137726026/david-gerrolds-the-star-wolf

Is that the series that Alex wanted to make after Axanar?

 

[fireproof78]

I think we could just look at David Gerrold's "Star Wolf" KS campaign to see that.
ETA: Ninjaed.

 

[Indysolo]

Via TampAxanar on twitter:

Neil

 

[fireproof78]

^^
When's the KS for that?

 

[mos6507]

It appears that you're only allowed to raise money in $50k increments - also worth noting that the money that goes to that the "platform fees", i.e. Kickstarter/Indigogo fees, are included in that, so the effective amount you raise is less if you use those those platforms.

The lack of perks probably naturally caps fundraising as well. Does anyone honestly think Axanar would have raised over $1M without the draw of the merchandise perks?

There are no "increments" because there's no provision for any one producer to make a series. Just a one-off story.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Via TampAxanar on twitter:

Neil

Alec would make an excellent Jar-Jar.

Meesa wanna studio!

 

[drt]

There are no "increments" because there's no provision for any one producer to make a series. Just a one-off story.

CBS's John Van Citters said in the Engage podcast that you could spend $100k for 30 minutes, which seems to imply some mechanism to get to $100k, since the guidelines are pretty clear about the $50k limit.

 

[mos6507]

CBS's John Van Citters said in the Engage podcast that you could spend $100k for 30 minutes, which seems to imply some mechanism to get to $100k, since the guidelines are pretty clear about the $50k limit.

So nobody actually pinned him down to clarify this explicitly? This is a big sticking point.

Within an anthology, sure, you can do a series of a sort, but they'd have to be completely disconnected stories.

 

[drt]

So nobody actually pinned him down to clarify this explicitly? This is a big sticking point.

Within an anthology, sure, you can do a series of a sort, but they'd have to be completely disconnected stories.

No, and to be honest for every thing that was clarified, two more things were made less clear.

For instance, the "no episodes" bit seemed to be directed towards those who would use it to work around the 2x15m time limit, as opposed to an on-going series of disconnected stories.

 

[asurob]

I thought he was pretty clear about the 50K per 15 minute episode. If you have a 2 episode story then you can raise up to 100K for it.

 

[Karen O'Shea]

CBS's John Van Citters said in the Engage podcast that you could spend $100k for 30 minutes, which seems to imply some mechanism to get to $100k, since the guidelines are pretty clear about the $50k limit.

50K per 15 minutes, per the rules. 2 parts allowed per stand alone story to make 30 minutes. You'd have to run separate Kickstarters per part,though...as far as I understand.