Blog Entries – Page 109 – Fan Film Factor

TOMORROW we’ll know if the AXANAR lawsuit has settled or not…

Tomorrow (November 16) is the deadline to file motions for summary judgement in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit. And while the two sides are supposedly still in talks to settle (they reportedly had a conference call meeting yesterday), we’ll know tomorrow whether or not a settlement is imminent.

How? Well, by the end of the day tomorrow–if they aren’t really close to a settlement or there already–we will most likely see two major filings from the legal teams: each a motion for summary judgment. And what the heck is that, you ask…?

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All those pesky FFF.TREKBLOGGERS.COM links are finally GONE (I hope)!

I’m a designer, not a programmer, dammit! Well, I’m also a writer and a usability specialist…but coding? That stuff is HARD, man!

You might remember that, a couple of weeks ago, I announced that FAN FILM FACTOR was no longer living as a sub-domain at fff.trekbloggers.com. We had migrated this entire blog site–all TWO HUNDRED blog entries plus graphic files, videos, PDFs, etc.–onto my own domain server at fanfilmfactor.com. And there was much rejoicing.

Until something bad–something very bad–happened…

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DREADNOUGHT DOMINION and STARSHIP VALIANT cross-over in “CHAIN OF COMMAND”!

Back in April of 2015, a new Star Trek fan series called DREADNOUGHT DOMINION premiered with its initial episode, “Haunted.” Three months later, a second episode, titled “Anchors Aweigh” (a bit of a prequel to the first episode), made its debut. It wasn’t the only TOS-era fan series to feature the crew of a non-heavy cruiser class starship, but it was the first and only one to feature the crew of a Starfleet dreadnought-class starship based on the mid-1970s Franz Joseph Star Trek Technical Manual.

Thanks to a 3D model created by Kenneth Thomson, Jr. and Thomas Phong, the beauty shots of the tri-nacelled USS Dominion in the opening credits and during the episodes were gorgeous. The two episodes were filmed primarily on the very impressive TOS sets in Starship Farragut’s Studio Two in Kingsland, GA (also the shooting location of Star Trek Continues).

A year earlier, another fan series, Starship Valiant, made its debut on YouTube with an introduction vignette titled “Legacy.” Valiant was filmed using the TOS bridge set at Starbase Studios in Oklahoma City. (The following year, a “special edition” version of “Legacy” with added footage was posted after Starbase Studios built a new sickbay set.) Valiant has since completed principal filming on its second episode “The Ties That Bind,” although post production is still ongoing and the second episode hasn’t been released yet.

So what do these two fan series–filmed in different locations in different states during different years–have in common? A man named Vance…

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BREAKING (NO) NEWS!!! NO SETTLEMENT (yet) in AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Okay, I just couldn’t wait anymore! I had to know…was a settlement reached in the Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit????

If you read my previous blog on the subject, you know that the two sides–CBS/Paramount and Alec Peters/Axanar Productions–were ordered by judge R. Gary Klausner to sit down for one last-ditch attempt to work out a settlement before going to trial. Magistrate Judge Charles Eick was assigned to facilitate the discussions. There is a court-mandated gag order on all discussions of the content of the settlement talks, and so all we got from Alec Peters on Monday evening was this:

We did not reach a settlement, but we are close. We will know by week’s end, as the attorneys have a call with Judge Eick Friday.

Everyone needs to manage their expectations. A settlement means neither side gets exactly what they want.

That sounded promising–or so I thought. But as Friday (today) wore on and Alec wasn’t answering my texts of “So…any news yet?” I was getting antsier and antsier. Their Monday meeting had lasted past 9:00p.m., so I tried to be patient and not bother Alec over and over again. I failed.

But my persistence paid off…kinda. I finally received the following comment approved from Alec for posting to FAN FILM FACTOR: Continue reading “BREAKING (NO) NEWS!!! NO SETTLEMENT (yet) in AXANAR LAWSUIT!”

Will the AXANAR LAWSUIT settle???

Just imagine: going to FAN FILM FACTOR and not seeing the words “AXANAR LAWSUIT’ at the top of the home page…

It could happen! Yesterday, the two sides had a court-mandated meeting to discuss ways to settle the case before going to trial. Most lawsuits settle before ever reaching trial (like 90-95%, I’m told) because it’s usually not worth the cost and the risk of losing to ether side.

