CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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Thank you, Michael. That closes the turbo lift door on that! Guess what they sombody might consider is making a movie about this whole mess! A pretty good, comprehensive, entertaining Treatment and Story Board are contained within this Thread, eh?
They could call it;
Axed: The Story of The Axanar "Fan Film"
IIRC, when you make a donation to a nonprofit and receive a gift in exchange, you have to deduct the fair market value of that gift from the amount you donated for tax purposes. Therefore, if you were to donate $50 and get a DVD worth $20 then you could only take $30 off on your taxes. Thus, you are, in fact, purchasing the DVD with the additional amount being your donation.
I am not, however, a tax professional or an accountant and my memory may be flawed, (so please don't base your taxes on what I've said).
Nor am I a lawyer.
Also, STC received their approval on March 14. You can find the post on their FB page.
Ah, thanks. I've been swamped with work, so I've not been keeping up like I'd like.
That gives me warm fuzzies.I wonder if Axanar will succeed also? It's unlikely that whoever deals with such things is going to be aware of the drama.
It is quite possible one of the first covering fire measures taken by the pro bono firm was to rip the forever "in progress" nonprofit application out of Axanar's hands and get it professionally submitted. This might be part of what was meant by "no one except a few insiders [are smart enough] to know what is really going on" emanating from them -- as if no one else could see this.
The IRS 'exempt check' charity search does not show 'Axanar Productions' as approved yet, and I don't know any way except for Axanar to disclose the fact, to see their application before approval otherwise. However, if it is approved, the entire filing, including mission statement, projected budget, officers, and their corporate rules which establish a board of directors and other policies will be accessible.
The public complaint/challenge process for exempt organizations nonprofit status is here: https://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/IRS-Complaint-Process-Tax-Exempt-Organizations
Clearly, if the court case discovers activity that violates the conditions which may be complained about (see the form on above page), and the tax exempt filing attempts to cover a period overlapping the evidence of for profit activity, personal gain, etc., then there may be grounds to complain. But one would have to see what Axanar or any other embodiment of their activities attempts to claim in their filing.
Personally, I think if there is a nonprofit set up, and they can't do Trek, and they don't have the likelihood of raising another million or keeping what they have, the appeal to the leaders of the current operation will be limited. They don't seem like the sort who want to dedicate much of their time in actual service to *other* artists for minimal wage for a long time... the difference between a nonprofit director, and fan self-producer director.
I say this because their entire history of public statements up to now has shown a million times more enthusiasm for themselves and their project, than for the realities of the years of hard work it would take to set up a true arts center in a nonprofit framework, to which as far as I am concerned they have voiced only the merest lip service by comparison to being an independent professional Star Trek best film best script best production company best greenscreen bestest studio worldwide streaming media empire most authentic TREK effort ever.
Sure, there are various categories of nonprofit available, and if the NFL's coordinating organization can qualify for one of them, there very well could be some sort of cover Axanar could find. But it all depends what they actually do.
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I just skimmed the first page of the IMDB reviews. But each one seemed to lay out C/P's case almost point by point.
AP couldn't pay for a better fanbase.
Maybe he didn't have to. The ones unreflective enough to post in such a damaging way while the case is in progress may have just wrapped as extras for Dr. Strange
no doubt someone will try to incite the walled-garden only-spoken-to-by-holders-of-the-(not allowed to be called self interested)-truth, by claiming critics of axanar are the real mindless ones. but the essence of the mindless ones vs the Dr is that the mindless ones have no awareness of their OWN situation, or ability to reflect on it.
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My career is in nonprofit fundraising, so I can confirm you're correct. The same thing applies with an event. For instance, after a fundraising dinner, I have to do a head count of attendees and compare that to the number of meals purchased to inform people how much of their donation is tax-deductible.
As a sidenote: countless nonprofit professionals, including me when I started years ago, are below 100 percent of the Alec Peters Poverty Level (APPL). But nonprofit professionals are doing fine, too, compared to the millions of low-income people in the U.S. That's to say nothing of the situation abroad. It's so distasteful to see Alec complain that he's only making $38K to play dress up.
I think it's a new statement (dated March 14th, 2016.) It mentions updating their fundme campaign sites with the same information. No thank you for your support. Those donor packages ranged from $10 to $10,000 dollars. No mention of refunds even though AP has stated on Reddit he will issue a refund for the asking. That's messed up, pay say $100 for a .29¢ patch. All of AP's grandiose promises amount to nothing.
Yes, its "sorry the performance is canceled, and there will be no refunds" time... soon necessarily followed by some sort of reorganization to "put all that in the past" and just accidentally as a side effect stick a spoke in the wheels of any legal challenges.
So Axanar has changed its production status several times over the years, according to IMDb. I've added a chart to the "Axanar (Film)" article on AxaMonitor, along with annotations alongside each date change noting what else was going on with Axanar when the production status changed. Some interesting correlations...
Axanar has been throwing around the 'we're a nonprofit' meme ever since the lawsuit. Peters' FAQ the other day phrased it as "operating as a nonprofit." In the AxaMonitor article questioning the way he answered the questions, I asked for them to specify exactly where in the nonprofit submission process they find themselves. Because without that information, there's no way to hold them accountable for anything.
Disposable donors, there will be fresh meat for the next project mentality.
As I understand it, "operating as a nonprofit" is part of what you need to show to qualify for your federal application, and this I think is the magic phrase they are trying to conform to.
