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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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It was cheaper to build studio than rent one:
http://fanfilmfactor.com/2017/02/17...oductions-to-build-a-studio-than-to-rent-one/

Also financial report could be out next week.
As it turns out, not so much.

In his latest Fan Film Factor blog, Axanar surrogate Jonathan Lane tries to make the case that building a studio was ultimately cheaper than if Alec Peters had rented the necessary facility. Trouble is, Jonathan's numbers and assumptions don't reflect the reality of the L.A. market. Not to mention that simply renting would have saved time over the STILL incomplete studio, and delivered Axanar at the promised feature length back when fan films could still do that.

Fortunately, Jody Wheeler is, unlike Jonathan, a real-life independent film producer. He did a real-world analysis of studio costs last year for 1701News that's worth checking out and comparing with the inflated estimates on FFF.

Jody updated his calculations today on the AxaMonitor Facebook page.

As for the "independent" financial report, Peters said it was due next week three weeks ago so don't hold your breath.
 
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I read as much of that article as I could be bothered with. It's staggering that he's claiming 15k a day when reality seems so much different (although surely it's a coincidence that's the exact amount Industry Studios costs a month?).

It is also somewhat awe inspiring how much he keeps calling out working A/C and a suitable electrical grid in that article as necessities. Really?????

I'm really not sure what kind of PR battle Alec thinks he's winning here. In terms of donations he can only get in touch with the existing donor base. I imagine the most of which are currently:

1. The faithful. They're going to eat up what's said on FFF but would throw money at Axanar regardless.

2. The Haters. They know FFF is utter fantasy, but wouldn't give Alec another penny regardless.

Sure, there'll be those that donated but haven't followed things since. But then that means they're not reading FFF either.

I'm genuinely curious what Lane's page hits are like, and how many of them are people reading it just to see what the spin is this week before fact checking with Axamonitor.
 
Well, to be fair, it might have been cheaper if they could have actually rented it out to offset the costs of owning their studio. Of course, that's one of the things that put them on CBS's radar to begin with.
 
As it turns out, not so much.

In his latest Fan Film Factor blog, Axanar surrogate Jonathan Lane tries to make the case that building a studio was ultimately cheaper than if Alec Peters had rented the necessary facility. Trouble is, Jonathan's numbers and assumptions don't reflect the reality of the L.A. market. Not to mention that simply renting would have saved time over the STILL incomplete studio, and delivered Axanar at the promised feature length back when fan films could still do that.

Fortunately, Jody Wheeler is, unlike Jonathan, a real-life independent film producer. He did a real-world analysis
of studio costs last year for 1701News that's worth checking out and comparing with the inflated estimates on FFF.

Jody updated his calculations today on the AxaMonitor Facebook page.

As for the "independent" financial report, Peters said it was due next week three weeks ago so don't hold your breath.
The part that kills me are the assumptions without support. I mean, how difficult and time-consuming would it be to call or email or send a contact form or just look at a website for a studio facility and get their day rates?

And maybe Mr. Lane started off that way, saw the numbers weren't going his way and then added a fudge factor x10? Spun a big wheel? Here in Boston, I would honestly expect some $$ for a studio rental as there is very little competition. But in the LA filming zone, you can scarcely throw a rock without hitting a studio. And even if Axa needed some monumentally huge (yuge!) studio, surely they did not need it for every second of that production.

Again, nobody's thinking about economizing. Need a lot of room for some scenes, and not for others? Then film the smaller ones at cheaper local studios and seriously consider rewriting the big ones. Take advantage of exteriors if you can use them. Cut day rate charges for actors by getting as much footage of work out of them for fewer days, as their union, their fatigue level, and the production's quality allows.

It's a lot easier to think of ways to pinch pennies when it's your own money. When you don't think it is, when it feels like mad money, then it's easier to get the Cadillac when the Honda works just as well.
 
The FFF view demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of any reasonable business sense for leasing a studio (for three years) instead of renting for 10-15 days. I look forward to the day that these people just go away, forever.
 
And in the continuing saga of Axanar surrogate Jonathan Lane contorting himself to justify the folly of wasting donor money on an apparently failing commercial business, there's this claim about Renegades. @Tom, any truth to Lane's quoting below of Renegades' studio costs?

FFF-renegades.jpg
 
I don't think I can read FFF again..
Nah, I don't read it anymore either. While I defend his right to continue to advocate for his puzzling to me support of whateverthisisnow, I do find the rhetoric merely repetitious now. With such spins on, um, data, that has now reached the point for me as making him look like he is, well to me I mean, maybe caught in a misguided Believer's vortex I guess. Plus I 'think' I'm correct in remembering him mentioning a minuscule monetary income from the clicks to/on the site which if that is true I find I am not willing to click on anything there anymore to support even the tiniest income my click might provide just to see what I believe is only ongoing regurgitated rhetoric. His POV insight was indeed valuable to me during the 'before it settled' as a window into the reasonings of my counterparts to get better understanding. 'After it settled' his writings there began to seem desperate. For continued attention I mean. At least to me anyway. Wanted attention is neurologically super addictive when you're getting it. Anyway, I don't read that blog anymore.
 
