CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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As a donor you didn't not agree to either. You donated money to people nearly blindly.
Thanks to Loeb & Loeb - you might just find out!
In all seriousness though, the only thing that keeps Kickstarter or Indigogo funds from being misused is the personal integrity of the person(s) running the project that is soliciting donations.
Obviously, there are ways to punish a complete scam artist, but in most cases there is no way to ensure that money is not wasted even if it is ALL spent on the project.
Not everyone is savvy enough to know how to avoid wasting dollars, and the more dollars there are, the more opportunities there are for waste/misuse.
One of Alec's justifiable frustrations is that he was being upfront and honest about his expenditures, while few other projects ever even bothered to tell donors what they spent money on. Of course those other projects didn't collect close to $2 million and they were, um, completed but there is still some justifiable frustration that he was being open and honest about his use of funds and other projects (not just Star Trek fan films) have not.
Obviously, there are ways to punish a complete scam artist, but in most cases there is no way to ensure that money is not wasted even if it is ALL spent on the project.
Not everyone is savvy enough to know how to avoid wasting dollars, and the more dollars there are, the more opportunities there are for waste/misuse.
One of Alec's justifiable frustrations is that he was being upfront and honest about his expenditures, while few other projects ever even bothered to tell donors what they spent money on. Of course those other projects didn't collect close to $2 million and they were, um, completed but there is still some justifiable frustration that he was being open and honest about his use of funds and other projects (not just Star Trek fan films) have not.
I'm still not sure how accurate that report is.
That makes me ask--what quality work DOES Alec Peters bring to Axanar? It's not writing: he had to add a bunch of people to that. It's not acting: he's admitted he's hiring someone else for that. It's not public relation God knows. Is it producing? Doesn't seem like it to me since they didn't have a script finalized or actors signed but were "ready" to start in January--or Feb--or March?
I imagine it's a hell of a lot more accurate than no report at all.
Alec isn't that bright. By trying to do things "different" he accidentally exposed a serious flaw in crowd-funding projects - lack of accountability.
Is he actually traveling to multiple countries or is he just calling it a "world tour"?Convention appearances and, likely, the upcoming world tour!
Say I want to create a widget... so I ask you to donate to my widget project. Even if I am honest and straightforward in every way, who's to say I can't take a few bucks to buy my team a pizza dinner when we wrap up the project?
The donors can't stop me, and I don't even have to even tell you. So instead of your $200 bucks going to make the world's best widget, instead it's gone to Luigi's Pizzeria.
The donors can't stop me, and I don't even have to even tell you. So instead of your $200 bucks going to make the world's best widget, instead it's gone to Luigi's Pizzeria.
Neil
Difference being, no one cares if you spend leftover funds on pizza. Because you're actually going to complete the project you sold. Peters had to act like there was accountability because of all the money he was asking for. But I don't see spending $9,000 on convention appearances and $7,000 on phones as being accountable. YMMV.
As a widget donor, I'm upset you didn't choose Alfredo's Pizza Cafe. Have you no accountability?
I have no doubt in my mind that in Alec's deluded, victim-complex riddled and all-or-nothing worldview mind he absolutely was being totally upfront about all his expenses... but he sure as hell wasn't going to let that stop him from trying to get away with as much as he possibly could get away with.
In retrospect it's all so blatantly a cash-grab by Peters. If it weren't we'd be niggling over the details of his fan film because he would have actually, you know, finished the damn thing.
Nothing.
^^Good question.
Obviously, the SAG union membership was done solely for bragging rights. Peters has gone on record saying he doesn't want to be an actor, he just wanted to play Garth. By having SAG-only actors in Prelude, it would be then just one more notch he could carve into his little bunk bed to (in his mind) put his vanity project above the rest of the fan films out there.
Except we saw how that worked out. The rest of the professional actors (Todd, Vernon, Hertzler, Graham, and even Hatch) come across as natural, talented actors. Peters just comes across as stilted, predictable, inexperienced and blasé.
Obviously, the SAG union membership was done solely for bragging rights. Peters has gone on record saying he doesn't want to be an actor, he just wanted to play Garth. By having SAG-only actors in Prelude, it would be then just one more notch he could carve into his little bunk bed to (in his mind) put his vanity project above the rest of the fan films out there.
Except we saw how that worked out. The rest of the professional actors (Todd, Vernon, Hertzler, Graham, and even Hatch) come across as natural, talented actors. Peters just comes across as stilted, predictable, inexperienced and blasé.
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