The Two Biggest Film Industries: CBS and Paramount's guidelines to make fan-films of Star Trek. by:Stephany Díaz Cartagena

In 2014 , a group of independent producers led by Alec Peters launched at Comic Con the short Prelude to Axanar (fan-film), but the mistake that many filmmakers including Alec Peters make is they do not usually ask permission the original authors or even pay to acquire the rights to create an official work. This made the CBS and Paramount decided to sue fans who performed films without permission, not only for the copyright but also by the profits generated for this "illegal" producers. Paramount was afraid for the promotion of his third remake of star trek because they didn’t know the magnitude of this fan-film and how this could have ruined or pulling down the level to the next official remake.

On June 23, 2016 CBS and Paramount published a list of rules and guidelines to make the fan–films. They said that they would not oppose or take legal action against those productions made by Star Trek fans that follow the guidelines.1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.”

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

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

This has not been well received by many of his fans who consider that this limiting them aggressively, their creativity, and also eliminated the possibility of interaction between fan and film, and fan to fan to share their ideas and creative ways to supplement or propose new ways of seeing the movie. Many believe that one of the most fundamental parts is to see the audiovisual view of the fans because they are not only able to get into the story, but also to create and give new shades that are not only appreciated by fans but also offer new ideas on what fans want or do not want to see in star trek movies.

Many believe that the real problem of Paramount and CBS is with the creators of Axanar because before this came out it never had been discussions about this topic, or problems with the fan-films in general and they do not believe that is fair to eliminate many of the fan-films because the fans are the ones who give life from the beginning and make these characters important.

In conclusion, although these producers considered that the guidelines was a good idea to let the fans interact with the characters and the film in general, fans are upset by the impositions to make part of your favorite film.