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The part that kills me are the assumptions without support. I mean, how difficult and time-consuming would it be to call or email or send a contact form or just look at a website for a studio facility and get their day rates?
Agree

But in the LA filming zone, you can scarcely throw a rock without hitting a studio. And even if Axa needed some monumentally huge (yuge!) studio, surely they did not need it for every second of that production.
Yup.

It's a lot easier to think of ways to pinch pennies when it's your own money. When you don't think it is, when it feels like mad money, then it's easier to get the Cadillac when the Honda works just as well.
There are now brain studies that show Significant Differences in spending responses to Given/Easy money vs Earned money for just everyday people. And were a person to have a predisposition for and history of self entitlement, a demonstrable need for adulation, poor judgment, few skills, and a Surprise cash cow.....

The perfect storm for radical mis-spending of Given/Easy money.
 
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And in the continuing saga of Axanar surrogate Jonathan Lane contorting himself to justify the folly of wasting donor money on an apparently failing commercial business, there's this claim about Renegades. @Tom, any truth to Lane's quoting below of Renegades' studio costs?

FFF-renegades.jpg
I'd like to take a minute and consider if it's the size of the payment or what you get done with it that counts....
Okay finished, I got Axnothing.
 
This was one of my early points when the guidelines came out. I've written and registered scripts with the WGAW of which latter converted into star trek or other IP in fan fiction. By the guidelines it almost seems as if I placed them into some weird form of public domain for anyone to claim as their own work. At first I thought no way but with a little googling discovered there is no copyright without written conveyance from the IP holder in the United States.
 
Lane doesn't ned to seek out a Producer to find Studio/Soundstage rental rates in the Los Angeles area - there's a website that SHOWS you can rest a fully functional studio (with a working Greenscreen) for between $1300 - $1800 a day (some including a production manager and lighting kits, etc.)

http://www.affordablesoundstages.com/

This! This! This!
Yes, I know, you have to drive to some of these (quelle horreur!). So do it. Even if you bill out at $100/hour for three production people for, say, a three-hour commute on a daily basis (an exorbitant rate, I might add), we are still talking about $550 - $2175/day. Actor day rates don't change so don't add them in.

'Tis a far cry from the quoted $15,000/day.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Lane,

You have said very kind things about me, and I do appreciate it. However, here, please note, I (along with other folks, BTW) have done your homework for you. Which, I am certain, you would not find acceptable if anyone you knew was to have someone do their homework for them, right?

But be that as it may, these figures are out there, and anyone can yell all they want to and scream 'Hater!' and other such juvenile nonsense, but I hardly think any of these studios - none of which I had heard of before just now - could be referred to as a hater. I am certain they do not have any sort of an opinion about AP or Axa or anything else within your or my purview.

While it may be possible to cherry-pick a few things, to nitpick and say that this one and that studio would not be suitable for your needs, my research took me all of ten minutes and I got back over 2.6 million hits on Google. Hence even if all five of my selections come up short, and so do @Noname Given 's and @Jody Wheeler 's, surely you can find an acceptable solution on your own, without bothering your producer friend and without purchasing a white elephant studio way off the beaten path for most talent.

And here's a search for you, too: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=film+studio+day+rates+in+los+angeles

The truth exists. Please don't varnish it with a desire to make Axa or AP (or both) somehow look good for what is, at bottom, a monumentally poor business decision. These numbers do not lie.

Sincerely, Janet Gershen-Siegel
 
This! This! This!
Yes, I know, you have to drive to some of these (quelle horreur!). So do it. Even if you bill out at $100/hour for three production people for, say, a three-hour commute on a daily basis (an exorbitant rate, I might add), we are still talking about $550 - $2175/day. Actor day rates don't change so don't add them in.

'Tis a far cry from the quoted $15,000/day.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Lane,

You have said very kind things about me, and I do appreciate it. However, here, please note, I (along with other folks, BTW) have done your homework for you. Which, I am certain, you would not find acceptable if anyone you knew was to have someone do their homework for them, right?

But be that as it may, these figures are out there, and anyone can yell all they want to and scream 'Hater!' and other such juvenile nonsense, but I hardly think any of these studios - none of which I had heard of before just now - could be referred to as a hater. I am certain they do not have any sort of an opinion about AP or Axa or anything else within your or my purview.

While it may be possible to cherry-pick a few things, to nitpick and say that this one and that studio would not be suitable for your needs, my research took me all of ten minutes and I got back over 2.6 million hits on Google. Hence even if all five of my selections come up short, and so do @Noname Given 's and @Jody Wheeler 's, surely you can find an acceptable solution on your own, without bothering your producer friend and without purchasing a white elephant studio way off the beaten path for most talent.

And here's a search for you, too: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=film+studio+day+rates+in+los+angeles

The truth exists. Please don't varnish it with a desire to make Axa or AP (or both) somehow look good for what is, at bottom, a monumentally poor business decision. These numbers do not lie.

Sincerely, Janet Gershen-Siegel
Excellent. I can't wait for someone else to read FFF and then post his response on here!
 
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