No, and that's not unusual. You're allowed to assume the client is entirely truthful and plead accordingly.
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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No, and that's not unusual. You're allowed to assume the client is entirely truthful and plead accordingly.
Fraud is not an easy thing to prove - especially if all monies collected were through a third party and for a specific purpose that the donor agreed to support by means of their donated funds. If Peters was selling a "locked script" and using the fact that it was the final version as a means of promoting that script, perhaps there would be a more solid basis for a fraud charge.
and it looks like AP is trying to exploit that reluctance by pushing it to the wall to see if CBS will give away something to preserve their undefined space for fan films.
Which is a foolish notion, as CBS can rather easily sidestep their intended defense by citing their own set of legal precedent. Or the judge could recognize the tactic for what it is - a needless delay - and reject the motion without CBS ever having to comment on it...
Doubtful. All "locking" a script (in hour-long TV dramas, anyway) means is that the writer(s) have completed at least one full draft that has been revised by all interested parties according to and implementing (and sometimes disregarding) notes from the writer, studio and network. (This is where you'd have "Studio drafts" and "network drafts.")
Once all that is done, the script goes to "production draft" and generally at this stage the pages are "locked," (easily done, thanks to a function in Final Draft software) meaning any new revisions that don't fit on the existing, locked page will create "A" pages. (i.e. you'd have a page count in the next draft that could conceivably go "Page 1,2,3, 3A,4,5,6,6A,6B,7... etc.) where those "A" and "B" pages include additional writing that extends scenes from page 6 but still doesn't muck around with what ends up on page 7.
This is done for a variety of reasons, one of which being that pages of a script are generally divided into eighths to measure out how much time during a production day will be required to shoot what is included on that page. The producers and director need to know how long to schedule time to actually shoot various scenes because the longer you take, the more money you spend, and if the scene-to-page relationship is constantly changing throughout the revision process, its very, very difficult to have and keep and accurate accounting of that calculation.
This is also about the time when scenes in a script are numbered and fucking around with that once it's been set is hugely problematic. You can always tell when a script was written by someone who has never worked in TV before because their spec/draft has scene numbers included. Never do this!
I think more than anything, Peters was doing there what he does best: brag. He wanted to celebrate having something to show off and threw around some industry verbiage he probably overheard or read somewhere without fully understanding its meaning. It's entirely possible they locked the pages on the draft in the photo, but Peters triumphant announcement, the way its worded, clearly belies his lack of understanding, especially now that we know a) the script has been heavily rewritten at the direction of Robert Meyer Burnett (who has admitted as much several times across the internet and social media) and the fact that the "mission creep" of this whole farce has necessitated (in Axanar's view) expanding the project. What we do know is that there are several versions of the script, including one distributed to talent and casting agencies in L.A.
It's incredible that they think they can get away with this particular fib, honestly, but not altogether surprising given the general lack of intelligence or forethought Peters usually has on display.
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Fraud or not, trust has almost surely been lost. I doubt he raises $1.2 million for any future project. He strikes me more like a patent medicine salesman, saying just enough about the product to titillate the crowd, and then letting them come to their own conclusions about the veracity or real meaning of it all as he takes their money.
It does seem there's more than enough evidence to permit discovery to proceed.
Surely there must be significant precedent arguing that a few examples can stand for a class of issues to be squared away in discovery? Did someone already note this?
Also, wouldn't the Vulcan scene, which is purported to come from the movie, also count against their argument. They lifted shots from Star Trek IV, used Vulcans in general, the planet Vulcan specifically, as well as Soval, a character seen and referred to many times on ST:E.
If I were a possible Doe, I'd be doing ANYthing to minimize my damages. I'd be selling AP out faster than a starship flies at max warp
Warp speed, Mr. Sulu!
Course captain?
Anywhere but here!
Exactly. AP does come across a snake oil salesman with a Typhon Expanse size ego working over the crowd. Hell, he still has "donation" fulfillments from 2014 that haven't been sent to his fans. Running around the country on the donors dime with a self determined salary for the past year and a half attending conventions (all expenses paid) and policing the internet does take up ones time. Tony Todd saw right through AP's b.s. and CBS/Paramount through Loeb & Loeb are going to give AP a pointed lesson in humility.
Never underestimate the number of easily led minions willing to donate to a smooth talking salesman.
This is the definition of "mockumentary" referenced in the document, from dictionary.reference.com. Nothing implies that it means "parody."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mockumentary?s=t
"mockumentary
[mok-yuh-men-tuh-ree, ‐tree] /ˌmɒk yəˈmɛn tə ri, ‐tri/
noun, Movies, Television.
1.
a movie or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
Also called mock documentary."
8320 as of now
Yes, the same way in which a "mock trial" is not a comedic version of court proceedings.
I'm starting to wonder if the Axanar people actually hate fan/independent/whatever movies, and the whole thing was really an insidious plot to get TPTB to put their foot down on the whole concept once and for all. I mean, there's no way they couldn't have seen it coming. Amiright??
Kor
THANK YOU. Could you please come over to the Facebook page and explain that to people? I've been saying this all day over there ...
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