The Nebula controversy surrounding fan-produced Star Trek: Phase II is an awards tempest in a writers' teapot but it points to a looming change in perspective over what constitutes 'professional' in the age of the Web.

As co-executive producer of Star Trek: Phase II (formerly New Voyages) I was as surprised as anyone last week to discover that the board of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) voted unanimously to name our latest episode, "World Enough and Time" (we affectionately call it WEaT), to the final ballot for the coveted Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Script.

With that nomination — the furthest any Star Trek product has made in the Nebula process ever — Phase II joins such notable professional productions last year as Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Dr. Who, The Prestige, and V for Vendetta. This should be good news, right?

Well, it's all a matter of perspective, and it all hinges on that word professional. Naming Phase II as a professional production qualified the writers of WEaT, Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves, for the Nebula Award. It also has the by-product of endangering our whole show, which has been produced for years with CBS/Paramount turning a blind eye to what we've been doing as long as we didn't make any money. And we haven't. Trust me, my empty wallet testifies to that reality.

Marc Zicree pleaded with the SFWA board of directors to make WEaT eligible for the Nebula. In doing so, he characterized our production in a way that doesn't quite jell with my understanding. According to the UK blog, Den of Geek:

Now World Enough and Time director Marc Zicree has weighed in with his point of view in a statement prepared for the SFWA. The argument he constructs is interesting in itself... but what's more interesting is how incredibly candid he is about how connected Phase II actually is. The show's fannish producers, lead by Kirk actor James Cawley, have traditionally been tight lipped about the privileged position Phase II and New Voyages before it enjoys with the studio. Not Zicree.

He tells us that World Enough and Time was produced with the full co-operation and knowledge of Paramount and CBS (from "Business Affairs on down"), that he was given directorial advice by no less than J.J. Abrams while shooting the show and that several key personnel were paid for their involvement - including George Takei, and Zicree himself.

The SFWA board acceded to Marc Zicree's plea, mostly because their bylaws have never bothered to really define what 'professionally produced' actually means. But that's a far cry from Marc's characterization of our show being “produced with the [studio's] full cooperation and knowledge.” See, I don't believe we have been tight-lipped about the extent of involvement by industry professionals in our production. Trust me, a tour of our press releases over the past few years confirms that. And our so-called position of privilege really only extends as far as Paramount allowing us our fun as long as we don't make money from it. And that benign neglect extends to all fan films, like Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (where I was also a writer and producer), Starship Exeter, Intrepid, Farragut and the others.

So there are no secrets being revealed by Marc's public plea for Phase II's professional status; consider that Marc has a vested interest in portraying the show as professionally produced – he (not the production itself, mind you; the award is only for the script) can now win a Nebula. And I own the fact the we have a vested interest in remaining non-professional – our agreement with Paramount is that we can't be professional (i.e., earn money) and continue producing our show. But in a pro vs. non-pro contest, I'll put my empty wallet up against the empty space on Marc's mantle any day. It would be a shame if the Nebula controversy ended up as a pyrrhic victory – Marc gets his award and the show is shut down by Paramount.

It also highlights a looming change in perspective that needs to acknowledge that the democratization of creative production, thanks to technology and Web-based distribution, has blurred the line between professional and amateur. That's a controversy I welcome. In the meantime, can we lose the term fanfessional (fan + professional)? Sounds like I've committed a crime I should be 'fessing up to. And I haven't. Not yet, anyway.