There's an interesting project that launched on Kickstarter this week. The creator of the cult TV show Veronica Mars and the lead actress have launched a project to make The Veronica Mars Movie. In one day, the project has raised $2.5mm (as of 6:15am eastern). This is $500k more than the project goal of $2mm meaning the film will be shot this summer. It is also the largest film project on Kickstarter ever. The previous biggest film project on Kickstarter was around $800k.
This project is interesting in a number of ways. First of all, it shows that film projects can raise real budgets. I know you can make a film on $800k. But when you can raise $2.5mm (likely a lot more as this project has another 29 days to go), then you do a lot more with a film project.
But it is also interesting to see the power of a loyal audience. Veronica Mars was a cult TV show. It only ran two years. But it had a rabid fan base. And those fans are coming out in droves to make this movie a reality. There have been over 40,000 backers in the past day (including me).
The rewards they came up with are also worth checking out. One fan paid $10,000 for a speaking role in the movie. All of the expensive and limited rewards categories sold out very early on in the project. That tells you something right there.
Like the big gadget and video game projects that hit Kickstarter last year, this will likely open a lot of eyes to the power of the crowdfunding model. Financing your project via your loyal fans opens up a lot of possibilities to the producer, including creative control and distribution control. I suspect this will lead to a lot more creativity and experimentation than has been possible with the studio model. And that is a very good thing.
