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.

“But it’s a nonprofit!”

The problem with this theory of ‘no profit’ is that it can be used to totally make taxable income for yourself as the creator of the project, and that money can be used to pay for a wedding, or a new car, or your rent, and so on. What did Peters do with his $38K? How should I know, go ask him. The point is that if I raise, hypothetically, $3 Million and make a film for $2.5 Million….can I just pocket the remaining half Million and point to the balance sheet and say ‘see, no profits!’? Does it matter if that money is taken after production, or during pre-production as a monthly salary? If I get paid a monthly salary am I ‘making money’?

Fan Films have until recently been something that one did out of love with cash out of pocket. You made the film and came out with a net loss. Then came crowdfunding, and it was understood that you could pay the caterer and some other services…BUT NOT YOURSELF! If you got Patrick Stewart to come in and it cost you $5,ooo or some, we get it. He’s a professional, and it was basically OK for him to get a check, or at least reimbursed for travel expenses. But in no case was it ever OK for the guy running things to get a check.

“We continue to object…”

The other thing that keeps bugging the shit out of me are all the people running around online posting ‘It’s a nonprofit, blah!’. Okay, show me. Don’t find a quote somewhere or take a vote. Don’t give me hearsay…show me, like I did with the salaries above. Take a moment and look up the Articles of Incorporation for Axanar Productions, then get back to me about this whole thing being nonprofit. Here, I’ll even help:

I have a feeling CBS was a lot clearer about how they felt than we have been led to believe. Just look at the quote from CBS in this article from TheWrap.com:

CBS has not authorized, sanctioned or licensed this project in any way, and this has been communicated to those involved. We continue to object to professional commercial ventures trading off our property rights and are considering further options to protect these rights.”

Axanar has already said in January that the studio, a studio paid for and built using donor cash, will go on to be used for other film productions, having “already acquired the rights to a fantastic book series by David ‘I have no dog in this particular fight’ Gerrold”. So will Ares Digital, which replaced Backerkit for perk fulfillment live on after Axanar to compete with Backerkit, as a for-profit company?

I don’t know, how about a cup of coffee?

Small potatoes…

Where did they spend $118,428.88 in advertising?

Why are most just now learning that Tony Todd left the production ‘three months ago’? And why is he still listed on the site, and being used to sell coffee? I get that Ramirez and all are not Trademarked and therefor blah blah blah…but the Klingon D-6 being used on the Decaf is Trademarked, no?

I am a fan and therefor I own it!

Sure, and you probably think ‘Freedom of Speech applies too, eh? Seriously, I had no idea SO MANY Trek fans were up-to-date on IP and Copyright law. Seriously.

So…

As someone who donated to Axanar, I’d like CBS/Paramount to come together and work things out. I’d like to see some sort of deal worked out, sure. But when you start to appreciate that this is not about ‘how we envision Trek’ or which timeline or character or blah blah…it seems unlikely.

This is instead a simple matter of…what next? If Peters can simply pay himself to make Trek, then what next? No really, I am asking…if he can do that then what comes next?

Update: Apparently what comes next is….A YouTube video! Not mine, but funny: