CBS/Paramount drops lawsuit against Star Trek: Axanar (thank you JJ Abrams)

Legal Insurrection ^ | 5-22-2016 | Leslie Eastman

[ak267]

Star Trek fan film will “Live Long and Prosper”

Legal Insurrection has been covering the lawsuit against the producers of a Star Trek fan film, and the amicus brief filed in the case by the Language Creation Society.

There has been a development in this case that has been…fascinating.

In advance of the July release of Star Trek Beyond, it seems Paramount is going to try to get itself beyond a serious problem it’s having with the passionate fanbase of Trekkies, and clear up a PR black eye in the process.

Tonight during a Trek fan event held on the Paramount lot, Star Trek Beyond executive producer JJ Abrams announced that the studio will be dropping a contentious lawsuit against a Star Trek fan film production. “This wasn’t an appropriate way to deal with the fans,” Abrams put it bluntly, signaling a major about face and many mended fences.

[ak267]

"Prelude to Axanar" (The Four Years War) Fictional documentary set 20 years before the original series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1_8IV8uhA

"Axanar" Feature Film (Series Pitch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6TXDDoADIY

"Prelude to Axanar" Teaser clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4JbLhH_8w

"Axanar" Film Teaser Clip (Vulcan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zThnJgj-k1Q

[This_far]

Hokey Smokes Bullwinkle, we’re back.

I don’t think so Rocky.

[vladimir998]

Good news for Trekkies.

[Jonty30]

If it weren’t for the fan done shows, the studios wouldn’t make half the money they do.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Paramount was really showing their incredibly tone-deaf ways in this lawsuit.

Things in entertainment are changing rapidly in the internet age. In writing, for example, fan-fiction has been around pretty much since the first BBS fan boards on AOL starting popping up. Not technically legal, people would post stories with characters they didn’t own.

As long as people weren’t trying to make money from the stories, however, most writers and publishers were content to let the kids play in the sandbox.

Occasionally someone would try to sell something, and they would be put down hard. But then self-publishing exploded and a lot of writers would dive into the world of fan-fiction to try and build a following from free stories to lead people to their original works.

Some publishers started cracking down on fan-fiction at that point, but it always came back to bite them. The attitude has changed in the last five years, and now publishers are looking at ways of monetizing fan-fiction (like Amazon does with their Kindle Worlds program where the world copyright holder, Amazon, and the guest writer all get a split of the sales from an unsolicited story in certain story worlds.)

Independent film makers now have inexpensive equipment available to make movies, and some are undoubtedly going to try what writers did with fan-fiction: they are going to get attention by putting out non-licensed movies with no chance of profit just to get attention and gain a following.

Paramount was (until this news) doing what the big publishers were doing 5 or 6 years ago by going after someone who was actually giving their product free advertising and promotion. I guess someone in their offices finally got through to them that embracing your biggest fans, instead of threatening to sue them, would work better in the internet age.

[wally_bert]

A lot of fan based stuff is better (at least in concept) than studio fare.

There was one short based on the GI Joe 80s series I saw on YT years ago that was student film level but had more going for it than the stupid movies.

I thought about rebuilding my 80s collection and make some lame attempts for YT.

[Bratch]

Now if only DC/Warner Bros would allow a fan-made “Superman” film.

Because the studios don’t seem to have a clue about how to bring the MOS to the big screen.

[wally_bert]

100% agreed on MOS on the big screen.

[ak267]

The quality from these fan shows vary from “cheezy cheap” to very good. “Axanar” & “Star Trek Continues” are some of the best.

When I first saw Axanar I thought I was watching an official Paramount prouction...it’s that good.

Lucasfilm realized rather quickly that fandom wasn’t a nuisance but an asset. They outright encourage fan films and hold competitions....CBS/Paramount could learn from that.

[Charles Martel]

I just read about this earlier on the Axanar blog. As someone there commented, I hope this isn't a case of "The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away". There are apparently a number of conditions that CBS/Paramount is imposing - not just on the Axanar project, but all fan films based on their properties from this point forward.

Who knows, maybe Paramount really did just want to delay Axanar until after its' latest Trek film clears the theaters.

[Secret Agent Man]

Well it brought out the weird and ugly,on both sides.

I hope it gets done, the prelude is well done.

[gymbeau]

I dunno. I loved the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve one. All the rest have sucked. Well, I haven’t seen the latest but don’t have high hopes.

Cheers,
Jim

[r_barton]

Star Trek. Meh. Forbidden Planet, now THERE was a scifi movie.

[Ketill Frostbeard]

I’ve seen some very inventive Star Trek fan films out there that I really enjoyed, some of them are obviously homemade and low budget but tell a good story and way better entertainment than big budget CGI with vapid characters and pointless development. But there are some out there that are “Gay Trek”...if you see two crewmen making out, don’t FFWD...it doesn’t get any better...

[ak267]

I wonder is Roddenberry got inspiration from “Forbidden Planet” when he did Star Trek? The movie has “Trekish” aspects to it.