STC: To Boldly Indiegogo

[Maurice]

Quickly jumping back, I did some looking and it appears Indiegogo changed their policies at some point in the past year or so. They now keep a 5% cut of the total (plus transfer fees, etc.) in both the Fixed and Flexible finding models. Used to be that there was a 2-tier thing going on for flexible, where they kept 5% if you reached/exceeded your goal but upped that to 9% if you fell short.

 

[RCAM]

To be fair Vic Mignogna IS a professional voice actor (who's done work for Funimation) - so doing voice over for Cryptic and STO seems right up his alley as it's what he does.

Chris Doohan and the girl from Lolani were more the ones that stood out to me. Vic, Chuck, and and Todd are all professional voice actors, I know. In any case, this is good to see.

 

[Danlav05]

It's a huge endorsement even though STO is not made by CBS but rather licensed by them.

And a lot of Vic's crew are anime voiceover actors anyway.

 

[trynda1701]

You've got to admit, Erin Gray definitely has the 'Starfleet Admiral scowl' down pat!

 

[Zaminhon]

In TOS, many times if Kirk isn't "phoning an admiral", the admiral or Star Fleet official or ambassador is right on the bridge pressuring the captain to do this or that. I don't think it's an overused trope, just a SOP.

 

[Noname Given]

It's a huge endorsement even though STO is not made by CBS but rather licensed by them.

And a lot of Vic's crew are anime voiceover actors anyway.

CBS has A LOT of control over the content of STO though. Cryptic has had to get approval for all the storyline content and a lot of the starship design content and CBS has said "No" to some things they wanted to do.

It goes all the way back to when STO was still in development. Cryptic was basing the storyline start right after 'ST:Nemesis'; and they said the had developed the Romulan Capital on Romulus as a zone and had a large Romulan Empire aspect to the original game - when they were told by CBS (because CBS was cross promoting things with the new Paramount/JJ Abrams films) that "Hey, Romulus is destroyed and the Romulan Empire in shambles as a result - so that has to be reflected in your game..." -- and it required them to dump and abandon a fair amount of content and story they had done - and rework it (They were told pretty much a year before anyone else not directly involved with the Production of ST:09)

Just saying CBS has been pretty 'hands on' when it comes to Star Trek Online.

 

[Zaminhon]

It's a huge endorsement even though STO is not made by CBS but rather licensed by them.

And a lot of Vic's crew are anime voiceover actors anyway.

I just watched the "STO: Agents of Yesterday" teaser. It sounds like they dropped Vic's voice to a more Shatneresque pitch, which I guess is one of the advantages of animation over live-action.

 

[Warped9]

It's a TNG trope that they've planted into the TOS-era.

However, "The Tressaurian Intersection" does start in media res and has the best teaser of any fan film. Of course, it's also my favorite fan film hands down and not just because I have a minor credit at the end.



No, but "Lolani" had a great deal of time spent where Kirk was constantly phoning the admiral on the situation. Things like that undercut the autonomy Kirk has as a captain on the frontier.

Hmm. I got the impression Kirk called Commodore Gray once and the other time(s) it was Gray calling Kirk. And "Lolani" is the only episode they've done where they communicated with higher authority. So I'd say it's hardly an overused trope in STC.

Yeah, STC has done some canon dot connecting, but in general they've been subtle about it. However, I can think of two instances where they weren't subtle about it and referenced something that simply wasn't known back in the day. I didn't care for those instances.

But for me STC, like TOS, is doing a lot more right than wrong.


The "canon porn," so to speak, is something that many fans--and fan productions are obviously run by fans--have difficulty resisting.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Did anyone see where STC was contacted yesterday by a guy named Richard Baxter? Apparently he's a fan who happens to own a couple of asset management firms and wants to support them at an "institutional level." Sounds as if they may be looking at even more substantial donations in the future.

