if there's no accountant, does the producer keep the books?
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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if there's no accountant, does the producer keep the books?
They were under no obligation to report their expenses to anyone other than the IRS, so who knows who kept the books. I am guessing Alec did.
Maybe this is some discipline that crowdfunding sites can impose (or legislatures can impose), to require that recipients show they have a bookkeeping system in place, and disclose their bookkeeping process to donors. Not saying lay their books open, just demonstrate that they are set up to and intend to do this key thing in a businesslike manner and not as a slush fund.
As a side benefit, any absence of books found in legal proceedings could be targeted more easily if they have said they would keep them and they didn't.
Alec did mention at some point he was having an accountant help with the books. He's an experienced businessman and should know where to get help. What he shouldn't have done is released unaudited books. They appear to be missing income from outside sources such as Ares Digital, Retroactive Donor Packages, and Merch sales.
If you require kickstarter project owners to run like a business you defeat the whole concept of crowdfunding. Stop blaming kickstarter for this whole problem, and start laying it where it belongs: the creators.
Ack. I hear "the commander" and I think "thecommander," an Australian guy who used to post on startrek.com's boards in the early 2000's. A real head case. Enterprise hater extraordinaire.
I've seen mafia-run operations that had more cash efficiency than Axanar.
Isn't having standards in place part of holding creators accountable? Also, what should the responsibility and accountability of the platforms be? They do make money off of each campaign.
I don't think it's unreasonable for the crowdfunding community to discuss these challenges and also possible solutions.
at the 40 sec mark
That's the "consulting" thing comes from. You have to have some kind of person to call that can help you get a sense of what you need. Geez.
Well, sure, if I buy from a grocery store and a product there later makes me sick, it might be the responsibility of the manufacturer. But the store still has a responsibility to look over the product for damaged cans, long past expiration dates, mold on produce, etc., and not put it out. It isn't unreasonable to expect the storefront to maintain a certain amount of QC on the products it chooses to offer. Even a farmers' market might have liability problems if they allowed an obviously unhigenic vendor to return.
And to the point of defeating the purpose of kickstarter by requiring books, angel investors require books. The IRS requires books for companies, which presumably most kickstarter appeals originate from. Everyone requires books except relatives. Its not a bad standard for startups even from the first day.
If one doesn't like the idea of Kickstarter requiring it, one could have third party firms that optionally issue certifications that originators of a pitch meet certain business readiness standards.
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the nightmare of being in a Harry Potter IP trial jury and being told by one of the jurors during deliberations that we are all wrong because we can't see someone's wand being made of this maple vs that maple makes all the difference in the HP world...
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I've seen the light... Alec was right!!!! CBS cares nothing about Star Trek, and are a bunch of incompetent boobs:
http://www.startrek.com/article/nicholas-meyer-joins-new-star-trek-series
BTW this is sarcasm.
http://www.startrek.com/article/nicholas-meyer-joins-new-star-trek-series
BTW this is sarcasm.
God - they are doing NOTHING with that license but just sitting back and milking us fans for all the money they can get.
a blog online that still has the originally distributed 'prelude is a trailer for the full movie' comicon 2014 pitch and the original Axanar logo with Star Trek in it, and a youtube they forgot to take down (grab it if you want it):
http://www.fangirlconfessions.com/2014/07/prelude-to-axanar-trailer/
that preview ends with the actual TOS theme... never noticed it before... assume CBS won't either! Nope, that wouldn't make me take away any association between Axanar and Trek, not at all!
http://www.fangirlconfessions.com/2014/07/prelude-to-axanar-trailer/
that preview ends with the actual TOS theme... never noticed it before... assume CBS won't either! Nope, that wouldn't make me take away any association between Axanar and Trek, not at all!
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Intriguing. Could we be going movie era?
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