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<wrap lo>**RED CARPET PREMIERE** OWC Studios head Alec Peters says he wants to premiere the Axanar short films at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, four years after //Prelude to Axanar// debuted there. <wrap indent lo>//Image/TrekMovie.com//</wrap></wrap>

<WRAP>//**__<wrap em lo>Fact Check</wrap>__**//</WRAP>

====== Axanar Aims for Winter Shoot, Comic-Con 2019 Premiere ======

**//Production Update Proposes Dubious Shooting Schedule, Fails to Mention How $200K Project's Being Financed//**

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Fans hoping to see the two short films comprising what's left of //[[Axanar]]// may not have much longer to wait, according to OWC Studios head [[Alec Peters]]' August 21, 2018, production update.

Peters told fans on the [[http://www.axanarproductions.com/axanar-production-update-august-2018/|Axanar blog]] that he's planning on a two-day December-January shoot in Los Angeles, followed by up to another two days in Atlanta a couple of months later, with a premiere he hoped to stage in San Diego while Comic-Con happened in July 2019.

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===== Winter Shoot, Summer Release =====

Peters' update waits until its final paragraphs to talk about //Axanar//'s shooting schedule, though with a number of caveats:

> <wrap hi>This has only been discussed briefly</wrap>, we think we are looking at two days of shooting in Los Angeles in Dec. – Jan. and then two days of shooting in Atlanta a month or two later.  Our goal is to have everything in the can by end of February and a release date next summer. <wrap hi>If all goes as planned</wrap>, another red carpet event at [San Diego] Comic-Con will be planned.(([[http://www.axanarproductions.com/axanar-production-update-august-2018/|Alec Peters, Axanar blog]], Axanar Productions website, 8/21/18. [//emphasis ours//]))

//[[Prelude to Axanar]]//, the 22-minute short produced to raise money (eventually $1.2 million in crowdfunding, plus another $500,000 in direct donations and [[merchandise]] sales) for the //Axanar// feature, premiered at an off-premises screening not part of Comic-Con in 2014. The feature project, however, was derailed by Peters' decision to build his [[studio_move|ill-fated California studio]] using donors' money, and by a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Star Trek's owners, [[CBS]] and [[Paramount Pictures]].

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<wrap lo em>FACT CHECK</wrap> <wrap lo>**Misleading**</wrap> //Prelude to Axanar//'s 2014 premiere was a private screening not connected to Comic-Con in any way other than occurring in San Diego concurrently. There's no indication the Axanar shorts Peters hopes to have ready in 2019 would be any different.
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[{{ :prelude_partiii.jpg?300|**MOCKUMENTARY** //Prelude to Axanar// was fancied by producers as Part III in a documentary series, "The Four Years War." The hoped-for two Axanar shorts are intended as the fourth and fifth installments of that faux series.}}]
==== Budget? ====

Unmentioned in Peters' update was any mention of how he planned to pay for production of the two Axanar shorts, which he has estimated between $150,000 and $200,000.

The settlement of the copyright lawsuit brought against him by CBS and Paramount Pictures prohibits him from seeking crowdfunding, and no private effort appears to have happened.
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//**__<wrap lo>The decision to make 'Prelude' a war documentary was inspired by 'The World at War' — an influence Peters never before mentioned, even while his lawyers searched for any non-Trek inspiration they could find.</wrap>__**//
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==== The Four Years War ====

Peters explained the two short films were to comprise Parts IV and V of the larger faux-documentary, //The Four Years War//:

> One day in post on //Prelude//, when [editor] Rob Burnett and I were in the edit bay, where … we were talking about the title.  We knew it was to be called “Prelude to Axanar” but we wanted to give it scope and make it part of a series, and so I came up with “The Four Years War, Part IV.” Rob loved it, but I immediately realized that Star Wars was re-titled “Episode IV: A New Hope,” so we changed //Prelude// to Episode III.  We had no intention of ever making episodes IV and V, let alone I and II. //Prelude// was meant to be a proof of concept, followed up by the full-length movie, //Axanar//.(([[http://www.axanarproductions.com/axanar-production-update-august-2018/|Alec Peters, Axanar blog]], Axanar Productions website, 8/21/18.))

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<wrap lo em>FACT CHECK</wrap><wrap lo> **Disputed**</wrap>  Peters' account is disputed by //Prelude// director [[gossett-subpoena|Christian Gossett]]. In an April 27, 2018, interview with **AxaMonitor**, Gossett credited Peters with the idea of making the short film in a documentary format:

[{{ :gossett-sm.jpg?nolink&150|//Prelude// director **Christian Gossett**}}]

"Doing it as a doc was in fact his idea," Gossett said, adding, however, "<wrap hi>he had never seen //World at War//</wrap>, the first great military doc, so I brought that 'major event' feel to it."((Facebook Messenger conversation between Christian Gossett and AxaMonitor editor Carlos Pedraza, 4/27/18.<wrap lo>[//emphasis ours//]</wrap>))

<wrap lo>**Omits Facts**</wrap> Peters' account also leaves out a couple of crucial facts, according to Gossett, including the fact Gossett directed //Prelude// and had quite a bit to say about its format and title.

"I was there for that conversation," — a fact Peters neglects to mention, he said — "and the decision to finalize our ideas about the numbering was mine as director. They presented ideas, we discussed them, and I chose from those ideas."((Facebook Messenger conversation between Christian Gossett and AxaMonitor editor Carlos Pedraza, 8/22/18.))