Also, full trials take up a LOT of time in court. So far, the Axanar case has required only a few hours of a judge’s actual time on the bench (plus some extra time in chambers reviewing filings). But an actual trial can take days or even weeks to finish, plus the costs of sitting and potentially sequestering a jury. So it’s often in the best interests of the legal system, as well, for cases to settle rather than coming to trial.

And so Judge R. Gary Klausner (the main judge in the Axanar case) ordered both sides to try–really try–to come to an agreement…a compromise where both sides give a little and get a little. Magistrate Judge Charles Eick, who had just made two major rulings in the discovery phase, was told to facilitate the settlement talks on Monday.

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BREAKING NEWS – Judge rules on plaintiff’s EX PARTE application in AXANAR LAWSUIT

So my best one-sentence summary of Magistrate Judge Charles Eick’s ex parte order in the Axanar lawsuit would be: “Move along folks; nothing to see here.” In other words, nothing really surprising happened (at least if you read my previous blog).

In short, the plaintiffs asked for three main things and got two and a half of them…maybe two and a quarter. But the thing is, they got what the defense was already offering. You order a drink, the waiter brings it. Done. So it was kind of anticlimactic.

Here’s the three things the plaintiffs wanted: Continue reading “BREAKING NEWS – Judge rules on plaintiff’s EX PARTE application in AXANAR LAWSUIT”

ALEC PETERS’ attorney fires back hard at CBS/PARAMOUNT legal team in AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Remember back in the first half of this year when the initial documents were being filed in the Axanar lawsuit? Remember how each time one side or the other would submit their latest filing, it would suddenly look like it was “game, set, and match?” And then the other side would respond, and it would seem like a knockout blow for that side. And on and on.

Well, history seems to be repeating itself…

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CBS/PARAMOUNT legal team blasts ALEC PETERS with full phasers in AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Man, just when you thought we’d go at least a few days without a long AXANAR post! But hell hath no fury like a pair of studios compelled by a judge to produce a ton of discovery documentation and new witnesses to depose.

So what the heck just happened? Well, long story short, yesterday the plaintiffs attorneys in the case filed a 122-page ex parte (emergency) application for a judge’s order of relief while still in the discovery phase of the case. Time was running out (discovery ends on Wednesday!) and the plaintiffs couldn’t wait to jointly approach the judge for a fast resolution. And what are they trying to resolve?

Well, now it’s time for short story long. Strap in, folks–’cause a LOT has happened in the last seven days!

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FAN FILM FACTOR is now the master of its DOMAIN!

Some of you may know the not-so-secret origin of FAN FILM FACTOR. Back in 2015, I was writing a regular weekly blog for the Axanar website called “Fan Film Friday,” and it was becoming quite popular. Shortly after the infringement lawsuit was filed, however, a couple of my interviewees requested not to appear on the Axanar website. Other fan filmmakers were fine with being featured on the Axanar site, but I lamented the fact that I would no longer be free to feature all the fan producers that I wanted to.

I mentioned this concern to Alec Peters, and he suggested that I create a separate blog site independent of Axanar. That way I could talk about anything I wanted…and arrange my content any way I wanted. “But I have no idea how to set up a blog site,” I told Alec. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” he said, “Mike Bawden can do it for you.”

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AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery ruling – what does it all mean? (Part 4)

And so we come to the fourth and final part of this blog series. (Time sure flies when you’re writing 2,000 words a day!) Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. If you haven’t read them yet, to quote Pavel Chekov, “Now vould be a good time.”

It’s probably pretty darn busy right now at CBS and Paramount. What are been asked for (or rather, ordered) by the judge will most likely require all hands on deck for much of the week–tracking down documents and e-mails and financial records, compiling them, composing careful answers to submitted inquires from the defense, and creating a full privilege log. Plaintiff’s Attorney Jonathan Zavin said as much in court last Friday toward the beginning of his presentation (I’ll post the court transcript when I receive a copy) and even called the amount of documentation requested “unduly burdensome” 25 different times in the plaintiff’s responses in the Joint Stipulation document.

So, where does everything go from here?

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery ruling – what does it all mean? (Part 4)”