Oklahoma City based Starbase Studios’ Scott Johnson made it very clear today that neither he, nor others affiliated with the studio, are in any way backing Alec Peters and his recently released Fan Film Guidelines.

In a post on the Starbase Studios Facebook page and in a short talk with this site personally, Mr. Johnson has made it very clear that the appearance of fan film unity on the matter is a mere facade, another embellishment by Mr. Peters to advance his ‘negotiating position’.

Mr. Johnson said he was added to the secret Facebook group and he looked through the proposed guidelines, without adding any comments. “Then I went to watch the (NBA) Thunder game on TV and I went to bed. I woke up this morning to a phone call telling me I was some sort of big time producer. One site is reporting that I am the producer of several films and it is being repeated all over the place. I’m not a producer, I’m a volunteer.”

Achieving Unity, The Hard Way

Clearly the guidelines were intended to show a unity among filmmakers, and perhaps unity has been achieved. Not the unity Peters envisioned though. “We are all in agreeance so long as one of us is not in the group.” said Johnson via telephone. “We are now all against Peters. None of us, as far as I am aware, want to be affiliated with the guy. He’s like the black plague. Everything gets blasted out online and no one is happy.” Continue reading »

By now, you might have heard that Alec Peters’ Axanar, the non-Trek Star Trek Fan Film, is being sued by CBS and Paramount. I am still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing, but so far a few things seem to be coming into focus, for me at least.

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece made by someone looking down from the cheap seats.

This is not a news article.

Look, it’s real simple. The envelope, the line, just kept getting pushed further and further.

At first, it was all out-of-pocket, and the only rule was don’t sell it. Then the caterer had to get paid, and that was OK because people gotta eat. Then someone outside donated to pay for the caterer, but nothing was being sold so no one cared. Then came the crowdfunding, and the big worry was that the production was driving that extra mile to the directors brother’s store to buy lumber, using the production to funnel a bit of the funds to friends or family. But nothing was being sold, so no one cared. 

Then Peters wrote himself a check…

In a nutshell, Axanar’s revised 2015 Annual Report clearly shows Alec Peters drawing a salary of $38,000 for the year, or about 6.5% of the budget. 

That Report was released on December 15, 2015. About a week later the lawsuit was filed. Coincidence?

The issue seems to be hard for a lot of fans to grasp. Surely it must be about the amount of money raised! Or maybe it’s that Paramount is jealous at getting shown up over quality!

No, I am starting to think it’s where that money was going.

The concept of ‘making no money’ has somehow turned into ‘not making a profit’, which is not the same thing. A hat tip to Michael Hinman over at 1701news.com for pointing this out. Seriously, it’s a great opinion piece, way better than mine, you should go read it.  Continue reading »