Crowfunding a Veronica Mars movie

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Ok,

I have got a funny, crooked sense of taste. For example, I liked the Veronica Mars series when it aired on German TV. However, besides its die-hard fanbase, not a lot of people seemed to watch it.

But a few things have changed over the years, we got Kickstarter. And yes, there is a VM-compaign.

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

Do you think that this is a promising way of funding movies? I find the idea intriguing, I have to say. At least, someone was willing to donate 10,000 $ to play a one sentence waiter role in the movie.

[LiamKerrington]

"Iron Sky" is a very good example of a movie for how well crowd-funding can be for this part of the pop-culture.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Good point, Liam. Thanks for this little reminder.

[Osiris]

Yeah, I saw this pop up in my twitterfeed this morning. I'm a big fan of Veronica Mars, it was a fun take on the private dick genre, and I'm excited at the idea of seeing more because I liked the characters. But I don't think it's the best use of Kickstarter. I think crowdsourcing should be for getting projects off the ground that are worthwhile, benefit society, and make a difference. Not movies. That's what studios are for.

Now, I totally understand that sometimes a studio doesn't want to back a film. Ok. Fair enough. We're not talking about an unknown director, shooting a script by an unknown writer, with actors struggling to break into the business and get out of food services. That's a whole different ball game. I'm speaking about established directors, writers, and actors. Does the world need a Veronica Mars movie? No. But it would be nice. Will a Veronica Mars movie make the world a better place? No. It won't.

On the otherside of the coin, it gives fans a chance to be proactive, and help a feature get made that would otherwise sit on a shelf until the actors are too old to reprise the roles that made us love them (I'm looking at you, Carrie Fisher). It's a mixed bag of feelings for me. Part of me wants these people to stop begging, because that's what some of these projects seem to be. Maybe the studio doesn't want to back a Rob Thomas flick because his track record isn't good, and they don't believe he can put the asses into the seats to justify the budget. Some projects are best left dead.

The other part of me wants to see the underdog get the bone, and show the big dog a thing or two. I think it's a great tool for indie filmmakers, and there are some great projects that have come out of Kickstarter. But come on. Veronica Mars the movie? I can't get behind that one, and I'm a fan of the show. I'd rather see it used for documentaries that studios don't want to touch because it won't appeal to 83% or more of the theater demographic.

But hey . . . best of luck to them. If it's shot, I'll watch and they can get my money at the theater.

[LiamKerrington]

In all honesty: I don't like the recent development in which professionals start to dominate crowd-funding platforms like kickstarter or indiegogo ... I actually 'fell in love' with the idea that these platforms were for Aunt Urma and other ass-heads who just wanted to raise a few thousand dollars to make their small worlds' dreams come true - like, you know, the children and parents who need some cash to rent a room for a big costume party, the independent and yet unsuccessfull musician who wants to afford his first CD release, or the D&D fan who needs money to afford the IT-stuff in order to produce his own little D&D computer game orwhatnot.
Yes, true: Most kickstarter campagins are about those little things. But I have the bad feeling that the professional campaigns (which are about hundrets of thousands or even millions of dollars instead of a four or maybe five digit sum) COULD push the small guys away from kickstarter; I know, it could be the other way around as well. I just hope that the big time corwdfunding campaigns (remember the "Shadowrun", "OGRE", "Zombicide", "Sedition Wars", "Star Citizen", "Elite", "CLANG" and others ...) won't take over at the cost of the many small peeps ...

All the best!
Liam

[Osiris]

Other crowd sourced projects.

A Band Called Death
Best Kept Secret
Albania
Inocente (oscar winning short)

[Osiris]

Sweet Jesus, they've raised over $13,000 in about three hours.

Edit*

I'm stupid and can't read!

Over a million in four hours.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Well, Veronica Mars has passed the one million mark. Wow.

[Osiris]

I clearly don't pay close enough attention to some things.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

2.5 millions. Funding done.

[Osiris]

2.5 millions. Funding done.

2.5 in LESS than 24 hours. I've seen projects that seemed far more worthwhile (mostly documentaries) that took months to reach goals of less than a million. Projects by established filmmakers.

That said, everyone should start bombarding Joss Whedon and tell him he's out of excuses when it comes to another go at Firefly/Serenity. If Veronica Mars can get a second bite at the apple, there's no reason he can't.


And with that, I rail against my own argument. Lulz.