CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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Awwww, look how cute they are! They must be so proud!
Naw, they're just pointing. The guidelines are power trip.
Thank you all for helping me understand this better. I appreciate it greatly. I've done some reading on my own now too. After watching the prelude, man oh man did I want to see that movie made. After doing some reading and listening to you guys I've changed sides. Buddy went way overboard here. Like lunatic bad. And I like star trek continues and would hate to see that shut down. And it seems like the studios have been really rad with fans making material so far. So as much as it makes me totally bummed, I have to firmly stand with paramount and CBS. And all I hope is that the damage to the rest of the fan film community is minimal from the backlash of this man's ego. Although one does wonder why he doesn't just make a different science fiction movie. The sociopath is clearly talented even if he's nuts. (Seriously, coffee?) As a final note I'd like to ask everyone to donate to my new film project, superman in the fortress of solitude.
The studios are cool with it. Don't worry.
Well they haven't sued me yet.
Ok well just trust me anyways. And buy my coffee.
The studios are cool with it. Don't worry.
Well they haven't sued me yet.
Ok well just trust me anyways. And buy my coffee.
Question: Could crowd funding be considered a prepayment? Axanar never made a film and charged a fee for it. Did Alex's salary and the studio violate fair use of the IP or a trust with the crowd funding?
Loeb and Loeb may have to pioneer some new territory here. If a donor donates $20 bucks what were the expectations, A studio was going to be built, Alex was going to have a personal salary or Were they expecting to see the coolest Star Trek epic ever?
Loeb and Loeb may have to pioneer some new territory here. If a donor donates $20 bucks what were the expectations, A studio was going to be built, Alex was going to have a personal salary or Were they expecting to see the coolest Star Trek epic ever?
Money.
If you saw two Kickstarter projects, one saying "We're doing a Star Trek fan-film" (or Star Wars or Harry Potter or whatever) and a second saying "We're doing a totally new sci-fi movie set in a universe of our own creation", which do you think is going to raise $250K faster???
There have been several lawsuits brought up in different states from the consumer protection angle on projects which were funded and never delivered. And the terms of service of the crowdfunding platforms seem to let the project runners off the hook. So it is fertile ground for some eventual regulation I would think. In Axanar's case, I really personally think the crowdfunding leverage for a lawsuit will be in the 'risks' section of the proposal, which after describing funding a studio, etc, said that the project runners were experienced with the studios and gave some assurance that the risks were not unusual for a fan film. I believe this might eventually be seen as misrepresentation, which could then be grounds for seeking money back.
True. Maybe paramount should just give him a job. Sure make your fan film. We sell it. Compromise. Ok that was meant as a joke, but that'd be a pretty good solution now that I think of it.
The sarcasm is strong with you, my son. Go forth and proclaim among thy brethren.
My proposal is he be given a "Morn" character but with no backstory and never interacting with anyone. Just sitting at a bar, wearing a full facial appliance, watching but never participating. And no backstage schmoozing, just go home.
Why would they hire him to make Star Trek? They can and have hired professionals to make Star Trek movies and tv shows. People who have a track record of getting things done and using other people's money well.
It was a joke. But what I'm saying could be an elegant solution, although it would never happen, as a settlement would be to let the dummy finish the film, and then just sign it over to paramount to do as they please with. Make a profit for themselves
No thanks.
Plenty of people already in the business who have plenty of experience and who, you know, can do so without stealing the intellectual property of another entity.
Likewise, there are plenty of hard working professionals (some of whom are even posting in this thread, mind you) in the industry who are, I submit, far worthier of the opportunity to work on Star Trek in an official capacity than Peters.
Then again, I wouldn't give Peters the dirt off my boots, so maybe I'm not the person to be commenting.
Plenty of people already in the business who have plenty of experience and who, you know, can do so without stealing the intellectual property of another entity.
Likewise, there are plenty of hard working professionals (some of whom are even posting in this thread, mind you) in the industry who are, I submit, far worthier of the opportunity to work on Star Trek in an official capacity than Peters.
Then again, I wouldn't give Peters the dirt off my boots, so maybe I'm not the person to be commenting.
Apparently one or more drafts of his script have been shopped around agencies. If he were a notable writer, someone would probably have found a way to smooth things over and make a path for him to the studios. If the story line generally had the prospect of making a bunch of money, I'd imagine the same. If the actors who had worked with him were all praising his qualities as a director / producer / fellow actor, then perhaps the same. There have been plenty of chances for him to get a foothold by his skill. He tried to get a foothold by using Trek IP to build himself a studio asset, and Trek IP to make a demo movie for his hoped for future career producing sci fi films in his paid for studio.
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Karzak is quite right about there being better people available to produce content then these guys. And arguably the best bits, or the most popular bits, were all produced by people no longer involved with Alec Peters. People like Christian Gossett and Tommy Kraft seem to no longer see eye to eye with Peters because Reasons.
Why would CBS or Paramount want to effectively REWARD a person for stealing their IP and making an (at best) mediocre film? Do you think CBS or Paramount just grants Star Trek film/merchandise Licenses to anyone who comes calling? No, they have a vetting process and I don't think Alec Peters would:
A) Qualify
or
B) Be able to afford the licensing fee if he did.
I mean look at what actually happened: Alec Peters has touting 'Prelude to Axanar' as if HE DID EVERYTHING for it behind the scenes. Was he involved? Yep. But MOST of the cast/crew came aboard because of 'Prelude to Axanar's' director Christian Gossett; who LEFT soon after Prelude's completion due to issues he saw in the way Alec Peters was handling the pre-production for the Axanar feature film. And of course when someone's departure was outed - Alec Peters would suddenly bad mouth the production member/actor who bailed suddenly disclosing that THEY were somehow to blame and poor Alec was the victim of insane salary demands or that they were 'ungrateful' for the opportunity Alec provided them to work on his project, etc.
So sorry, but what you're suggesting is hardly an elegant solution. It's not that CBS/Paramount doesn't have experience with egomaniac producers/talent; but usually those people have to have a proven track record of success before a studio will begin to put up with their BS (say like Paramount bowing to JJ Abrams request that they make the Axanar lawsuit is 'go away'<--- Which if they do, it's because they think the Paramount/Bad Robot relationship will net them more profit compared to what they may loose in money and credibility in settling a lawsuit with a small time fan production like Axanar/Alec Peters - a case they were prevailing on given the most recent Judicial response to Defense motions.)
Allright allright it was a bad idea. Chill out
Well, if you really want to get worked up go find Mike Bawder's post where he says everyone should just forget about everything and help AP and C/P come up with fan film guidelines. It didn't go over very well when I pointed out that there wasn't any need for "offiical guidelines" until Axanar loudly and proudly violated every possible informal guideline that the law and common sense that every other fan film was following without getting sued.
Awwww, look how cute they are! They must be so proud!
Fortunately, those aren't "locked" either...
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