Note to Zack Braff: Kickstarter is for STARTING SOMETHING...
Kickstarter and the Machine...
I remember when I heard about some of the first projects funded by Kickstarter. They were innovative, fun and conservative in their goals. I can't personally state the financial stability of each project creator, but the trend from what I know is that they were crowd funded because they DIDN'T have the money or a megaphone to speak to a large audience. Here is an example of one of the first projects; local, small and didn't yet have a monetization model. A few years later projects are funding in the millions and amazing products, services and creative endeavours are born form the collective support of people on the interweb.
In comes Rob Thomas and the Veronica Mars dream (VMD). He had a script and a history of fan support but, the studio didn't have faith in the project.
“Warner Bros. wasn’t convinced there was enough interest to warrant a major studio-sized movie about Veronica and the project never got off the ground,” Thomas writes on his Kickstarter page for the film. The studio agreed to let him try a Kickstarter campaign and to distribute and market the film if the campaign was successful. I get it and many other people did too. It was a great way to engage the fan base and prove that people really love Veronica. I agree with:
1. Proof of fan support and potentially as a way to help fund a project depending on how the deal is laid out. It is absurd to think it's ok for a studio or professionally working producer to get funding for a project from people who don't get anything in return other than to get to see the film for free. Then the studio and/or producer get the lionshare of the profits on going in perpetuity. Not cool.....
2. Innovates and democratized the funding model. Perhaps in the future, the studio gets fans/movie goers to pre-purchase their tickets to a film before it's made and they get access to that production companies projects in advance to regular audiences for life. Just throwin out ideas here! This does exactly what the Mars campaign does; gives the financial backer reassurance there is a market for what they are going to create.
3. Gives creators around the world the ability to reach and influence millions, creating global communities that can do amazing things.
What the VMD did was push the view of what is possible with Kickstarter. The democratization of content funding and engagement is amazing, but it's not a one stop shop to fund projects that could have otherwise been funded elsewhere.
In the country, the US of A, with little to no government arts funding, I can understand why this is such an attractive way to get money. That being said, the US also has a very healthy marketplace for content, one of the strongest in the world. There are tons of companies funding movies, TV shows and new multi-platform projects.
In comes Zack Braff and his quest to make a follow up to Garden State, Wish I was here. In a note on his Kickstarter page, Braff explained that he had nearly signed a typical financing goal for the new project. "Financing an independent film the traditional way often means having to give away your right to 'the final cut,' casting choices, location choices and cutting down your script to make it shoot-able on the cheapest budget possible," he said. "What if there is a different way?"
Ok, soooo, I'm just going to put it out there. How about you finance it yourself, Zack - you have more than enough money and really believe in the project. You have been wanting to make it forever and you clearly have a fan base. Zack's current net worth is estimated at 22 million.
How will there be an equitable balance between the 30K plus funders and the filmmaker? Will you give the movie out for free after it's done? Who will make the money going forward? There are so many questions that come from the "uncool" use of such a cool platform for a project that can already be funded...I don't want to focus on Braff's use of Kickstarter, but I don't think he should get the money and we should use this as a case study for how people like Braff can use a system like Kickstarter in a way that is a reflection of the community it has become. Kickstarter is going to evolve and reflect it's users, it's projects and ideally the core principle of community collaboration for good!
FYI: Check out the breakdown of Zack's dollars here.
