CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[OtherGene]

someone may need to help with this

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1322652117801308&set=gm.606203712894868&type=3&theater

Except for the Axanar nonsense at the top that's quite a cool picture and, bearing in mind I think most of the Axanar supporters are good people, I don't begrudge anyone putting something like that together (if it's turns out it was created by one of Axanars Top Brass that completely negates my statement, though, obviously).

I think we're all waiting in trepidation for what Peters does next with this development. I'm half expecting something along the lines of "We don't feel like it's respectful to continue without Richard so there will be no more Axanar. But one of the last things he said to me was to make sure my car was always fully fueled up and maintained for safety reasons, particularly the tyres, and that I always had an up to date phone with good coverage for similar reasons."

 

[muCephi]

According to that thread I referenced, this is before the donor store income is counted in

"Right now I can prove down to the penny $1.47 million and that's before I've finished loading in the spreadsheet that has a bunch of other 'off the books' donors, the newly rediscovered IGG installment plan donors (which isn't terribly much in the grand scheme), and then the donor store purchases... all up until April of 2016, that is. We'll also likely never know how much cash, as in legal tender bills, was handed over at each convention table, or any other possible ways that cash was donated yet may have been 'lost' in Alec's accounting nightmare.

EDIT: I suppose the only real way to try and work out how much cash may have been taken in, at least in part, would be to derive how many shirts were ordered, back off the number that have shipped due to on the books perks, and whatever remains can be multiplied by the sale price at the con tables, and work it backwards that way. Sadly we'd need to know how many Prelude patches were also ordered originally, back off the ones that were perks or that were sold in the donor store, and then multiply what remains by the sale price to arrive at a guess. But, that said, it'd only be a guess that surely could never be proven. I'm choosing to stick to what I can prove."

Well 1.47 is already more than they reported to CBS via their accountant, so it brings into question the completeness of the data Axanar produced. But conventions and donor store sales? If that came to another 100k I'd be surprised, selling things at 20/pop. There were only what 10-15k donors to start with? But the project has run for a while, maybe that would be the deciding factor...

What I'd more wonder about is whether there's any serious off the books support that got rolled into their expenditures unreported because it wasn't through IGG/KS, or whether money "from the Propworx sales" amounts to much, and etc.

I think it would take round quarter million unaccounted for in official reporting to create a press incident. Probably less to create an impression that things are getting hidden. It will be interesting to see which side of honest Axanar lands on.

 

[dmac]

Except for the Axanar nonsense at the top that's quite a cool picture and, bearing in mind I think most of the Axanar supporters are good people, I don't begrudge anyone putting something like that together (if it's turns out it was created by one of Axanars Top Brass that completely negates my statement, though, obviously).

I think we're all waiting in trepidation for what Peters does next with this development. I'm half expecting something along the lines of "We don't feel like it's respectful to continue without Richard so there will be no more Axanar. But one of the last things he said to me was to make sure my car was always fully fueled up and maintained for safety reasons, particularly the tyres, and that I always had an up to date phone with good coverage for similar reasons."

My concern has never been whether or not the epic Axanar movie gets made, it's the extreme measures Alec has already shown he is willing to take along the way.
It's human nature to improve your abilities and there is nothing wrong with that as long as those skills come from within your own fan film production group.
Once you embark on a massive marketing campaign, raise massive amounts of funds in order to outsource the creation of your epic film it's time to stop acting as if you're a fan film. Either get out of the sandbox or present your plan upfront to CBS/Paramount.
Alec Peters greatest achievement to date was to prompt the creation of guidelines onto the fan film community. The question is, did he learn anything? If he attempts to exploit some loophole to pick up where he left off the guidelines could easily become even more restrictive for all the remaining fan films.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

It's not like he would care.

 

[dmac]

It's not like he would care.

How many kids have come out of acting school, spent some time on Potemkin building their skills before achieving their goal? How many times has someone said, "I'll hold a boom mic" and you handed it to them just so they could participate? How many times has someone (myself included) said, "I think I have a good story to tell" and you produced it?
Randy, if there was such a thing as reaching the pinnacles of everything a Fan Film production is about and someone finally made it to the top, you would be already there to shake their hand.

