A guest blog by Francisco Perello
I recently received my BluRay of 3 new episodes of a series celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Thunderbirds.
It was a UK Kickstarter funded with the blessing off all the copyright holders that raised $300,000: the most successful non-US Kickstarter campaign.
And if you look on the rear above the PROMOTION ONLY disclaimer you will see ITV, the company that owns the IP (in part).
ITV gave the fans who made it the green light through a FREE licence agreement . The fans who funded it got lots of cool stuff and ITV got the right to broadcast this as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Thunderbirds in September.
Here is the original Kickstarter pitch which makes clear the support of the IP owners....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNIILe_vAc
This has generated so much goodwill and publicity, including extensive prime time coverage in the news on TV, radio, print and Internet, that there is talk of ITV funding a new series!
It would be great if someone could somehow put this in front of those narrow minded, lack of vision, CBS/Paramount execs so they could see how a model collaboration is actually out there doing what Alec has said can and should be done, in what is for certain the first of its kind in the world, and a win,win, win for EVERYONE.
This disk, sits lamentably and proudly next to my Prelude to Axanar disc.
TO COMPARE:
UK THUNDERBIRDS, 50th anniversary, loads of good publicity, happy fans, happy ITV /IP secure! US STAR TREK, 50th anniversary, loads of bad publicity, film sinking, fans annoyed, CBS pissed, IP confused and uncertain! I'm so humbled by how amazingly well everyone at Axanar has been conducting themselves. I just wanted to share this campaign, because its my dream (and of course Alec's more so) that Axanar be a model of how fan and studio production can flourish symbiotically. Keep up the good fight Francisco Perello in the UK Find the original Kickstarter here. You can read about the campaign on C/Net. Save