CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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As best as I can tell, there's nothing currently on Patreon. (Searching "Alec Peters," "Axanar," "Axanar Productions," and "Ares Studios" under creators.)
I hate to break it to you....
Jesus Christ - he first claims Ares Studios is ONLY FOR Axanar - has a lawsuit and injunction stopping him from proceeding with said production; has paid, what. 18 months upfront on the lease of the studio - but now wants to do a Patreon campaign for 'studio costs' of a not in use studio with the rent prepaid?
ETA: Doh, my bad - didn't notice that particular Alec Peters post was from October 2015 - but it isn't something I would have put past him given his overall response to the situation so far.
I disagree. It already made major news outlets. Sure, people have a short attention-span on the 24-news-cycle, but don't just assume that only a few nerds care about the issue. Only a few nerds are tracking it 24/7, but people will pay attention when and if there are major developments.
Again with the IANAL, but:
There has been a request for a jury trial, but the request has yet to be granted. This thing hasn't even seen the inside of a courtroom yet. Also, cases like this can be settled at any time, even after a jury trial starts. Lawyer types can correct me if I'm wrong here.
Depending on what happens with the initial filings, it could be a year or more before it does see the inside of a courtroom, I'd think. Or it could happen a lot faster. It's really hard to say.
That defense could have worked right up until the point where he took in over a million dollars to make the thing. At that point, he had a responsibility to the backers to look past his own desires. His responsibility was to make the film that the backers wanted -- and had he kept his mouth shut and done so -- and not gotten as greedy as he appears to have gotten -- we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.
Hey! At least they'll have a good excuse this time!
CBS took all the money!
I am ready to assume very few people care at this point (though that could change). It was on some prominent sites, but hasn't really caused any kind of uproar, and the only place i've seen anyone talking about is on dedicated Star Trek websites/forums/groups.
I was kind of surprised that some of my industry friends weren't even aware of it has potential to have real implications on their work.
"Prelude to Axanar" - Posted to YouTube 8/15/2014 (1 year 6 months ago). As of today: 1,891,183 views.
"Star Trek: Beyond" Official Trailer - Posted to YouTube 12/14/15 (approx. 5 weeks ago). As of today: 13,657,688 views.
So, you really want to try and claim anyone but an incredibly niche set of Star Trek fans really care about ANYTHING related to the CBS/Paramount Axanar situation? A miniscule portion are following 24/7. The majority haven't even really heard (nor care). Even at this point, I doubt anything regarding this suit will be talked about until there is either a final judgement/settlement <--- And even then if it gets more than a 15 second mention at that point, I'd be surprised.
Just because people click on links and look at articles, that doesn't mean that they'd either watch more than a few seconds of the film, if it got made, or be moved by the alternative.
People are far more interested in the latest news about Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump or whatever Star Wars or Marvel news pops up their feed than a lawsuit that a mega-corporation filed against a small fan-film.
We can talk all day about how much money it raised, or how many people donated or belong to facebook groups, but the truth is this film is under the radar of the larger fan community. Even I as a diehard fan of Star Trek had no idea what it was before the suit was filed. I don't watch fan films, don't read novels or comics, and I don't click on stories about them on Star Trek websites, and even if I see them in my periphery they don't remain in my consciousness for long.
If anyone outside of us here know about this it's the kind of thing they'd say "oh right, I think I read something about that last week. What's that all about?"
We can talk all day about how much money it raised, or how many people donated or belong to facebook groups, but the truth is this film is under the radar of the larger fan community. Even I as a diehard fan of Star Trek had no idea what it was before the suit was filed. I don't watch fan films, don't read novels or comics, and I don't click on stories about them on Star Trek websites, and even if I see them in my periphery they don't remain in my consciousness for long.
If anyone outside of us here know about this it's the kind of thing they'd say "oh right, I think I read something about that last week. What's that all about?"
Does anybody know (accurately): how many individuals altogether have donated to Axanar?
If you only count kickstarter and indiegogo campaigns:
At least 8548 (single campaign)
At most 18331 (if nobody donated to two campaigns)
I'd say round 10000 would be a good guess if you take multiple donations into consideration.
The Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter had 2,123 donors.
The Axanar Kickstarter had 8,548 donors.
The These Are The Voyages: Season Three Kickstarter (ran by Axanar; a portion of the proceeds went to Axanar Productions) had 667 donors.
The Axanar Indiegogo had 7,660 donors.
The maximum number of donors from that pool would be 18,998 people. Factoring in repeat business, I'm guessing their donor pool is probably around 10,000 people.
EDIT: Beat to it!
