2ND UPDATE, 5:55 PM: It took just 10 hours for Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell‘s Veronica Mars movie to zoom past its Kickstarter goal of $2 million, with a full 30 days to go to raise additional cash on the crowdfunding site. That’s testament to the power of a cult fandom to rally behind a property, even if some are wary of the precedent it sets for studios entering (and profiting from) the crowdfunding space. It will be interesting to see how Warner Bros. pitches in as Thomas eyes a summer start. I’m told the extent of WB’s involvement at present is in aiding with distribution, marketing, publicity and legal via Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, which will help with a limited theatrical release followed by On Demand via cable and satellite providers as well as digital retailers.
PREVIOUS, 12:30 PM: Only four and a half hours into its fundraising campaign, the Veronica Mars movie became the fastest to hit $1 million in Kickstarter history. Tweeted the crowdfunding platform: @kickstarter: Wow. Veronica Mars (@RobThomas @IMKristenBell) reached $1m in 4 hours 24 minutes, a new Kickstarter record. Looks like the cult series could reach its goal even faster than anticipated. $2 million by suppertime?
PREVIOUS, 10:54 AM: Fans of the UPN-CW cult series Veronica Mars have been hoping for a big-screen return since the show was cancelled after three seasons in 2007. After years of dead ends, an official Kickstarter campaign launched by creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell this morning is gaining traction at a rate so fast a Veronica Mars movie could be funded by tomorrow. According to Thomas, rights holder Warner Bros gave its blessing if at least $2 million was raised for the project via crowdsourcing. “Kristen and I met with the Warner Bros brass, and they agreed to allow us to take this shot”, Thomas wrote on the project’s fundraising page. “They were extremely cool about it, as a matter of fact. Their reaction was, if you can show there’s enough fan interest to warrant a movie, we’re on board”. If funded, the pic will shoot this summer eyeing a 2014 release, with Warner Bros aiding in distribution.
Kickstarter is primarily used by artists seeking backing for independent productions, and not studio-connected projects. Warner Bros resisted giving Thomas a green light on continuing Veronica Mars for years despite its loyal and vocal fandom, which mobilized grassroots efforts of support when ratings flagged in the series’ last season and again after its cancellation. Pledge prizes offered by the Veronica Mars Kickstarter range from a PDF of the shooting script for $10 to a speaking role in the film — which was snagged within the first hour of the campaign for $10,000. Donation levels also include a personalized video message from Bell, a digital copy of the finished film via Flixster, a private hometown screening, set visits during filming, and the chance to name a character in the film.
Here’s a video made by Bell and the Veronica Mars cast promoting the campaign:
Related: New Law Could Boost Crowdsourcing As Viable Film Finance Option
Related: David Fincher & Blur Studios Stump For ‘The Goon’ Funds On Kickstarter
Oh man, what this is gonna bring now. Watch out.
I know we can raise $5 million for a feature film based on “TheShield”!
We’ve got to get Ronnie Gardocki out of jail.
Paging Michael Chiklis…..
Randy F, HELL YES!!! Ive seen the entire Shield series twice…i was even an extra…well, a dead one…i got shot in the head in a drive-by in season 4. Glenn Close held up a picture of my dead body while she briefed her force…proudest day of my life.
What I would love to see if a Shield/24 cross-over where Jack Bauer returns to LA after Kim and his grand-daughter are kidnapped…he then enlists the help of Vic Mackey with the promise that Mackey will get a job with CTU and out of that terrible cubicle they stuck him in.
Really bad precedent. All these crowd sourced projects are just going to encourage the studios to invest even less in development. Bad news in the short term, but the good news is it will come back to bite the studios in the long run.
THANK YOU!
The twitterverse is thrilled but while this is great for “Veronica Mars” and fans, it’s going to do exactly what you’re saying it will.
“Veronica Mars” has the benefit of a really rabid fan base. I hope this happens. THIS. Just this. It should not become a new trend.
It’s not going to be just this. The studios have already concentrated their efforts on properties with an established brand or fanbase. It’s incredibly difficult for anyone, no matter how successful, to get a completely original movie made. If this succeeds, I can almost guarantee that the standard studio reponse to a pitch will be: “Why don’t you run a campaign on Kickstarter and see if you can build a groundswell based around a short/comic/novel/video game?”