Since Gossett's public break from the project (Gossett was deposed in the lawsuit as a witness for CBS/Paramount), Peters has publicly minimized Gossett's contributions to //Prelude// and tried to blame him for [[peters_comikaze#studio_not_the_best_call|Peters' admitted bad decision]] to lease a studio for three years that he only needed for a number of months.
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===== The 'Ridiculous Lawsuit' =====

Earlier in his blog, Peters blamed CBS' and Paramount's "ridiculous lawsuit" for costing fans $500,000 of the money they donated, further damaging //Axanar//'s chances of ever being produced.

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<wrap lo><wrap em>FACT CHECK</wrap> **Mostly False**</wrap> Peters failed to mention the loss of a half-million dollars was a direct result of his signing a three-year lease to build out a studio intended for future commercial projects, rather than focus on making //Axanar// right away with rented studio space he would only have needed for a few months.

Peters' attempt to monetize //Axanar// for his own benefit was a direct cause for the lawsuit, and the federal judge in the case ruled Peters had in fact [[fair_use_denied#peters_personally_profited|personally profited]] from intellectual property he did not own.

By the time he abandoned the beleaguered studio in mid-2017, Peters had spent nearly [[studio_move|three-quarters of a million dollars]] on his aborted Industry Studios.
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==== Making 'Axanar' After the Settlement ====

Peters repeated his story that in the wake of the settlement former //Axanar// director [[burnett_resigns|Robert Meyer Burnett]] and co-writer [[hunt_resigns|Bill Hunt]] had wanted to make the first 30 minutes of the planned feature film. Instead, Peters claimed, [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/axanarfansgroup/permalink/876674975842001/?__xts__[0]=68.ARCnuFi1uzjjoXlchPl5twb_kYSH3XxVWRRMhXzl9Zc4f1CF9_FSoXyDXUzZvS7Ix-Tkz4mnpviSfhQODilJ8-fOkXttFEaTsqaFKd1BA099gEQVDRA6DBhMOpZjZySCZs0jPaJHUL64&__tn__=-R|fans backed up]] his desire to produce the faux-documentary two additional episodes of "The Four Years War."

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<wrap lo><wrap em>FACT CHECK</wrap> **False**</wrap> As **AxaMonitor** reported in a previous fact-check, Peters [[axanar_atlanta_expo#ex_post_facto_fan_poll|did not tell the truth]] about when he decided to make Axanar Lite as sequels to //Prelude//. The fan poll to which he alludes actually took place nine months after he had decided to reject Burnett's and Hunt's idea. The poll, with its foregone conclusion, was posted a week after Burnett and Hunt had already announced their resignations.
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[{{ ::axanar_lite_poll.jpg?direct&300|**EX POST FACTO** The poll Alec Peters said made up his mind about Axanar Lite's format was conducted almost nine months //after// he'd already announced what he was doing.}}]

<wrap lo>**//See also:// [[burnett_resigns|Director Burnett Resigns from Axanar]] //and// [[hunt_resigns|Axanar Co-Writer Announces Departure]]**</wrap>

=== Returning Cast ===

Peters also announced at least two of //Prelude//'s cast would be returning, Gary Graham (Soval) and J.G. Hertzler (Admiral Travis). Both are scheduled to appear at November's [[sphinxcon|AxaCon]] convention. However, while both actors have publicly indicated interest, no deal appeared to have been signed as yet.

With regard to the rest of the cast, Peters wrote:

> We are <wrap hi>in discussions with Kate Vernon</wrap> to reprise her role of Sonya Alexander, and we are casting another 12 roles as we speak.(([[http://www.axanarproductions.com/axanar-production-update-august-2018/|Alec Peters, Axanar blog]], Axanar Productions website, 8/21/18. [//emphasis ours//]))

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<wrap lo><wrap em>FACT CHECK</wrap> **Misleading**</wrap> "In discussions" is a meaningless statement. Vernon has in fact avoided pledging herself to the Axanar shorts; her management has refused comment about her participation.
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[{{ ::band-of-brothers.jpg?300|**REVISIONIST HISTORY** The World War II saga, //Band of Brothers//, was cited by Alec Peters during the lawsuit as one of the inspirations for the story of //Prelude to Axanar//, not the British TV series, //The World at War//, which he claimed two years later. <wrap lo>//Image/HBO//</wrap>}}]

=== The World at War ===

Peters also wrote that the decision in 2014 to make //Prelude// in the format of a war documentary was inspired by the British television series, //The World at War// — an influence he had never before mentioned, even when it was in his interest to do so during the lawsuit, when his defense lawyers searched for any non-Star Trek inspiration they could find for the Axanar works.

At that time, instead, Peters and his attorneys pointed to [[summary_replies#inspirations_for_axanar|six specific works]] intended to distance //Axanar// from its Star Trek sources. None of those was //The World at War//.

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<wrap lo em>FACT CHECK</wrap> <wrap lo>**Incorrect**</wrap> //The World at War// was not a BBC series. It was   produced by Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in 1973 and 1974.(([[wp>The_World_at_War|Wikipedia, "The World at War"]], retrieved 8/22/18.)) {{:axamonitor-ico.gif?nolink|}}
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**Keywords**  {{tag>Axanar_Lite lawsuit settlement fact_check}}