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They had a kickstarter for the preview film (to prove they could do it) and then another for the full. Also, "fan" might make you think they're amateurs. They'
by saizai 10y ago
They had a kickstarter for the preview film (to prove they could do it) and then another for the full.
Also, "fan" might make you think they're amateurs. They're very much not; take a look at the cast and crew list.
- saganus 10y agoYeah, that why I Was surprised by the term "fan film". So what exactly does qualify as one? just as long as you don't have the copyright I guess? I mean, at which point is "fan fiction" illegal? is the legality status correlated with the production values and budget?
- CM30 10y agoThe general line between fan fiction (or any type of fan work) and a professional one is whether the production is trying to make money. That's why fan films and series are likely to be shut down if they try and market them via Kickstarter or Patreon or a similar service or distribute them on a service where money is involved (like Steam, or as a published work on Amazon). If they're trying to make money from this Star Trek film and don't have permission from the franchise owners, then it's not particularly surprising that they're being sued. It's a similar situation to a certain Zelda movie that got shut down when it tried to sell tickets to cinema screenings.
- throwanem 10y agoThere's a reasonable distinction to be drawn between trying to make money off the production, and using Kickstarter to crowdsource the capital necessary to make the production at all. As far as I can tell, Axanar has remained solidly in the latter camp. Is there anything to show otherwise?
- CM30 10y agoEven using Kickstarter to raise capital seems to cause problems for fan works. Probably because while the finished 'product' won't cost money, the copyright owners think of it as someone making money off their property. Same with Patreon. In the world of Nintendo fan works alone, both Star Fox the Animated Series and Super Mario Bros Z got their Patreon accounts suspended for trying to raise money. Do I agree with? Not quite, but the general rule seems to be any exchange of money for any part of a fan work is problematic unless the original is in the public domain.
- gamblor956 10y agoA fan fiction would generally be a hobbyist film, created without the expectation of profit or even income, financed out-of-pocket. Basically, all of the things Axanar is not. It's a quality low-budget production, but it's definitely not a fan film.
- throwanem 10y agoI dunno. The driving force behind it is Alec Peters, who is basically doing it because he's a huge Star Trek fan. So I think the "fan film" label is not entirely unfair, although in this case it needs the disclaimer I gave it regarding quality.
- gamblor956 10y agoIt doesn't matter that he's a "huge" fan. It matters that he collected outside money to make it, and was planning on making money from sales of the video and licensed products.
- throwanem 10y agoSelling the finished film would probably give CBS a stronger basis for suing, but I haven't seen anything to even suggest that Peters or Axanar Productions plan to do so. I'd be interested to know of any evidence to the contrary.