I think it's possible for a copyright/trademark owner to have more of a free-for-all approach to fan-films and fan-fic. I don't think anybody currently sees the value over doing this exceeding its liabilities. If a story out there presents the universe in a way that CBS doesn't like, they have been merely tolerated at CBS' digression. For instance, the overt Hentai-style sexual titillation in the most recent Aurora production. What are the odds that CBS would have ever sanctioned that kind of story? Low. The second CBS decides that any of this stuff gives Trek a bad name, they can shut it down. Yes, it seems to violate the spirit of freedom of speech, but it's within their rights to exert this sort of censorship-style control. It's not about what you or I think gives Trek a bad name. It's ultimately their call.
I know, right?
I know five donors. We were casual about it expressing 'what a good idea, how fun, let's donate', and we donated some more down the line. Three of us have independently and casually come to our own choices to not support this production or producer ever again in this or any project.
And four days ago, talking on the phone with another close friend and one of the donors I know, who is a wonderfully sane intelligent fun to be around interesting thinking naturally good person with a strong family and a full and varied life, and whom I've known for years and years.... and to whom I mentioned without snark of any kind that I was finding the axt case fascinating. Now, I was certainly interested to casually converse more about it with my friend, the way I have been with other friends .... however....
From me saying I was finding the production case fascinating...he launched into rabid discourse. He talked blatheringly on and on about how he will follow the axt to ---'metaphorically' and my choice of analogies here--- Heaven's Gateville or Jim & Kathy Bakerville or Jimmy Swaggartville or marinesville or petersville or scientologyville. That the production is a visionary, victimized, and he 'says' he will continue to donate no matter where it goes. Including I presume to a switch to generic sci-fi, non-tent pole, obscure, anything. Whom I suspect will then extol the the production's continued genius. The future remains to be seen of course, but as of this time that was his stance.
It. was. bizarre. ... the force, the intensity, the rabid discourse, being totally out of character for this person I have known for years. I made no attempt to respond to his axt discourse, he finally ran down, and the conversation went elsewhere.
kool aid
So I agree that some-to-many of us will go no further. And I know one who says he will support the production to whatever end in whatever endeavor.
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I am going to dig my heels in on this for one key reason.
When it comes to news, scandal is what people care about. And that's what this is. It's petty, sure, but it has an element of scandal to it. That's why it made the news in the first place, and it can continue to make the news, like if Axanar scores an upset in the courtroom.
Also, the news has linked this scandal to the 50th anniversary of Trek, and Trek has always been very closely associated with its fandom. While Trek revenue is largely driven now by non-die-hards, the alpha and omega of the franchise is still seen on the part of pop culture as being driven by die-hard Trek nerds, and say what you want about Alec, but he is part of that core Trek nerd-dom.
So it's newsworthy and if there's something juicy enough that happens in the courtroom, do not be surprised to see it covered in Variety or the Hollywood Reporter.
My wife didn't think it was funny as I giggled at the screen for an hour trying to antagonise Peters' into a response
...is nothing short of a disgrace. Stuff like that makes his intentions over the thing a lot clearer. Money grabbing git.
Well let's use you as the sample. Small sample size, but the one we have. If that is at all representative, it means about 1 in 4 people will continue. If we agree that there's around 10,000 supporters, that means 2500 people. Out of those 2500 i'll also wager that 25-35% would be willing to UP their pledge out of spite (like your friend); let's also consider those that didn't buy-in to previous campaigns but drank the Kool-Aid (your words not mine) and might be compelled to support him moving forward-- meaning Axanar, in whatever form, could still have the donation power of about some 3500 supporters.
Not a ton, but not insignificant. Let's not lie to ourselves: Axanar DID have a lot of supporters, both who pledged and those that just believed in it.
Let's give a little credit here: even before they went off the deep end, Axanar's team managed to produce a pretty solid piece of fan-filmed entertainment that excited a fair number of people.
I think they just started to believe their own hype and it went to their heads a little bit. They maybe felt a little more important than they really were thanks to a small army of worshipers, and being sent millions of dollars did nothing to temper that inflated ego.
Juicy specifics could include trying to challenge the interpretation of copyright for media properties, or the trainwreck of trying to say "you let them do it so you should let us do it", or "we appoint ourselves the true holders of authentic Trek therefore we declare your copyright forfeit".
Even if it settles, it might also draw coverage due to the potential for legal action by donors or state consumer protection agencies saying donors weren't fully appraised of the risk because they weren't fully disclosed the specifics of the business plans and side businesses that would impact the funding statement "there is always some risk of a lawsuit". Especially if they walk away with a studio.
So long as the group is precluded from grafting itself onto other people's intellectual property, then more power to them, go out and create original SF and a new media empire based on crowdfunding, all the best.
I just don't think it can happen unless its an effort by competent business people and much larger funding and a business plan that has real specifics that draw in the various technical and artistic professionals to do such a thing. "We are making Trek" has attraction but it isn't the same quality of business viability as actual professional level planning etc.
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