===== Moving the Goal Posts? =====
[{{ ::idic-patch.jpg?200|**IDIC** Artwork from the Axanar Kickstarter campaign page.}}]

<wrap lo>//Main article: [[Axanar Kickstarter Details]] \\
See also: [[copyright infringement#Fan Films and Infringement]] and [[fan_films_breaking_the_unwritten_rules_and_defining_profit|Fan Films: Breaking the Unwritten Rules and Defining Profit]]//</wrap>

The trajectory of the Axanar project's [[crowdfunding platforms|crowdfunding]] effort, as it was articulated in the [[Prelude Kickstarter Details|Prelude Kickstarter]], began like this:

> //[[Prelude to Axanar]]// will then allow us to launch into //[[Axanar]]// having proven our ability to deliver professional quality Star Trek. There will be a subsequent Kickstarter for the feature-length //Axanar//.(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-prelude-to-axanar/description|Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.))
==== At the Outset ====

The Prelude Kickstarter started out with a modest $10,000 goal. It ended up with $101,171. Of that amount, executive producer [[Alec Peters]] allotted $10,000 to what he called "infrastructure for Axanar Productions."

> This means the legal paperwork needed to create our production company and the rather expensive insurance to cover all our productions over the coming year. It allows us to set up production offices … and start to produce //Axanar//.(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-prelude-to-axanar/description|Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.))

==== The 'Infrastructure Kickstarter' ====

The release of //Prelude to Axanar// and subsequent acclaim may have been a game-changer, because the second Kickstarter campaign, for //Axanar// itself, turned out not to be really for producing the film.

> [The] Axanar Kickstarter was launched with some very specific goals in mind, namely, <wrap hi>building the infrastructure that would allow us to make //Axanar// and other Star Trek properties.</wrap>(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 7, 12/15/15.)) <wrap lo>[emphasis added]</wrap>

In Axanar's 2015 Annual Report, Peters acknowledges the public perception of the Axanar Kickstarter was to "<wrap hi>incorrectly assume that the money was to go to production costs."</wrap>(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 8, 12/15/15.)) <wrap lo>[emphasis added]</wrap>

=== First Commercial Hint ===
Instead, this Kickstarter money was destined for infrastructure — and the first mention of a grander commercial production plan. The campaign described these costs as:

[{{ ::peters-gerrold.jpg?250|**SCIFI AUTHOR** David Gerrold (right) toured the Ares bridge set with producer Alec Peters in May 2015. This photo was [[https://twitter.com/burnettrm/status/599680952458092544|posted]] on Twitter by //Axanar// director Robert Meyer Burnett.}}]

  * Set construction, $100,000
  * Soundstage, $125,000. "This will be the permanent home of Axanar Productions and <wrap hi>allow us to do more than just Axanar, from other adventures in the Star Trek universe and beyond.</wrap>  [[mema>David Gerrold]] (writer of "The Trouble with Tribbles") is already lined up to shoot his sci-fi series 'Running Dark' here. First year's rent is $ 125,000." <wrap lo>[link and emphasis added]</wrap>
  * Soundstage renovation.(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-prelude-to-axanar/description|Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.)) The description includes this:

> Sci-Fi Film School  -  After the sets our built, we will be holding a Sci-Fi film school. Learn all about film making from our veteran industry staff including David Gerrold (writing), Richard Hatch and Gary Graham (acting), Robert Burnett (Editing/Directing), Christian Gossett (writing/directing) and Academy Award winner Kevin Haney and Star Trek veteran Brad Look (make-up).  Donors will get first shot at the initial film school session.

  * Axanar pre-production costs, $50,000. This includes costume manufacture, VFX pre-visualization and modeling, and make-up. "These are just pre-production costs to get these departments going."(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-prelude-to-axanar/description|Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.))
  * Axanar production costs, $325,000-$425,000.(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-axanar/description|Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.))

[{{ :undefined:early-bridge.jpg?250|**SET CONSTRUCTION** Concept drawing for the bridge set of the U.S.S. Ares.}}]
==== Ballooning Costs ====

Curiously, this last item — part of the Kickstarter campaign page — does not correspondingly appear in the Annual Report. The project needs articulated during the campaign totaled $404,000 (including Kickstarter fees and the cost of backers' rewards). The total raised was $638,471. Peters concluded the campaign on August 24, 2014, with this statement:

> Well, due to all your generosity, we have everything we need for the sets and studio and are <wrap hi>well on our way to covering most of the budget.</wrap>(([[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-prelude-to-axanar/description|Prelude to Axanar Kickstarter campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.)) <wrap lo>[emphasis added]</wrap>

As it turned out, costs — especially to build out the studio Peters intended to use for commercial projects, and to rent out to bring in revenue(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 15, 12/15/15.)) — rapidly grew from lack of planning.

> We outlined costs … for infrastructure that we would need to raise roughly $400,000 for. … <wrap hi>That was before we found out what everything would really cost and what we didn't even know we needed.</wrap>(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 8, 12/15/15.)) <wrap lo>[emphasis added]</wrap>

[{{ ::ares-studios.jpg?250|**ARES STUDIOS** is the Valencia, Calif., soundstage being retrofitted for profit by Alec Peters with funds raised by donors to the film, //Axanar//. This picture from its Indiegogo campaign features the studio name Photoshopped onto the warehouse exterior.}}]

According to the Annual Report, even the $638,471 raised — more than six times the campaign's original $100,000 goal(([[http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-axanar/|Kicktraq profile for Axanar Kickstarter]], retrieved 3/4/16)) — was insufficient to cover all the infrastructure costs Axanar Productions encountered.(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 10, 12/15/15.))

==== Time to Indiegogo ====

By the time Peters embarked on his third crowdfunding campaign, this time on [[Axanar Indiegogo Details|Indiegogo]] nearly a year later, not only had the costs ballooned … so had his [[Axanar Productions#subsidiary activities|ambitions]] for Axanar Productions.(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, pp. 20-21, 12/15/15.))

> In the end, it was agreed that more time and more money would equal greater quality.(({{:axanar-annual-report-v2.pdf|Axanar Annual Report 2015, Revised}}, p. 12, 12/15/15.))

And so Axanar moved forward to its most ambitious campaign, this time on a rival crowdfunding platform — [[Axanar Indiegogo Details|Indiegogo]] — and a new target, [[crowdfunding platforms#progress_to_axanar|$1.32 million]] — to actually move //Axanar// into production.(([[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/axanar#/|Axanar Indiegogo campaign page]], retrieved 3/4/16.))

/* Draw distinction between Ares' 'no standing sets so we can rent out the studio' and the other fan films.
*/
{{tag>Crowdfunding commercial}}