Star Trek: Axanar-Independent Feature Film

I don't recall the specifics, I'd have to go back digging in the Facebook group post about it. I thought it was funny though. Wasn't another fanfilm person, I don't think.

Of course, Peters says a lot of things about legal action. Definitely a "set lawyers to sue" type of person...more of a Pakled about it though.

 

I see that the New Voyages website is gone. I've heard unfinished episodes that they have been working on are in limbo and some will not be completed. Oh well...

Star Trek New Voyages »

 

Yup. Mr. Cawley has stated he feels pretty done with fan films and has a new Trek-related venture:
The Original Series Set Tour to Open »

And yes, these are the same set recreations used for New Voyages.

 

And now the lawsuit just got a whole lot more expensive, as the judge has ruled it's going to have to go before a jury:

'Star Trek' Fan Film Lawsuit to Be Determined by Jury »

 

Interesting. I am just hoping that Star Trek Continues continues!

 

The defense case was already pretty weak, but in the judge's most recent ruling considering both sides' motion for summary judgment, he shot down *a lot* of the defense's potential defenses. Their "fair use" argument was shot down, and their claim that what they were doing was a "mockumentary" was nearly laughed out of court.

Anything is possible with a jury trial, but I'd be stunned if Paramount/CBS lost this case. It would basically open up the floodgates for fans who can raise a million or two bucks to just make their own versions of "Star Wars" or Marvel movies or whatever, sell mugs and memorabilia and so on, and not have to worry about infringement.

I think what the Axanar people are hoping for is that observers don't pay much attention to the details of the case and simply see Paramount/CBS as the big bad guy.

It's ironic, because just about *every other* Star Trek fan film production is pissed at *the Axanar people*, not CBS/Paramount, for ruining it for everybody.

Assuming this guy Alec Peters that ran the whole Axanar thing has to testify in court, that may be one of the defense's biggest Achilles heels, because he's a vastly snotty, unpleasant, unlikable guy in *every* public statement I've ever seen from him. I'm surprised a firm took the guy's case on.

Here's a good in-depth look at the judge's ruling against both motions for summary judgment:

Judge Denies Axanar Its Fair Use Defense »

 

Very interesting commentary quoted by @balzac above. I think there are two sides to this, but there's a point where people gotta back down and realize they can't fight city hall. And Paramount/Viacom/CBS has tons and tons and tons of lawyers sitting around on retainer, just waiting for crap like this.

I do think it's unfortunate that Paramount couldn't just make a deal and air the damned shows as a special or something on CBS All-Access, put up a disclaimer at the head that says, "The following program was created by fans of the Star Trek saga, and is not authorized by CBS, Paramount, or Viacom." Pay them a couple of bucks, forbid them to sell T-shirts and posters and chotskies, forbid them to make a dime of profit on the deal, and retain the copyright in all the characters and story points. Let them show it at conventions (for free) and on YouTube (for free), and that's it.

I have watched (or tried to watch) the Axanar demo reel, and I thought it was too long, not very well acted, and a lot of the shots varied from "wow, that looks great" to a reject from a bad student film. The lighting was kind of all over the place, and the effects quality was below what I expected. Most fan projects I've looked at don't understand pacing, and that boils down to having good editors with great instincts. In cases like this, a 5 minute demo can be much more powerful than a 15- or 20-minute demo. Brevity is good, especially in filmmaking.

I know David Gerrold casually and he likes those people as well.

 

I also enjoy New Voyages and disappointed that James Cawley isn't doing any more fan films. I think they have several that were even finished. I know that "Continues" plans to wrap things up. And it appears they have removed their You Tube page but the European version is still there. I was looking forward to seeing more as they just cast a new actor as Kirk and started upgraded on the Enterprise with the movie warp nacelles seen near the end of this video.

 

I've paid more attention to the Axanar case than I have actual ST fan productions (I'm not into them particularly), but from the little I've seen of "Axanar" material and from reading commentary from even relatively kind observers, the main dude Alec Peters casting *himself* in the mail role was/is a horrible idea.

The "fan film" issue is a complicated issue outside of the obvious copyright laws. But the problem is that *that* complicated, interesting debate is not at the heart of this "Axanar" thing. There are a lot of other shady things that have gone on with that "Axanar" project. I'm amazed that people continue to report even to this day that the Axanar project "was never for profit", because it clearly *was* by several measures. The judge in his rejection of summary judgment pointed to professional future prospects as one clear "benefit" of them doing the project. They also sold mugs and ship models and stuff, which is clearly well beyond a normal "fans in their garage shooting a fan film" situation.

Peters also paid *himself* a salary. We all get it, people shouldn't be expected to work for free. But he has to acknowledge then that he *did* financially benefit from doing the project by employing *himself* in paying roles/functions.

Also, perhaps most sketchy of all, is that they used the donor money to start a production facility not simply to shoot "Axanar", but that they would be able to *rent out* other productions in the future *for profit.* This facility and its future status as a for profit venture was never mentioned to donors during the donation period from what I've been able to tell.

There are also questions as to whether they legally had a non-profit status during all of this.

