Alec Peters’ legal attack on former Axanar director Rob Burnett polarizes his own team

Alec Peters’ legal dispute with former Axanar director Rob Burnett is leading to both very public and some private breaks by former loyalists with their one-time leader.

Telltale Exhibits : Alongside an April 12 letter from Burnett’s attorney to Peters’ lawyer were exhibits that paint a portrait of friends and colleagues who feel betrayed by Axanar’s producer.

• Stalwart defender: Most prominent among the exhibits is a February 26 email from Peters’ former advisor and Axanar PR director Mike Bawden. Once Peters’ most stalwart defender, Bawden says Peters’ stubborn threats and decision to sue Burnett drove him away:

• Bullying Burnett: Bawden calls out Peters for picking on his loyal director while foregoing legal action against actual enemies: “Compared to what you’ve threatened and refused to do with [former tech chief] Terry McIntosh, [AxaMonitor editor] Carlos Pedraza, [Alpha Waves Radio host] Michael Hinman, [ardent Facebook critic] Sean O’Halloran, [former Axanar director] Christan Gosset and an unending list of people who have said bad things about you … [it] looks like you’ve decided to file suit against the one guy you were sure didn’t have the financial resources to fight you in court.”
• ‘Opportunistic bully’: Bawden calls out Peters for “suing the guy who stood beside you and had your back through the entire lawsuit with CBS and Paramount. This is the guy you valued so much, that when it was clear Axanar Productions wasn’t going to make the feature film, you refused to end his engagement with the production and, instead, continued to claim he was your director.”

Peters owes colleagues money, too: Despite producing no evidence his payments to Burnett were loans rather than payments, Peters himself owes money Bawden observes isn’t getting paid either.

• Peters owes Bawden. Bawden says, “You also need to respond to my requests for a payment schedule on the outstanding, personal financial obligation you have to me. You are now three weeks late. … I understand you may have been holding off in the hope we could settle things between you and Rob and that I’d forgive the debt you have to me. That no longer appears to be the case.”
• Peters owes Diana Kingsbury: She is Axanar’s former director of fulfillment, charged with delivering perks to donors. In an email to Bawden, she indicates her frustration with Peters’ seeking repayment from Burnett when Peters still owes her money.
• Less rosy for Peters. Kingsbury continues, “I need to start getting paid back for all of [my] deferred wages (besides the remainder of the personal loans) immediately, or things will become considerably less rosy for Alec than they are now.”
• ‘Exploding point’: Kingsbury, also Peters’ former girlfriend, is frustrated by “Alec’s public comments about his actions compared to Rob’s actions have gotten me this close to the exploding point. … Alec has/continues to treat me in the exact same way he claims Rob is treating him.”

Refusing counsel: Despite knowing Peters won’t take his advice, Bawden continues to urge Peters to focus instead on completing the two Axanar short films:

Get to work. “You’ve filed suit. And now you can either finish things off (serve the suit and see how hard the shit hits the fan), or you can drop it and we can work on getting you the footage you need to produce the two, 15-minute segments [of Axanar.] Missing hard drives? Kingsbury’s email also notes that Burnett had in fact turned over Axanar’s digital assets almost two years ago in hard drives that languished in Peters’ California warehouse: “I definitely remember both of them telling me that the hard drives were, in fact, in Alec’s office,” prior to Axanar’s move to Georgia.

Why it matters. The more his colleagues abandon him in the face of his treatment of others, the greater tension around Axanar escalates. For her part, Kingsbury has never publicly rebuked Peters before. And Bawden warns Peters: “Know this. If battle lines get drawn on this thing, we won’t be on the same side.”