January 30 2019
Ares Studios Patreon has dominated the chatter over the last week as it continues doing what it does.
Ares Studios has reached the $1,000 per month mark bringing the total to over 25% of the $4,000 goal.
A good portion of the chatter about the Patreon efforts is that while Patreon is doing well, it is still well short of the success Axanar Productions had when they ran Indiegogo Kickstarter campaigns.
There are 73,000 subscribers on YouTube and 72,000 likes on Facebook and based on those numbers $4,000 shouldn’t be hard to get especially when lots of people know the campaign exists.
It feels that the $4,000 a month bill is a hill and the $200,000 for Axanar is a mountain, the former is easier to do than the latter.
The Ares Studios made, Axanar channel shown videos aren’t doing too bad on YouTube though after the December 27 video reached 100,000+ views, the next best video since then is at just over 38,000 views which is a sizable gap.
Jonathan wrote an apology to detractors after his 65 detractor count was disproved but he was back to business of taking people on or being what people describe as really sarcastic or very condescending by the time he was done writing his apology.
The Axamonitor FB group response to that piece came from Sandy aka Sando as Jonathan called on FFF.
As you will see, the words are flying thick and fast and there is the danger that once everyone gets name calling, the message either side is sending will be lost in the craziness that follows.
There is a couple of questions that have to be asked, why are people expected to help pay for Ares Studios when there is a chance that Ares Studios will not be used? I ask this after the two paragraphs below came from Part 1 and 2 of Jonathan’s interview with Alec.
It sounds like the Axanar production will not touch Ares Studios unless there is money in the kitty to film bridge scenes otherwise it is shot in two different locations (unless Ares is ‘another studio in Atlanta‘).
So is paying the $4,000 a month in rent and utilities for Ares Studios a leap of faith in hoping that Axanar Productions will rake in $200,000 so they can make Axanar and film at Ares?
The whole thing reminds me of the CCR classic ‘Fortunate Son’
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer “More! More! More!” yoh.
Maybe Jonathan will swing on by and answer the questions for us, it has been a while since he has visited and since he clears things with Alec before talking anything Axanar we will get the best possible answer.
Until next time, be good to each other.
Mentioning Trekkie Mentions 
“So is paying the $4,000 a month in rent and utilities for Ares Studios a leap of faith in hoping that Axanar Productions will rake in $200,000 so they can make Axanar and film at Ares?”
More of a primer, actually. Having the bridge set means being able to film extra, exclusive scenes from Axanar not available on YouTube and only available to donors. As such, it’s another incentive to people to donate (privately). And since Alec can’t offer traditional crowd-funding perks through Kickstarter and Indiegogo this time, a more creative approach to encouraging and motivating donations will be used this time.
Oh, and I wrote the above paragraph without any help from Alec whatsoever! 🙂 I’m curious, T, why did you lie and say “he clears things with Alec before talking anything Axanar”? Did you want to be known as a liar on your own blog? That’s more of a Matt Miller thing…at least in my opinion.
The only time I clear things with Alec first when writing about Axanar is when I’m presenting something which might be insider/confidential information that I’m not certain that Alec would want shared publicly. For instance, I check with Alec before discussing casting choices and who is signed for the next two films. I check with Alec before listing what items will need to be paid for when producing the next two films…as mentioning certain things might give away plans that Alec isn’t yet ready to reveal to donors. I signed an NDA, which I honor. Any confidential information that isn’t already publicly revealed is to be kept confidential unless first cleared for publication or public sharing. Granted, the only “teeth” the NDA has is damages, and it would be hard to prove those in court if Alec even bothered to do so. But signing an NDA is more of an “honor” thing. I made Alec a promise, and I intend to keep it. For other people, their promises might not be as important to them. For me, honoring my promises and commitments are part of who I am. It’s why I have such disdain for people who choose to be dishonest.
Considering how difficult it is to reach Alec lately–what with his new job requiring a 5-hour one-way commute through rural areas that don’t have great cell coverage, along with all of the work he’s doing at Ares Studios and producing new YouTube content for the Axanar channel at the moment–it’s not practical for me to run everything I write about Axanar past Alec first.
Feel free to correct the record publicly at the beginning of your next blog post, T, since I know you’d rather not be known publicly as a liar.
