Earlier, Paramount/CBS have released guidelines for fan films, on the face of it, this looks like good news on the face of it. You can read their announcement here, where they also link to the guidelines. The most confusing part of what has been written is that even if you follow all of the guidelines set out, it does not act as a license or approval, so if Paramount/CBS don't like the production, they can still shut it down.

The guidelines themselves can only be described as draconian. Starting with fan creations are only allowed to be 15 minutes long, or 2 segments but can't exceed 30 minutes and are not allowed to be any form of series, squeal or a remake, this is limiting as to creativity but if you can manage that rule, you can't put 'Star Trek' in the title of your creation. The only way to identify it as a fan creation is to have 'A STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTION' as a subtitle in a plain typeface.

If that doesn't stifle creation itself, some of the other rules will, such the fifth which states that 'The fan production must be a real “fan” production' no one can work on the fan creation if they are working on or previously worked on a Star Trek production. The former I would say is acceptable, but the latter means that once you've worked on something Star Trek related, you can no longer create a fan production under these guidelines. The other sticking point to this is that the actors and everyone else must be amateurs, maybe good to get your career off the ground but what about that mid-point or if you want to make a more professional feel to it, it'll be a struggle.

To finish on the points, I'll end on the one that amused me in that the fan creation 'must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation' which lists alcohol and harmful or illegal activity among the things which can't be included. All of which have been shown on screen within the many Star Trek series and films, all of the restrictions can be very loosely interpreted. This means, no fan creations about Ferengi smuggling Romulan Ale, for example!

In closing, I think I have made my own opinion very clear, although I do agree that some of the rules they have put in are acceptable, such as on screen notices during credits and fans not trying to copyright or claim the work if they are using Paramount/CBS trademarks. However overall I believe that these guidelines are bad for creativity. What do you think about the rules they have put forward for fan creations? Do you think it's fair?

WRITTEN & EDITED BY Three of Seven - rena.hobden@ufplanets.com