Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: entertainment, fan film, film, movie, power rangers

Go! Go! Power Lawyers! – Look! It Moves! by Adi Tantimedh

Adi Tantimedh writes,

I was idly observing geek culture's latest storm in a coffee mug this week, which is the Power Rangers fan film kerfuffle.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDKR_2HqymU[/youtube]

On Monday morning of last week, Adi Shankar, producer of Dredd, The Grey and Lone Survivor, posted the 14-minute film on Vimeo and YouTube for all to see. It was essentially a Watchmen-ised version of the Power Rangers with tits, blood and gore, and generally a grim and gritty update of the series starring James Van Der Beek (who also has a co-writing credit on the script) and Katee Sackoff. Shankar stated on his own YouTube Channel that he was a childhood fan of the show but realised when he grew up that the Power Rangers were really child soldiers recruited to fight a war, and would not have happy lives because of that. Joseph Khan directed the short in a week but took over nine months to complete it in post-production, since it was made with a tiny budget and many of the cast and crew worked on it as a favour.

By Tuesday, Saban Entertainment, the owner of the Power Rangers franchise, had gotten their lawyers issuing cease-and-desist letters against the film and it was removed from Vimeo and YouTube. Both Shankar and Khan decried this as an attack on creative freedom vowed to fight the injunction. The short also ended up on torrent sites. Shankar continued to host the short on his facebook page.

Personally, I don't care about Power Rangers one way or another, but what does interest me is the culture of reaction around this mess. As expected, the internet was filled with fans accusing Saban of being a bully, that the fans were entitled to a dark and gritty fan movie. Many fans are completely ignorant of intellectual property law. Fan fiction and fan films have always existed at the leisure and discretion of the property's rights owners. Every Marvel and DC fan film and fan art, every fan film and art, piece of fan fiction of any pop culture franchise that's not in public domain is a violation of copyright law. Just because the rights owners chose not to sue does not mean the films, art or fan fiction in question was not violating copyright or trademark law. Legal cease-and-desists are entirely at the discretion of the rights owners, and some companies might have decided they didn't want to piss off the fanbase and let the fan fics go on. That said, there have been plenty of fan films that were removed by legal letters. I used to come across Marvel, DC and video game character fan films seeking funding on Kickstarter and Indiegogo that were hammered by legal letters because the filmmakers were actively seeking money to make their films. Most of the time, rights owners let fan films go ahead as long as the filmmakers didn't try to sell them.

On the other hand, a fan film might be regarded by the rights owners as potentially damaging to the property and the brand itself, which Saban probably felt was the case with Power/Rangers. The series is aimed at children, and there was the possibility that Shankar and Khan's film might confuse or damage perception of the franchise since Saban is currently working with Lionsgate to develop a blockbuster theatrical movie that will be family-friendly. Most of the time, companies turn a blind eye to fan films, art and fiction by taking a "We can't sue if we don't know it exists" approach. Something like Power/Rangers became impossible for Saban to ignore when the film was blowing up on social media and being written up by just about every imaginable media and pop culture news site. Saban might have felt they had no choice but to set their lawyers after it because to not pursue it might set a precedent for anyone and everyone to make fan films and render the copyright and trademark void, placing the property in the public domain, which would mean tens of millions of dollars in future earnings lost. Fans can accuse Saban of being a bully or a philistine all they like, but the company had every right under the law to do this. Just because you want something doesn't always mean you can have it.

The stage was set for a protracted and very expensive court case.

Then on Saturday morning, Deadline Hollywood reported that both sides had reached an amicable agreement and the film was back on Vimeo and YouTube with the proviso that a disclaimer was added to Vimeo that the film was not an official Power Rangers movie, not for profit and free to stream, and the YouTube page added an age barrier. I'm sure nobody wanted to go through a lawsuit where both sides would not end up looking good no matter who won.

So Saban has to grin and bear it while Shankar and Khan can say they won. The fans who liked the R-rated grimdark fan film can say they won. They can claim a victory for disposable pop culture and silly fan films.

But let's raise a glass to the real winners:

The lawyers.

The lawyers representing both sides.

They're the only ones who profited from the film.

Always lawyering up at lookitmoves@gmail.com

Follow the official LOOK! IT MOVES! twitter feed at http://twitter.com/lookitmoves for thoughts and snark on media and pop culture, stuff for future columns and stuff I may never spend a whole column writing about.

Look! It Moves! © Adisakdi Tantimedh

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