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Star Trek Beyond Official Trailer

CULTURESTAR TREK
As the force behind the reboots of both the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, J.J. Abrams is arguably the most powerful man in the Hollywood sci-fi community. In his world, an off-the-cuff comment can have the force of law.

Last Friday, at a fan event to showcase the forthcoming Star Trek: Beyond, Paramounts latest entry in the franchise, he declared the studios lawsuit against the producers of the Trek fan film Axanar was over. Abrams, an executive producer on Beyond, told the crowd that this wasnt an appropriate way to deal with the fans. He and Beyond director Justin Lin, who had previously tweeted support for Axanar, went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit. Within a few weeks, itll be announced that this lawsuit is going away.

Within hours, Paramount and CBS issued a statement declaring that the studios were in settlement talks and were also working on a set of fan film guidelines.


Star Trek Beyond Official Trailer

CULTURESTAR TREK
As the force behind the reboots of both the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, J.J. Abrams is arguably the most powerful man in the Hollywood sci-fi community. In his world, an off-the-cuff comment can have the force of law.

Last Friday, at a fan event to showcase the forthcoming Star Trek: Beyond, Paramounts latest entry in the franchise, he declared the studios lawsuit against the producers of the Trek fan film Axanar was over. Abrams, an executive producer on Beyond, told the crowd that this wasnt an appropriate way to deal with the fans. He and Beyond director Justin Lin, who had previously tweeted support for Axanar, went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit. Within a few weeks, itll be announced that this lawsuit is going away.

Within hours, Paramount and CBS issued a statement declaring that the studios were in settlement talks and were also working on a set of fan film guidelines.


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Erin Ranahan, the lead attorney for Axanar Productions, confirmed that settlement talks were in progress, telling Newsweek, Were definitely grateful for the announcement on Friday night by J.J. Abrams. Were in settlement discussions. Weve attempted to settle this case from the get go and were continuing to do that.

For those who missed the first few episodes of this series, the producers of Axanar had raised over $1.3 million over the course of several crowdfunding campaigns, and were facing the wrath of Star Trek owners Paramount and CBS, who sued Axanar Productions and its founder, Alec Peters, claiming they were infring[ing] Plaintiffs works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes.

The Axanar team had already produced a short film, Prelude to Axanar, and planned a feature-length production based on the adventures of Garth of Izar, a character Treks Captain Kirk referred to as Starfleets greatest warrior in one episode. Axanar Productions brought in a pro bono legal team, and vowed to fight on, much as Garth apparently did at the Battle of Axanar. Earlier this month, however, a judge denied their motion to dismiss the case, setting the course for a trial that many legal experts felt could only result in victory for the studios. The judge, in his ruling on the motion to dismiss, invoked Treks mythology, stating that the plaintiffs case could live long, though he couldnt assure them theyd prosper.

Then J.J. Abrams beamed in.

Given Abrams stature, its not surprising that Paramount publicly acknowledged the settlement efforts within hours of his proclamation. What is potentially game-changing, however, is the idea that, for the first time, Star Treks owners are considering issuing official guidelines for fan films.

For decades, producers of fan films have had to work in a legal gray area, relying on their own instincts, advice shared over internet forums and back channel communications with the studios.

Fan producers have, for example, adopted fairly consistent language to declare their lack of ownership of Star Trek properties, and the non-commercial nature of their work. One popular fan series, Star Trek Continues, opens its website with a statement that everything having to do with Star Trek is solely owned by CBS Studios Inc., and that their own work is non-commercial and intended for recreational use.

For the most part, the strategy seemed to work. Fan films proliferated, with some featuring actors from the official Star Trek world and six-figure budgets fueled by crowdfunding campaigns. Fan producers lovingly constructed detailed reproductions of original Star Trek sets, and made liberal use of everything from uniforms to props to plot lines based on elements of the original Trek series and its many spin-offs.

In some cases, however, the lack of formal guidelines left fans trying to reconcile seeming inconsistencies in the way the studios enforced their rights. James Cawley, considered by many to be the father of modern Trek fan films, has cited his good relationship with Trek's owners, and even had a starship named in his honor in Paramounts Star Trek: Enterprise. Some episodes of Cawley's Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II series have used scripts penned by established Star Trek writers, including one based on an unproduced Star Trek: The Next Generation script by classic Trek scribe David Gerrold, who reworked his script for Phase II and directed the episode based on it.

Yet, when Cawley made plans to shoot an episode based on an old, unproduced script that sci-fi author Norman Spinrad had sold to Star Treks original producers in the 60s, CBS warned him that he wouldnt be allowed to proceed. Cawley complied. Im not going to do anything that might be questionable, he told The New York Times. Gerrold, comparing the situation to his own work with Phase II, commented, I dont understand CBSs thinking on this at all. They didnt care then. Why do they care now?

http://www.newsweek....an-films-463542