 

[trynda1701]

Been playing catchup over the last couple of hours for missing my last few weekly check-ins on this thread, although I caught the settlement being announced within a few hours of it being announced. Didn't follow up on it as I was watching all the turmoil over the Presidential Inauguration that day! I hope no-one got caught up in any of the protests.

First off, like I said on the other thread, really sad to hear about Richard Hatchs' passing. Another actor leaves us far too early. Condolences to his family and friends. He leaves behind a good career to be proud of, but that doesn't make his untimely death any easier for family, friends and fans to bear.

Even through all the shenanigans of the last year, the settlement surprised me, and although the studio still technically with Axanar seems odd, if it's not up to code, can it really be used in ANY shape or form?

But considering all the serious shit happening elsewhere in the world, the whole Axanar saga shouldn't amount to a hill of beans as they say. What does make me shake my head was Peters using the term 'alternative facts'. Already that buzzword seems to be in general use since Kellyanne Conway coined it. Even PM Theresa May used it in Parliment when debating this week (sheesh!).

Semantic shenanigans indeed! (by the way, what is a "Counselor to President Trump" anyway?)

I wonder what will surface as we move on? Somehow, as other have said, this one isn't over yet. Has anyone heard a fat lady singing for example?

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

How many kids have come out of acting school, spent some time on Potemkin building their skills before achieving their goal? How many times has someone said, "I'll hold a boom mic" and you handed it to them just so they could participate? How many times has someone (myself included) said, "I think I have a good story to tell" and you produced it?
Randy, if there was such a thing as reaching the pinnacles of everything a Fan Film production is about and someone finally made it to the top, you would be already there to shake their hand.

 

[Search4]

Terry's sharing a bit more - this is nothing new, but helps shine some more light on LFIM's fuzzy math

(For those with Facebook who care to check it out, he goes into more detail here
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10211791433811722&set=gm.1897058563864810&type=3&theater)


"Here's a new graphic that breaks up donations in to their specific sources a bit more accurately -- the old grouping KICKSTARTER_DONORS is now broken out in to whether it was the PRELUDE or FEATURE fundraiser, for example. The retro packages have also been broken up to show whether they were for Prelude perks, feature perks, or the $10 level that grants access to the donor group.

I've also discovered that there are three spreadsheets full of donors that have yet to be imported in total -- the donor store purchases, a second spreadsheet with what appears to be PayPal (or other offline source) donors, and now a small spreadsheet with the Indiegogo donors that paid offline via installments. The latter isn't a huge list, so maybe $10k or so in total, but they'll be verified one by one and broken out in to a separate line item, too."

Fan-tastic. Where's Alecs donated money?

Did he give through KS to prime the pump with others? IGG?

Not seeing his "150k" here.

 

[RedForman]

Fan-tastic. Where's Alecs donated money?

Did he give through KS to prime the pump with others? IGG?

Not seeing his "150k" here.

I'm sure that's strictly under the table - doubt he'd ever bother accounting for his own money.

On a side note, is anyone else having trouble accessing AxaMonitor?? It seems to be down for me - saw a facebook post somewhere where someone said they couldn't get at it for a couple days......

 

[Kytee]

On a side note, is anyone else having trouble accessing AxaMonitor?? It seems to be down for me - saw a facebook post somewhere where someone said they couldn't get at it for a couple days......

I noticed I was not able to reach AxaMonitor yesterday, same thing today

 

[mirrormatt86]

Axamonitor has server trouble, unrelated to everything.

 

[USS Jack Riley]

How many kids have come out of acting school, spent some time on Potemkin building their skills before achieving their goal? How many times has someone said, "I'll hold a boom mic" and you handed it to them just so they could participate? How many times has someone (myself included) said, "I think I have a good story to tell" and you produced it?
Randy, if there was such a thing as reaching the pinnacles of everything a Fan Film production is about and someone finally made it to the top, you would be already there to shake their hand.

As one of said people, totally agree. As always, thanks Randy!