P.S. – I also noticed you included my apology for saying there are only 65 detractors, but you inexplicably left out the actual number I corrected it to: 80 detractors. I’m curious why you made that “decision of omission.” Were you embarrassed that the 80 number is still pretty low compared to the 73K YouTube subscribers or even the 120 Patreon backers giving money to Alec Peters each month? If you wouldn’t mind answering one of my questions, as I answered yours, I’d certainly appreciate knowing what was going through your mind leaving out the 80 completely while choosing to include all of those many numbers about Axanar.
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Precious,
It’s late. Go spend time with your wife. She misses you.
Oh, wait… still sleeping on the couch?
Well, then, by all means… carry on.
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I am very happy to answer your questions and I will to the best of my ability and give detail.
The NDA comment was actually based on what you said on Fan Film Factor when writing as Fan Film Factor discussed NDA’s with Johnpaul LeBrun.
I submit it to you and fellow readers below in screenshot form.
I also submit to readers the comment in its original form, my apologies for the length of time needed to find it.
Your words in the post say ‘Everything I report about Axanar is cleared by Alec Peters.’
If it wasn’t for that screenshot, you could of shouted to the world that I was lying and people close to Axanar would of readily accepted it as I would have nothing but my own word that I had seen what I saw.
You really don’t like Matt, you have name dropped him in a couple of your FFF comments posts since December when talking to somebody other than Matt.
There was no ‘decision of omission’ on the number count, you said 65, it passed 65, you apologised and that is it and if anybody wants to know your new total, the total of which is now at 84 despite somebody putting down 81 after 83 then that’s the number they’re going to get in the future.
The number doesn’t embarrass me at all as the whole 65 detractors party line was what that you brought up to the general public and so it was noted and let’s not forget you wrote the apology and upgraded the tally to 80 on your own free will.
Now to turn the tables, are you embarrassed that out of all the numbers mentioned only 120 people have raised their hand and donated (or will at the beginning of February) out of the 73,000 people that you mentioned? 120 people is a pretty low number compared to 73,000.
Thank you for coming this afternoon, I know you don’t like to come but it is good when you decide to.
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So, Precious…
What happened?
You had so much to say and so many answers to questions you wanted, you seemed to have gone radio silent.
Noticing that you’re not responding to any of the posts on this blog, anymore.
I wonder why that is.
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Everyone should try to refrain from calling Jonathan ‘Precious’ at the very least here on MTM.
I am sure Jonathan will come back eventually, in fact I think links to his articles always make him investigate so let’s try it.
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“120 Patreon backers giving money to Alec Peters each month”
When you accuse somebody of lying and then lie yourself. It can’t be “each month” because it hasn’t even been a month yet. Actually, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt there as, having read a few of his posts, the guy is clearly not as intelligent as he thinks he is.
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Jackpot!
Precious literally posted the other day that they have $13,000 for the year (well short of the $48,000 target) when the reality is that they have a little over a thousand bucks for THE month, not PER month… because that’s how Patreon works… on a month-to-month basis.
You don’t extrapolate for the year with Patreon. Sometimes it’s diffcult to tell whether or not Precious is just lying or really is just as ignorant as he comes off. He certainly thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room when he rarely has insight into anything.
And not for nothing, but if his Master Alec Peters keeps on posting boring, choppy videos where he whines the whole time about Star Trek: Discovery, the meanies at CBS and the meanies who are critical of him while the audience gets to experience the joy of looking up his nostrils as he removes comments he doesn’t like and calls people trolls for questioning him, I wouldn’t expect that number to stay even at the 25% mark for very long.
I mean, seriously, how long will people willingly give him money to not produce anything of substance?
He’s playing to an echo-chamber (as usual) right now when he needs new donors or, hell… how about just a good chunk of the 13,000 unique donors that gave to Prelude/Axanar?
But, no… of course they’re gone and they’re not coming back. I mean, would you?
This guy blows $1.5 million in fan donations and is asking for a second handout in two years to keep the lights on and pay the rent… for a facility that the vast majority of these former donors will receive no benefit for.
And we’re not even talking about funding the two fifteen minute shorts.
If he can’t handle this, does anyone REALLY think that he can raise the $200,000 for those shorts?
Well, I’m sure Precious’ faith won’t be shaken.
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Well, he wouldn’t be the first guy to earn cash from little more than appearing on YouTube, perhaps this time next year he’ll be peddling LOL Dolls, but this current approach now has a limited shelf life. His loyal followers will continue to give what they can, and who are we to tell them how to spend their dollars, but if he makes rent this month I don’t see it happening the next. And after relocating to the smaller site that will still need paying for so after that….?
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