STC Ep. 7: "Embrace The Winds" speculation and discussion....

[Matthew Raymond]

Reading those guidelines I suspect a fan production could actually get away with quite a lot as long as they don't cross certain lines.

Please note that I have no doubt that the following list is indeed the lines to cross to get the unfortunate attention of CBS/Paramount. I am merely expressing my personal feelings regarding these limitations...

- Don't monetize or try to profit from your production. No rewards, prizes or merchandise derived from your work.

I agree. The fan community should celebrate the original property, not subsist off of it. If you want to profit off a franchise you don't own the copyright to, negotiate a legal license with the rights holder beforehand.

- Don't get overly ambitious with crowdfunding.

There are three things that concern me about this:

1. You might as well not even include "with crowdfunding", as your budget will create a ceiling on what they can achieve. If one has ambitions for their film, and they don't plan their finances accordingly, they're a fool.
   
2. Once you hit your funding goal, are there any crowdfunding sites that allow you to create a funding "ceiling"? If not, your project can overshoot the "line" just by being too popular.
3. There seems to be the presumption ambition and monitization go hand-in-hand. While I do believe there is a certain amount of temptation with larger sums of money, there are fan film projects that have demonstrated that they can use their resources responsibly.

- Make certain you identify your work clearly as a fan production and don't seek to mislead people into thinking you have any sort of official capacity.

This is completely reasonable, especially with projects that start to approach the quality of the official stuff.

- Avoid film or full episode type running times--leave that to CBS/Paramount--to avoid any possible confusion that your work might be considered official.

If you're already putting "a Star Trek fan film" in the title and/or prominently feature a disclaimer at the beginning of your film, I don't see where the confusion comes from. I think this more to do with the fact that more fan films like Aurora and STC could take eyeballs off of Discovery, which is entirely possible without any confusion over whether or not they're "official". I find the idea of limiting the quality and length of fan films because they could potentially eclipse the quality of official franchise content highly disturbing.

- Refrain from utilizing the services of any professionals previously or currently associated with official Trek.

Your resume shouldn't determine whether or not you can make a fan film. It's a violation of the concept of equal protection.

 

[Firebird]

Your resume shouldn't determine whether or not you can make a fan film. It's a violation of the concept of equal protection.

I haven't heard the WGA, DGA, SAG, PGA, or any other production-related guild protest that particular rule, so I don't think anyone that actually has to care about that rule has a problem with it.

 

[Warped9]

I don't think professionals who are connected with official Trek past or present should be (or can legally be) constrained from participating in a fan production. But the fact that CBS issued that guideline could make some nervous enough to avoid any potential conflict.

Regarding running times I suspect you could make your fan production up to around fifty minutes and if nothing else is in there to annoy CBS then you should be fine.

But the overall line in the sand is don't try to monetize or profit off of Trek.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Your resume shouldn't determine whether or not you can make a fan film. It's a violation of the concept of equal protection.

1) "equal protection" is a lot more limited than you might think.
2) Nothing is stopping anyone from participating in a fan film. Any CBS action would be against the production company, not the actor. Further, CBS is saying "if you use an alum we might not give you a free pass for doing something you have no right to do in the first place".

 

[Matthew Raymond]

1) "equal protection" is a lot more limited than you might think.

Not so much referencing a real legal argument so much as noting the inherent unfairness of auto-blacklisting anyone who's touched a Trek product from working on a fan film.

2) Nothing is stopping anyone from participating in a fan film. Any CBS action would be against the production company, not the actor. Further, CBS is saying "if you use an alum we might not give you a free pass for doing something you have no right to do in the first place".

Nonsense. At best, you're just arguing that there is a single degree of indirection. If you worked on a Trek property at all, your choices are to offer your services on someone else's fan film, in which case they reject you because they don't want their film torpedoed, or you make one yourself, in which case you can be sued directly.

Make no mistake. This is a prohibition against former-Trek professionals, even if they're not the direct target of legal action.