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

(self)
I think the thing is.. or at least what I've noticed ..... all roads lead to axanar.
......
When new fan films are written about by my counterparts on thiswholething, within the same article on the great new fan films.... things also get related back to axanar and/or the defendant in one way or another. . all roads lead back to axanar.
.......
I find this kind of thing small

And herrreee it is... Again:

(fff, Feb 10, writing about the planned -DEEP SPACE NINE’S “What We Left Behind”-)
"By the way, one of the perks was a 10-minute phone conversation with Ira Behr for a $150 donation. I grabbed one of the twenty slots available, and–if he’ll let me–I want to spend my ten minutes asking Ira about Star Trek fan films and does he think the door is now cracked open just a little for well-funded Trek fans with professional capabilities to license Star Trek…even if just in a very limited way? We’ll see what he says."

all roads lead to axanar... at least to my counterparts

 

[muCephi]

Fan-tastic. Where's Alecs donated money?

Did he give through KS to prime the pump with others? IGG?

Not seeing his "150k" here.

My take: Terry's data ended when he left in early 2016. But more importantly, I believe Alec is suggesting that his paying the rent constitutes reimbursing. This wouldn't show up as any sort of donation/sale income, even if Terry's records overlapped the alleged reimbursement.

 

[Csalem]

Axamonitor seems to be back:
http://axamonitor.com/doku.php

 

[Search4]

My take: Terry's data ended when he left in early 2016. But more importantly, I believe Alec is suggesting that his paying the rent constitutes reimbursing. This wouldn't show up as any sort of donation/sale income, even if Terry's records overlapped the alleged reimbursement.

Agree. That's likely what is up. But net it leaves him as taking money from Axanar and then separately paying the rent. Not "not taking anything from Axanar.

Practically he probably co signed the lease and has little choice.

 

[muCephi]

Agree. That's likely what is up. But net it leaves him as taking money from Axanar and then separately paying the rent. Not "not taking anything from Axanar.

Practically he probably co signed the lease and has little choice.

I guess the opinion is its for show with the donors to retcon disappear the hands in the cookie jar, saying its a wash and that 'your donated money is still there'.

Except this only papers over a misconduct which is over and above massively diverting fan film money into a privately owned studio.

In the end the money 'put back' joined much of the donor money that was spent holding on to and building out the studio which Alec owns 100%.

He really just reinvested his salary and benefits into the studio which comes back to him in the end.

 

[feek61]

I don't believe he put a dime into the studio himself and I have seen no evidence to change my mind. His constant assertations that he did means nothing without real proof.

 

[dmac]

I avoid social funding like the plague due to lessons learned but hey people need to learn what donating is before they do it or at least keep their lessons affordable.
Not only talking Axanar but anytime you hand over money to create an actual pro or semi pro movie it should be an investment, not a donation.
At first watching what Axanar was doing with the money was a cause for concern but I figured a lot of it was only pride and hype. Honestly a new start-up production with real pro actors, top VFX people and a class act director would probably make anyone braggadocious. A year goes by and Prelude comes out, a hundred and twenty thousand over budget btw. My first impression was some really top acting VFX and directing saved a really horrible script, I mean try reading the thing without the acting or pretty pictures.
All and all, Prelude deserved it's month in the sun and Peters could have taken his place alongside all the rest of the Fan Film Production clubs. This is what he never did. He used one 21 minute production to raise another 1.4 million dollars (+ or -) and continued to undermine and look down on all the other fan films. This is what I wished the lawsuit would have put an end to but apparently it doesn't.

 

[Firebird]

I avoid social funding like the plague due to lessons learned but hey people need to learn what donating is before they do it or at least keep their lessons affordable.
Not only talking Axanar but anytime you hand over money to create an actual pro or semi pro movie it should be an investment, not a donation.

Very much agree with you on this. The first time I contributed to a fundraising campaign was for STC's Kirkstarter 2.0, and I only did that after evaluating the work they'd already put out, and seeing that they had no issues with delivering what was promised. I was invested in seeing more from them and wanted them to succeed. I don't take these campaigns lightly, and only donate/invest when I've done my homework.