 

One of my favorite little trivia bits, as reported on that "Axamonitor" website, is that when donors started asking for a refund during all of this lawsuit business, Alec Peters allegedly did offer a select group a refund, but only if they would sign a "Non-Disparagement" agreement that would not allow them to disclose they had received a refund, and would not allow them to speak at all about "Axanar."

Kickstarter Deletes Axanar Spam, Peters Suspends Refunds »

 

Exactly. Which goes right to the root of the problem: a FAN FILM is not a BUSINESS, and attempting to make it so is, well, illogical. James Cawley understood that. Vic Mignogna understood that. What's Alec's problem?

Peters "explaining" things in those terms just proves the plaintiff's point; that client intended willful and profitable copyright infringement.

 

That strikes me as very sleazy and vindictive.

 

yup:



Carlos is the editor of Axamonitor, who posted this image on his page about the refunds, as linked above:
Kickstarter Deletes Axanar Spam, Peters Suspends Refunds »

 

Important safety tip: in show business, when you want to threaten somebody, make sure you don't do it in writing, or you threaten somebody who has an audience who will listen to them. See: Mike Ovitz Threatens Joe Esterhausz...

The Letter That's Shaking Hollywood : Movies: A million-dollar screenwriter takes on powerful talent agent Michael Ovitz. »

 

Here's an entertaining bit with Peters.

 

I saw this awhile back. Another very interesting one is this interview with Prelude to Axanar director Christian Gossett. Mr. Gossett was originally slated to be the director of the feature but has left the project. He is very critical of Alec Peters in this interview.

 

Wonder if it is this Eric Berry

 

THAT Eric Berry rules.

 

The behavior of Peters towards fans/supporters/funders is not even necessarily outside the realm of things that Paramount/CBS could bring into the trial. It certainly would not be a main issue, but they could argue that Peters acting like a total a-hole to journalists and to fans indirectly damages the ST franchise insofar as Peters is attached to it.

I've continually been stunned how antagonist and shady this guy is, and I have to guess that a lot of people that are against Paramount/CBS in this lawsuit have never heard or read what this guy has said/written.

I remember way back when I first read about this Axanar thing (perhaps right around when the first short film was released), and I want to say at some point they were actually calling it "Star Trek: Axanar" instead of just "Axanar" (I think their YouTube and Facebook presences still have "StarTrekAxanar" in their URLs), and my first reaction was "How are they not going to get sued over this?" And I thought that will *full* awareness that Paramount/CBS has allowed fan films for ages (this is discussed in the "Trekkies" documentaries).

Wil Wheaton spoke about "Axanar" back in March, and I think he puts it succinctly:

Do you know what the deal with this ST fan film... »

Also worth noting is that, I believe, Wheaton wrote this *before* Axanar's actions forced Paramount/CBS to issue "fan film guidelines", and Wheaton (and many others) totally called it ahead of time: Axanar ruined it for all the other fan films.

 

Are you saying that New Voyages just cast a new actor as Kirk, or Continues cast a new actor as Kirk? Also, does the CBS fan-film guidelines mean that both Continues and New Voyages will no longer be able to do any more episodes, period?

 

New Voyages has (or had) a new Kirk. James Cawley used to play Kirk but he was tired of the criticism so he cast someone else to play Kirk. James appears in this one as an Elvis impersonater (his real life job). For some reason all of the original videos have been removed but the ones with subtitles are still there. I think this episode is the "new Kirk's" full debut.

 

A settlement has been reached. Axanar can move on. They're not going to get exactly what they want. There are going to be some restrictions. But Axanar is going to happen in one form or another.
CBS, Paramount Settle Lawsuit Over 'Star Trek' Fan Film »

 

Here's the "official" statement from Axanar Productions regarding today's settlement announcement:

AXANAR PRODUCTIONS STATEMENT REGARDING COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT

Valencia, CA - Friday, January 20 - Axanar Productions is pleased to announce that we have reached a formal resolution to the lawsuit brought against Alec Peters, and the fan film production, AXANAR, by CBS Studios, Inc. and Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Since the beginning of the lawsuit, over a year ago, we have expressed our desire to address the concerns of the studios, and our willingness to make necessary changes, as long as we could reasonably meet our commitments to AXANAR’S over 14,000 donors, fans and supporters. We are now able to do exactly that.

Terms of the settlement agreement include an agreement to allow Axanar Productions to continue showing PRELUDE TO AXANAR commercial-free on YouTube and to allow Axanar Productions to produce the AXANAR feature film as two fifteen-minute segments that can be distributed on YouTube (also without ads).

Additional terms of the agreement will be made available to cast, crew and donors through private correspondence.

For the next sixty days, Axanar Productions will be working through some final legal requirements requiring immediate attention. In addition, there are several pre-production issues that need to be re-visited before we can begin principal photography on our project.

Axanar Productions was created by lifelong Star Trek fans to celebrate their love for Star Trek. Alec Peters and the Axanar team look forward to continuing to share the Axanar story and are happy to work within the Guidelines for Fan Films for future projects.

Throughout this process, we will continue communicating with our fans and backers to ensure they are informed and involved until we reach completion of the production.

For those of you who are donors, you will be receiving an email with some "donor exclusive" information.

Thanks again for your support this past year.

Live Long and Prosper.

 

I don't get how two 15min segments can constitute a feature film?

 

On the plus side, this will ensure much tighter editing.