CBS Fan-Film Richtlinien
Important Message from James Cawley in regard to the CBS Fan-Film Guidelines:
Released April 4, 2017.
OK, I am going to answer this Fan film question one last time because I keep getting asked and there is so much misunderstanding and misinformation out there.
- Episodes that were already released online PRIOR to the guidelines are OK, and are not subject to the guidelines and won't be taken down or penalized
- There is no "GRANDFATHERING" for any fan film releases that were in production prior to the guidelines being released!
NONE, ZERO, ZIP, NA DA!
CBS has clearly said, that any and all releases after the guidelines that do not conform to said guidelines "Will be judged on a case by case basis". That means that any fan film makers who choose to ignore the guidelines are rolling the dice and could possibly face legal action. - I am NOT INVOLVED with the fan film production of "STAR TREK:CONTINUES". I can not and will not answer any questions with regard to them, and why they are releasing 53 minute episodes.
- To the Best of my knowledge, all Trek fan films MUST abide by the guidelines, and no one group has any special permissions to just ignore them.
That is all I know folks. I am not going to engage in debate, nor do I want any badmouthing towards CBS/PARAMOUNT. If you do this on my page, you are gone. My page is my house and no one is going to play on my lawn and make a mess.
Let me be totally clear, CBS/PARAMOUNT had no issues with fan films for more than a decade! They could have stopped me when I started in 2003, but instead agreed to let us, fans have fun and play as long as we understood it was for play and stayed in the playground, which we happily did. We had a few unwritten ground rules which we shared with other groups and all was just fine!
We all know what transpired to change the rules on the playground and I won't go into any of that.
I fully respect CBS/PARAMOUNT. They own STAR TREK and only they can decide who gets to use their property.
If I owned it, I would feel the same way.
James Cawley