 

[Warped9]

Did anyone see where STC was contacted yesterday by a guy named Richard Baxter? Apparently he's a fan who happens to own a couple of asset management firms and wants to support them at an "institutional level." Sounds as if they may be looking at even more substantial donations in the future.

Where did you learn this?

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Where did you learn this?

He posted on their Facebook page. It's hard to tell whether he wanted to donate or just help manage their funds.

 

[Warped9]

He posted on their Facebook page.

Hmm... So much for crowdfunding?

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

He said "institutional level investment," whatever that means.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

He said "institutional level investment," whatever that means.

Well, it can't mean an investment in STC, now that STC is a 501(c)(3).

And even though STC is getting $350,000 from this round, they're going to be burning through it all in a couple of years as they make episodes, so they can't invest that money in anything other than savings accounts and CDs, so I can't imagine he's talking about investing their assets.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Yeah, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Maybe nothing will come of it. Just happened to see his message.

 

[RCAM]

It could just be awkward phrasing that amounts to: "I'll keep giving you big donations since you're done with crowdfunding."

 

[bonesmccoy2014]

It could just be awkward phrasing the amounts to: "I'll keep giving you big donations since you're done with crowdfunding."

Institutional level investment means that a donor is willing to make a sizable donation in order to underwrite and sponsor facilities. When a 501c3 has a donor in this category, the donor needs a tax write-off and is essentially using the 501c3 sponsorship to off-set income. It's a great plan for a guy who has too much income and not enough worthy write-offs!

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Institutional level investment means that a donor is willing to make a sizable donation in order to underwrite and sponsor facilities. When a 501c3 has a donor in this category, the donor needs a tax write-off and is essentially using the 501c3 sponsorship to off-set income. It's a great plan for a guy who has too much income and not enough worthy write-offs!

I was hoping it meant something like that! That sounds promising.

 

[dmac]

I wouldn't know the legal aspects of it but if you laid out a plan in a low overhead situation such as a building asset that was already owned, would you want to take $350,000 and spend it directly on production? If you were allowed to manage the funds by building a portfolio of diversified investments containing monthly returns between 1% -1.2%, a studio could operate for a long time with a $3,500 monthly budget.
Of course I'm considering that a fan film is or should be a volunteer effort with only material expenses and question if you could draw funds without including proven talent in your early productions.

 

[bonesmccoy2014]

I wouldn't know the legal aspects of it but if you laid out a plan in a low overhead situation such as a building asset that was already owned, would you want to take $350,000 and spend it directly on production? If you were allowed to manage the funds by building a portfolio of diversified investments containing monthly returns between 1% -1.2%, a studio could operate for a long time with a $3,500 monthly budget.
Of course I'm considering that a fan film is or should be a volunteer effort with only material expenses and question if you could draw funds without including proven talent in your early productions.

If a "donor" is coming in the door with an "institutional" level donation, then this is a sign that people with substantial financial strength and credit are going to back this project.

You can bet that people with this level of capability have the accounting, financial, and legal people to protect their own well-being as well as to contribute to the non-profit.

A donor who attempts to "manage the funds" would not be a donor at all. That would be a person who is attempting to take funds out of the non-profit to private inurement. "Private inurement" is a no-no on so many levels of review that it is NEVER in the mind of a real "donor".

The reality is that a 501c3 non-profit organization must comply with the accounting rules set forward for being a non-profit. These rules are far more detailed than most people realize, including people with legal and accounting backgrounds that do not include having run non-profit 501c3 organizations. The 501c3 space has special requirements on the accounting, tax compliance, and volunteerism.

Vic Mignogna and his entire crew have complied with those rules over many years of doing his project. This is why the IRS gave them their 501c3 status so quickly (not to mention the many hours of donated time by the consultants, the accountants, and the legal people).

It's not a money making enterprise, it's a fan made volunteer Enterprise. Nobody is doing stuff to make money.

Everyone is doing stuff to have fun and enjoy the experience of seeing new TOS episodes happen.