Largest Kickstarter campaign for a film yet (Veronica Mars)

J

jghenderson

Well-known member
This just went live today, and it's already at $1.2 million at the time of me posting this. Incredible

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project


Besides being a huge Veronica Mars fan myself, and obviously being really excited for this, I think this is just one more step in showing just how powerful fan funding can be. I mean this thing has gotten over a million dollars in ~12 hours. It could easily end up hitting $10 million. It's nice to see this being a viable option when studios turn something down.
 
Where was kickstarter when firefly needed it? I'd like to think the success here could be the end of the tradition of great shows getting axed.
 
True but a second season would have been better than a movie. The movie was great but had by necessity to be focussed like a movie. I wanted more Jayne. The mudders episode is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. The fan campaign got the movie eventually funded through more or less traditional means. These days the producers can go back to the network with a pot of gold rather than a petition.
 
Still not too late for more seasons. I'd like to see what happened after Serenity but we could also see before Season 1 or inbetween the season and Serenity. Really wanted to see the Blue Sun Corporation plotline come to full fruition.
 
Couldn't any TV or movie star with a popular Intellectual Property do this? I think the key here is the ownership of the Veronica Mars IP.

Oh, it' seems that Warner Brothers owns the IP, and made a deal with the creator Rob Thomas:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...reator-of-veronica-mars-turns-to-kickstarter/

So this isn't that "indie". None of this happens without the thumbs up from Warner Bros, and WB is one of the biggest distributors in town. Really this is a way to green light the project with no risk involved.

It didn't go down like, Warner Bros wont' make it, so we'll make it with the fans! It was more like WB said if you can raise 2 mill up front we'll make it, otherwise no deal.
 
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...crew-prove-demand-movie-via-kickstarter.shtml

"They need to hit $2 million to get the greenlight from Warner. The money will go into the budget of the film, which has the original actors and the show creator/writer returning (excitedly) to make this a reality after years of talking about the possibility but not having enough believers at Warner."

Ok, when I first saw the 10K kickstarter price for playing a waiter I was like, wtf? But turns out to be a pretty good deal for an aspiring actor to be guaranteed a part in a film distributed by WB.
 
Hmmm, two million goal? To make a big film? That is aiming low, which tells me they already have funding and this is just the cherry on top for somebody, likely Warner. They would have probably made the movie and profited anyhow, but now some fat producer has ransomed Veronica Lars to the people, as if they didn't get 2m it wouldn't be made. 2m is probably at most 1/10th of the budget if not significantly smaller. I don't think 2m was ever a 'do-or-die' number when the stakes are so large. Just a big fat cherry on top.
 
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David Jimerson said:
I guess it depends on how long Castle runs.
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Hopefully not too much longer. Nathan Fillion and his character are the only redeeming aspects of that show. Well, and the lighting. Bill Roe and Daryn Okada craft the look of those interiors beautifully.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
Hmmm, two million goal? To make a big film? That is aiming low, which tells me they already have funding and this is just the cherry on top for somebody, likely Warner. They would have probably made the movie and profited anyhow, but now some fat producer has ransomed Veronica Lars to the people, as if they didn't get 2m it wouldn't be made. 2m is probably at most 1/10th of the budget if not significantly smaller. I don't think 2m was ever a 'do-or-die' number when the stakes are so large. Just a big fat cherry on top.
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That was basically my take as well. It was probably a low priority project at WB and someone said, "Hey, what if we chip in a couple million?" to goose the project forward. And instead of going to investors (who would obviously want a piece of the action) they went to KS. Fans are paying WB to make the movie, then will be subsequently charged to see the movie in theaters, and won't get a cut of any of the profits (of course due to Hollywood account there are never profits anyway). This is pretty much free money for WB. The KS page says the campaign was okayed by WB as a way to gage fan interset. Really? I'm sure fan interest is easy to gage w/o the need for fans to give money to WB. Some how fan interest in shows like Family Guy, Futurama and Arrested Development was able to be evaluated without money changing hands...


-Andrew
 
Gillvane said:
It didn't go down like, Warner Bros wont' make it, so we'll make it with the fans! It was more like WB said if you can raise 2 mill up front we'll make it, otherwise no deal.
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How is that not the same thing? Warner Brothers said no. So they went to the fans, and the fans have now given them the cash to make it, so it will get made...
 
Gord.T said:
Oh. Before I go, gotta throw a plug in for http://www.twitch.tv/melly7070

Ooookay.
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Good idea. This is a friend of mine's campaign:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/serialkickers/archmount-the-sturdy-ultraportable-tripod-mount-fo

This may now become a studios new means of alternative gap financing.

Pretty amazing at the speed of how it went down. But not surprised they reached their goal on a popular Property like this.

I assumed that Kevin Smith would go this route at some point and raise mad money for his projects.

-M
 
Egg Born Son said:
True but a second season would have been better than a movie. The movie was great but had by necessity to be focussed like a movie. I wanted more Jayne. The mudders episode is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. The fan campaign got the movie eventually funded through more or less traditional means. These days the producers can go back to the network with a pot of gold rather than a petition.
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I'm not sure a crowdfunding campaign would keep a show on the air; it's a totally different model.

Fund it to be shown as webisodes? Possibly, but that would take tens of millions just for production.
 
Barry_Green said:
How is that not the same thing? Warner Brothers said no. So they went to the fans, and the fans have now given them the cash to make it, so it will get made...
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Call me cynical but I don't think Warner said no. I think Warner said, let's grab a quick 2 mill from kickstarter before we go into production. It's sitting there on the table, why not pick it up? I don't think they pulled the 2 mill number out of thin air, and I don't think that's the number needed for production. I think that's the number Warner accountants said was a safe bet off of kickstarter after they crunched the numbers, plus it's free publicity. Warner is HUGE, one of the biggest film distribution companies out there. They have very smart people working for them.

The fans didn't "give them the cash to make it". The fans purchased some pre-sold DVDs and what not. This is going to cost more than 2 mill to make and Warner will be paying the bills, calling the shots, and reaping the profits if any.

If the movie turns out well I bet Warner spends more than 2 million just on promotion and advertising.

Why would any Distributor not pre-sell DVDs and get some free publicity if they can do it? I think the fan base is particularly suited for a kickstarter in this instance and works for the narrative of "hey we can't make it without you the fans!" more so than say a new Transformers film, but I don't see this as anything but Hollywood marketing and using the existing new crowd funding tools to their best advantage to make 'mo money, 'mo money! Which is not a bad thing. I'm all for it. It's a great way to get your audience involved and invested (financially and emotionally) before you even go into production.

The people you see in the kickstarter are actors. Is it possible that Warner approached them with the kickstarter idea rather than the other way around?
 
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