Anything pop on PACER today yet?
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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If I were writing a TV movie based on this brouhaha I'd insert a scene of Alec Peters bragging to the CBS news team how he's making a real professional Star Trek show with real professional actors in a real professional studio for millions of professional dollars.
I'm not saying that's the way it happened, but it sort of poetically illustrates his folly...
Since they don't even have the money to make a complete film every dollar spent on anything that isn't expressly needed for this film, is another dollar that the production team needs to raise to finish the movie. What's sad, is that people who have given, 15... 75...200.. or even more can't see that.
I don't object to them getting carpet.... I object to them spending money on **ANYTHING** that is not NEEDED to complete the film.
If I may speculate: they might not actually *need* all the money they've raised, and are spending the excess on things like carpeting to give the illusion that they're not making profit-- when in reality, things like carpeting, sushi dinners and travel costs to big events could be considered "profit" in that they are not necessary to deliver the finished film that donors are paying for.
Considering they are saying they only have enough money to make the first half of the movie, I am assuming that means they really don't have the money for the film....
well to be fair, if I recall correctly, they did say on their objectives, peripherally to all the Trek IP and "fan film" stuff, that they would be building a studio to do all this and to do other productions in the future.
kickstarters can be used to offer an initial product which then funds the company into viability. I believe Axanar feels they have donor consent because they did say it, even though it was greatly deemphasized relative to TREK and FAN and AUTHENTIC and etc.
I think the main legal problem Axanar may have in the kickstarter/indiegogo world is that they may have framed outright guaranteed to be stopped IP profiteering as a "risk". How reasonable was it of them to frame what they were doing as a "fan" film CBS would approve?
The CBS lawsuit could be determinant of whether the Axanar project should reasonably have known it was more than a "risk".
If this determination is strongly against Axanar, this might then be citable in a class action lawsuit or a consumer protection lawsuit as the offering's "risk" section being some sort of deliberate misrepresentation, alongside other possible complaints such as failing to state what proportion of the money would go to the film and the studio, what side IP risks they might undertake like the game pieces, etc.
...while this is not a perfect analogy by any means, think about someone trying to write off construction on their house as a business expense because, in order to be productive at the office, they must be comfortable at home.
Again, not a perfect analogy, but that's not too far from what they're doing. Donors paid so they could improve the quality of the production itself, not make the staff more comfortable, or eat better food, or attend conventions to market the fan-film.
For that stuff they should have used their own money. Any and all funds raised should be poured into the production: hire better actors, hire a better VFX company, hell, even spend some extra to do fancy things like give the Blu-Ray case a foil stamped sleeve or a metal slipcase or something, and give those away at conventions.
Do fun stuff like cover a fan's airfare to fly to the set and have a bit-part in the film. A creative group of people could come up with ways to spend the extra money without earning a profit, but -- and this is pure speculation -- I wonder if they just got greedy once they were so well over-funded.
Again, not a perfect analogy, but that's not too far from what they're doing. Donors paid so they could improve the quality of the production itself, not make the staff more comfortable, or eat better food, or attend conventions to market the fan-film.
For that stuff they should have used their own money. Any and all funds raised should be poured into the production: hire better actors, hire a better VFX company, hell, even spend some extra to do fancy things like give the Blu-Ray case a foil stamped sleeve or a metal slipcase or something, and give those away at conventions.
Do fun stuff like cover a fan's airfare to fly to the set and have a bit-part in the film. A creative group of people could come up with ways to spend the extra money without earning a profit, but -- and this is pure speculation -- I wonder if they just got greedy once they were so well over-funded.
In the kickstarter they said they were going to rent space, and turn it into a sound stage to shoot the film... They didn't say they were funding the infrastructure for their for profit film venture.
So, yes, I knew they were going to spend money on Rent, (Which when I donated was 75K for the year) not that when they lost the space they said they had, they were going to spend twice as much, on their space, within the 30 mile Hollywood inclusion zone. So many of the decisions, that were made seem to have been made in the best interests of creating an ongoing production business, not necessarily in the best interests of making a fan film.
interesting, so it was only the indiegogo that was specific about it.
The stated objectives of Axanar have been a moving target all along.
Nothing.
The alleged threat towards oswriter is absolutely shocking. Just when you think this story can't get any stranger, this curve ball comes out of left field! To you, oswriter, I can understand you bowing out, but would urge you to report said threat to the relevant authorities. Whatever you decide however, peace and long life to you, Sir!
Didn't someone who had donated $15 already get called out on the Anaxar blog. I can't remember who it was that let us know that many pages back here on the BBS.
And don't get me started on the carpets and now IKEA furniture!
Didn't someone who had donated $15 already get called out on the Anaxar blog. I can't remember who it was that let us know that many pages back here on the BBS.
And don't get me started on the carpets and now IKEA furniture!
I would argue that they have made an effort to protect their trademark. Weren't a number of productions told to remove 'Star Trek' from their names?
As for ST:C, that they need to make an effort to enforce it, doesn't mean that they can't explicitly allow ST:C to use the mark if memory serves...
Posts like that are painful, because they point out what so easily could have been. If Peters had played by the rules so to speak, we would all be rooting for him, looking forward to a really nice facility at which to shoot fan films, possibly in exchange for a small contribution for upkeep.
As nice as their sound stage area looks, I would have loved to have access to it, and I would most likely have donated quite heavily to keep it going.
To be fair, that mostly seems to be Alec's game. I might have missed it, but I don't think I've seen anyone else from the production call people haters.
That's my take. If CBS capitulates to Axanar and allows them to go on for some strange reason, they will open the door to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants to make pro-level Trek fan films (with apologies to Renegades!Tom ;-)) to flaunt their IP with relative impunity (not legally -- but in terms of perception). I just don't see that happening if only because of the hassle it will create.
That's what I've been figuring. Either that or Peters is talking one hell of a good game to his employees.
They would be classed as that, right?
That struck me as well, but I think it's largely perception. One thing we cannot say about them is that they've been totally idle. Slow, yes, but they've been constantly updating pictures of the bridge set. Nothing they've posted recently is really out of line with that (other than the carpet
).1000x this.
It was about what happened to OSwriter. I hear stories like that often, not just against people like OSwriter, but also against writers who do things with a character some fans don't like. Like there have been stories about death or rape threats against female writers from angry male fans. That's the kind of stuff I was talking about.
It was me, and it happened this past summer on Facebook. When Axanar launched their Indiegogo campaign, I had real difficulty understanding the scope creep/budget bloat, and started asking questions, and making my overall dissatisfaction known, when Terry pops up, and basically said, he didn't know why I was so upset, because I only gave $15.00....
Basically, they were trying to shame me, into shutting up because of the size of my donation. Initially I did feel a little shame, but then overall I started feeling more indignant, and now that $15.00 is my badge of honor.... And yes, since people have offered to refund me my 15 out of their own pocket.
That was a very shitty thing to do. They should appreciate all their backers, not just the big donors.
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