New Guidelines On Star Trek Fan Films

[ZariusTwo]

Paramount have put their foot down

Guidelines for Avoiding Objections:

The fan production must be less than 15 minutes for a single self-contained story, or no more than 2 segments, episodes or parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total, with no additional seasons, episodes, parts, sequels or remakes.

The title of the fan production or any parts cannot include the name “Star Trek.” However, the title must contain a subtitle with the phrase: “A STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTION” in plain typeface. The fan production cannot use the term “official” in either its title or subtitle or in any marketing, promotions or social media for the fan production.

The content in the fan production must be original, not reproductions, recreations or clips from any Star Trek production. If non-Star Trek third party content is used, all necessary permissions for any third party content should be obtained in writing.

If the fan production uses commercially-available Star Trek uniforms, accessories, toys and props, these items must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations of such commercially available products.

The fan production must be a real “fan” production, i.e., creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs, cannot be compensated for their services, and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures’ licensees.

The fan production must be non-commercial:

CBS and Paramount Pictures do not object to limited fundraising for the creation of a fan production, whether 1 or 2 segments and consistent with these guidelines, so long as the total amount does not exceed $50,000, including all platform fees, and when the $50,000 goal is reached, all fundraising must cease.

The fan production must only be exhibited or distributed on a no-charge basis and/or shared via streaming services without generating revenue.

The fan production cannot be distributed in a physical format such as DVD or Blu-ray.

The fan production cannot be used to derive advertising revenue including, but not limited to, through for example, the use of pre or post-roll advertising, click-through advertising banners, that is associated with the fan production.

No unlicensed Star Trek-related or fan production-related merchandise or services can be offered for sale or given away as premiums, perks or rewards or in connection with the fan production fundraising.

The fan production cannot derive revenue by selling or licensing fan-created production sets, props or costumes.

The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content. The content of the fan production cannot violate any individual’s right of privacy.

The fan production must display the following disclaimer in the on-screen credits of the fan productions and on any marketing material including the fan production website or page hosting the fan production:

“Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan production is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use. No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.”

Creators of fan productions must not seek to register their works, nor any elements of the works, under copyright or trademark law.

Fan productions cannot create or imply any association or endorsement by CBS or Paramount Pictures.

http://www.startrek.com/fan-films

[snake]

Jesus christ, and I thought the Star Wars Fan Film rules were a little strict

[The Deadman]

So if someone wants to make a fan film, they can make one and only one? That's absurd. Probably afraid the fan films are gonna be leaps and bounds better than the actual films.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I'm not much of a Trekkie, but even I know the 2009 reboot and its sequels pale in comparison to the originals. Paramount probably doesn't want to be embarrassed when people make fan films better than the drivel they produce.

"The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content."

You heard them, guys: no Star Trek porn parodies.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I saw this... waiting to see what my connections in the Trek audio drama fanfic arena have to say on this.

[Candy Kappa]

We can thank the guys behind "Prelude to Axanar" for this as they made merchandise from their fan-film.

As long as "Red Shirt Diaries" are safe, I'm good.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

We can thank the guys behind "Prelude to Axanar" for this as they made merchandise from their fan-film.

As long as "Red Shirt Diaries" are safe, I'm good.

Yep, completely Axanar's fault.

[Andrew NDB]

I'm assuming this has to mean... "Going forward"...

[TigerClaw]

Someone setup a petition to change those guidelines.
https://www.change.org/p/cbs-cbs-par...iter=561059846

[Andrew NDB]

Probably the biggest puzzling one to me is the uniform/props thing. So, like, if you wanted to do a Star Trek fanfilm about the 29th century Starfleet Temporal division... you'd be sh*t out of luck because Paramount hasn't ever released any "official" Starfleet Temporal uniforms that you can buy? Or like, you have to buy one of their toy phasers to use on film, you can't just make one or buy a good looking replica? Weird.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

You heard them, guys: no Star Trek porn parodies.

Whatever. There's already a really good one.

[Allio]

so who wants to break some rules?

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Probably the biggest puzzling one to me is the uniform/props thing. So, like, if you wanted to do a Star Trek fanfilm about the 29th century Starfleet Temporal division... you'd be sh*t out of luck because Paramount hasn't ever released any "official" Starfleet Temporal uniforms that you can buy? Or like, you have to buy one of their toy phasers to use on film, you can't just make one or buy a good looking replica? Weird.

If I read it correctly, you can make them yourself. It says "If the fan production uses commercially-available Star Trek uniforms..." etc. - so you can't obtain them from a source that makes them available to other people unless they're officially licensed, but you should be able to make them yourself.

Edit: As far as pron parodies - isn't that protected by law? I'm not sure Paramount can stop parodies, unless they are passed off as official products.

[Mayhem]

Yes, that's how I took it, if they officially exist, you have to use the official products. If they don't exist officially, you can make your own.

[ZariusTwo]

The Axanar team hit back at the "draconian" guidelines

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.co...lm-guidelines/

Hopefully they can take the fight back to Paramount, and owe up to some responsibility for bringing these about

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

The Axanar team hit back at the "draconian" guidelines

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.co...lm-guidelines/

Hopefully they can take the fight back to Paramount, and owe up to some responsibility for bringing these about

So Axanar is the reason everyone is now in this mess, but they continue to bitch at Paramount?

Good job, guys.

[Etsyturtle2]

I hate people

[CyberCubed]

To be honest I'm surprised Paramount allowed this to go on as long as it did. Once it became obvious these were becoming their own series with huge sets, actors, money involved, and they were being distributed online and people making their own DVDs, it was obvious Paramount would put their foot down to protect their intellectual property.

I also suspect the new Star Trek TV series coming out next year was a big factor too. Before there was no new Star Trek show on the air since Enterprise was canceled, but now that there's a new one coming out they don't want fan-made series competing with it.

[Allio]

Originally Posted by Etsyturtle2

I hate people

Mankind is horrible, it's the possibility of humanity that is the only wirth

[Andrew NDB]

Axanar people are back, asking for more money.

https://fanfilmfactor.com/2020/03/16...I1vx07wXSZpUx8