Because of the continued efforts of CBS & Paramount’s attorneys to misrepresent the financial information it received in discovery, we think it’s important to provide the truth to our fans and backers to help put everything into context:
1) Alec Peters has put in approximately $ 150,000 of his own money into Axanar over the past two years. He is currently paying the $ 15,000 a month it costs to keep the studio open, out of his own pocket, as he has been doing for the past 6 months.
2) Alec has not kept a single dollar from donor funds, either in salary, or expense reimbursements. Any money Alec received was paid back through the money he has been putting into Axanar. This means, Alec has worked full time on Axanar for over 3 years and not received a dime in salary, benefits or expense reimbursements.
3) Axanar now has an accountant who has taken all of the voluminous notes and records Alec and the team have kept and completed financial statements for the past 3 years. The financials will now be reviewed by our CPA/Tax accountant as she prepares our tax returns.
4) We have created an Independent Financial Review Committee, a group of industry professionals and donors, to review the financials and report back to the entire donor base. We believe that the report from this committee will give donors the confidence that the Axanar team spent the donor money wisely and that Alec has not received any compensation or expense reimbursements. All three members have completed their review of the detailed finances, and the report is being prepared for release to our donors .
5) Axanar has also retained a firm to prepare and manage our 501c3 filing, which should be filed shortly. They are currently waiting on a document back from the CA Secretary of State approving the change to our articles of incorporation and then they will file our application.
6) While Axanar has not made one dime off of renting out the studio, it is the intention of the Axanar team to rent out the studio in order to continue to be able to pay the rent. Every single dollar raised by renting out the studio (which we now call Industry Studios) will go towards producing Axanar.
With everything going on concerning the lawsuit and the amount of disinformation being spread by people whose intention is to see Alec Peters fail, embarrass those who worked with him and make it impossible to share our vision for the story of AXANAR with the tens of thousands who financially supported this project, we thought it was important to give you our side.
Axanar Productions remains committed to addressing the copyright concerns of CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures Corporation in a way that allows us to tell the story of AXANAR our fans and donors have supported. Once this lawsuit is resolved, Axanar Productions’ team will meet and discuss what kinds of modifications need to be made so we can move forward with production.
Once the plan is set, we will share that news with all of you.
Until then, thank you for your on-going support.
Thanks, Alec. I was never worried about the financials. Don’t give up.
Alex i want you to see the books of Parmount stuido books and cbs studio books on how much money they are trying to come after axanar?. Just keep up the fight alex. I want you to know that you are doing the right thing of going after paramount studio and cbs studio for not keeping there end of the rules when they brake them to.
Don’t you guys dare give up!
All of this debacle has illustrated to the Star Trek Community how morally unfit CBS and Paramount are to control the Star Trek universe. Star Trek was created not just to tell the story Gene Roddenberry wanted, but to include the moral story he wanted to tell. Although I have heard a lot of arguments about just what the story was, a lot of episodes addressed the issues of the day. The way CBS and Paramount have misrepresented, tried a continual character assassination, had their own trolls slide into groups and agitate, all reflect badly on them, and really makes it a shame they are associated with it. It has been clear they practice the same type of sneaky politics we see in the political arena, and the reporting (beyond Jonathan Lane) has also been slanted a lot of the time. It is a good thing there are people out there standing up for honesty, truth and real disclosure of FACTS, and not manipulate everything for their own end. Keep going Alec, don’t let them over take the dream. Even if you have to make changes to Axanar, keep it as close to the story you wanted to tell, since Axanar is YOUR (and Ours) story, and NOT CBS/Paramount’s.
But I thought giant corporations were the good guys and individual US citizens trying to do things without the authority of a corporate overlord were evil!!!
That is what all the ‘paid by corporations’ marketing efforts say.
They couldn’t be wrong, cause…..Free Market is Godly!!!
[…] a hobby, for which he 2) required a completely reasonable salary which is not a salary because he paid it back 3) to produce a professional feature film that is simultaneously a fan film 4) to be shot in a […]
Don’t give up. LLAP.
Although copyright is important, in this instance some degree of common sense is required as the production of Axanar itself is not a real threat to CBS/Paramount, unless it impinges on the story of the new series in some way, or they are simply using Axanar to warn others not to mess with these copyright, either way its dividing the community and its simply not healthy for the ST universe; i do want to see Axanar produced, and i do want to see a resolution which works for the most part, for both parties, but it needs to be soon, as the longer this goes on the more bitter it becomes and that isn’t not good for anyone. I wish you well with your case.
What the CBS ana Paramount greed displays is the enormeous greed and conptempt they show for fans. I will stop watching ST shows and movies. What Axanar needs to do is re-do the series in a manner that is different and go straight through to subscription. Bypassing the major players. This is the reason why the large entertainment companies are bying the bandwith, because they see the writing on the wall. The new internet coming could take the power and the money out of their greedy hands. Direct subscription can be very profitable if made inexpensive enough. Want proof. Read why Microsoft DOS became the true winner in its fight against CP/M from Digital Research Corporation. Greed killed CP/M.
Gene is probably rolling in his grave over this frivolous lawsuit. Star Trek Fans have been doing stuff like this for years. It’s fan fiction made by Trek lovers. You should be commended for what you’ve done by Star Trek and Axanar should be playable in the game Star Trek Online. Paramount/CBS really dropped the ball for the 50th, now they’re acting like leeches towards our community that has given them back ($$$$) so much throughout the last decades. It’s disrespectful. The people leading this suit have absolutely no understanding of the franchise’s fan base and the lengths we go to show our love and dedication. They do not understand the role play events, the conventions, the fan made novels, the homemade films, short stories, podcasts and so on.. You guys fight this, the people taking all these steps just to gain a few bucks probably don’t even own copies of any series or movies in their home and know nothing about us. All the best guys, be strong, be safe and don’t give up!
Cheers from Canada!!
JD
I attended the ST:50 convention in San Francisco in December. There was a panel of writers there. I brought forward the question of fan films, and they were basically incredulous that fan films exist at all. Another person asked about how to write for Star Trek and the panel indicated not to bother unless you had an agent working for you. The level of creative control the franchise has was always saddening. St is a culture and they treat it as an industry.