But you know about AP and the desire to invoke magic phrases instead of actually conforming to requirements...
I think they fail on the "operating as a nonprofit" claim historically. The IRS guidelines for filing, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4220.pdf, state that among other things, the 501(c)3 organization must "permanently dedicate its assets to exempt purposes".
I have seen no clear indication that they had in 2015 "permanently dedicated" their soundstage or other resources to only exempt purposes. Even up to today I haven't seen it. They have spoken of hosting other productions but never that I have seen "permanently" committed to only hosting exempt purposes for that stage. I think its actually kinda hard to do that without adopting nonprofit-oriented bylaws making the dedication, and a board of directors empowered to be the trustee of said assets.
I could be wrong, there could be nonprofit formulations that don't require either of these things, but this is how I understand it, and I think it would be hard for them to claim they were "operating as a nonprofit" up to now without somehow concretely, rather than just headcanon/notionally, conforming to the actual IRS requirements as stated outside the heads of the aspirants.
Which sounds so familiar...
I just don't think the current producers really want to BE a nonprofit staff in reality over time. Sure, only they know, but look at their approach to building a nonprofit up to now. If they succeed, I think the current producers will, if still around, bow out of the nonprofit itself, leaving it to others, and form their own new fanfilm production company, and be the customer of what they created. They already opened the door to as much in their recent FAQ.
And THAT is what I think they mean by no one except insiders really knows what is going on. Not that they planned it all, but that they are planning their cat landing as they fall, and claim that all the other people involved in the nonprofit and the investors group, and all the donors, are getting something viable - just not in any way a Trek film, AND LIKELY TO HAVE MUCH HIGHER RISKS THAN CLAIMED.
Which sounds so familiar...
For it to work they have to somehow shield the investment group and nonprofit from all financial direct and indirect consequences of a settlement, and they would have to convince people to join as professional nonprofit staff of whatever generic studio survives. They would have to overcome the problems all arts facility-provider nonprofits have with not having enough donations, which means being able to make their budget from the green screen at least for a while (which others have indicated is iffy) and only from exempt uses, not commercial ones.
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Longer IRS excerpt for reference of anyone who wants to see it:
Who is Eligible for 501(c)(3) Status? There are three key components for an organization to be exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC. A not-for-profit (i.e., nonprofit) organization must be organized and operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes.
Organized – A 501(c)(3) organization must be organized as a corporation, trust, or unincorporated association. An organization’s organizing documents (articles of incorporation, trust documents, articles of association) must:
- limit its purposes to those described in section 501(c)(3) of the IRC;
- not expressly permit activities that do not further its exempt purpose(s), i.e., unrelated activities; and,
- permanently dedicate its assets to exempt purposes.
- not expressly permit activities that do not further its exempt purpose(s), i.e., unrelated activities; and,
- permanently dedicate its assets to exempt purposes.
Operated – Because a substantial portion of an organization’s activities must further its exempt purpose(s), certain other activities are prohibited or restricted including, but not limited to, the following activities. A 501(c)(3) organization:
- must absolutely refrain from participating in the political campaigns of candidates for local, state, or federal office;
- must restrict its lobbying activities to an insubstantial part of its total activities;
- must ensure that its earnings do not inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual;
- must not operate for the benefit of private interests such as those of its founder, the founder’s family, its shareholders or persons controlled by such interests;
- must not operate for the primary purpose of conducting a trade or business that is not related to its exempt purpose, such as a school’s operation of a factory; and,
- must not have purposes or activities that are illegal or violate fundamental public policy.
- must restrict its lobbying activities to an insubstantial part of its total activities;
- must ensure that its earnings do not inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual;
- must not operate for the benefit of private interests such as those of its founder, the founder’s family, its shareholders or persons controlled by such interests;
- must not operate for the primary purpose of conducting a trade or business that is not related to its exempt purpose, such as a school’s operation of a factory; and,
- must not have purposes or activities that are illegal or violate fundamental public policy.
Exempt Purpose – To be tax exempt, an organization must have one or more exempt purposes, stated in its organizing document. Section 501(c)(3) of the IRC lists the following exempt purposes: charitable, educational, religious, scientific, literary, fostering national or international sports competition, preventing cruelty to children or animals, and testing for public safety.
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The news is spreading more and more...
Unlike most of that shows target audience, I'm actually on an Axanar thread, care somewhat about the trials outcome, and...you know, am aware of the project's existance.
Yet all I was thinking after watching that video was 'How in the world can they possibly continue the story of Red Dead Redemption?'
Yet all I was thinking after watching that video was 'How in the world can they possibly continue the story of Red Dead Redemption?'
I wonder, if this douchcanoe should be banned for giving the Axanar folks the idea that finally robbed the fans around the world of such a fine movie... Such a tool!
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-axanar.189130/page-36#post-9915832
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-axanar.189130/page-36#post-9915832
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I wonder if the Sci-Fi Film School was going to be part of a "we're educational" argument? Their application would fail on quite a few other grounds, I think, but it would explain that particular plan, which I always thought was a bit random.
It's always nice when someone who's actually a professional in these things weighs in. It's also nice when my memory is better than I think it is.
To build on your sidenote: I don't think Peters has what it takes to work in the nonprofit sector, even if Axanar Productions could get nonprofit status. His remarks about people who make minimum wage/volunteer have been even more distasteful than his complaints about making twice the California minimum wage.
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