In the short term this is going to hurt. Studios will cut investment in new material yet further. In the long term it will be great, and here’s why. Distribution is already opening up. It’s going to take a few more years, but with Vimeo’s pay-per-view, Xbox, etc. we’ll be able to reach billions of people independent of any studio distribution. Development has long been the producer’s problem, so if the studios outsource financing, the only thing they have left to do is marketing. In a world where everyone is networked, the costs of marketing are extremely low and someone will come up with a smart model that enables movies to mass market extremely cheaply. Let’s face it, Kickstarter is a pretty awesome built-in marketing campaing. Pretty soon, the studios’ only USP will be the ability to write huge checks and finance summer tentpoles. But if the market moves on to television, cable and more interesting independently produced movies, there might not be the audience to support the mega-blockbuster model.
Short term gain for the studios is ultimately going to be a long term loss.
I think Hollywood insiders like these people behind Veronica Mars will horn in on kickstarter as a great PR vehicle and a way of establishing credibility with the studios – look, we have an insane fan base! – regardless of whether they need the funds – and there’s a risk that the intended purpose of kickstarter, to be used by people who are genuinely not Hollywood insiders, will be subverted and funds redirected from true indie projects to reviving some show that got prematurely cancelled.
If Joss ever does a Firefly kickstarter project, watch out!
Firefly got the rare chance to shed it’s low ratings and series cancellation and make the jump to the big screen…where it failed again. The only hope for this show is for it to exist as a web series or Netflix owned TV show. Or for it to live on in comic books and novelizations. Nathan Fillion is the star of an ABC series now, I doubt he’s going to give that up.
It’s all exciting and fun but the investors that sustain an industry do it for a return on their money, not for swag. I suspect that Kickstarter’s about to become a “Pet Semetary” for shows that died natural deaths and now come clumping back into our lives older, fatter, slower, and on shoestring budgets.
It’s raised a half million dollars in the past 2 1/2 hours. Fan of the show or not, this feels like a real potential sea change.
Raised nearly $800k in the first few hours, crazy and a bit surprising.
What a cool idea for such a fan-based property. Kudos to Thomas and other producers for getting this off the ground.
If the fans don’t like the movie can they get their money back?
As of 2:12PM EST, they have $815,000 in pledges so far… Wow. I enjoyed this show and have also donated. The CW was wrong for cancelling the show. Especially when many of the shows they air now can’t even get the numbers “Veronica Mars” got when it was considered “Low Rated”.
Yeah, I remember that season. They canceled VM and Gilmore Girls (in that case because Alexis Bledel didn’t want to renew her contract) and almost none of the new shows could match their numbers.
I love the idea of a Veronica Mars movie, but this disgusts me….using Kickstarter to offset the budget of a film so Warner Bros can make a profit…gross.
I agree. I don’t want to be that guy and state if Kristen Bell/Rob Thomas really wanted a Veronica Mars movie to be made and needed 2 million for it, they could just pay on their own. Kickstarter is good for indie guys and artists trying to get much needed funding for their projects, not so a major film studio can create some good interactive marketing while saving a few bucks.
So can you be prosecuted for stealing it if you helped pay for it?
This kind of thing is actually good for those cult-fan projects that won’t get the help from the Studios unless interest can be proven in real dollars and cents. I’d say that financing the project ($2 million) in two days would be a strong inticator of interest in the “Veronica Mar Movie” project.
I contributed because I want to see these characters get a conclusion to their stories. Plus, anything that has Jason Dorhing in it…I’m there.
Never understood the appeal of Dohring. Always thought he was the weakest link on VM. And when I saw him on that Vampire-pedophile show, “Moonlight”, I thought the same.
I think crowdfunding is awesome. Even better if Equity Crowdfunding becomes legal as a result of the Jobs Act. Then the people who donate will actually have some sort of investment and particiation in the profits. Now that’s a new way to make a movie!
Great point.
I thought Kickstarter was for charity and “good” causes. These people are donating money to the rich. Hope they realize that soon.
Really sad that the studios are starting to do this. Now how is this public money going to be split upon return?
Kickstarter has nothing to do with charity for good causes, it’s always been about getting projects done.
In this case, and many others, they aren’t doing the movie as a “donation” it’s more of an expensive pre-order for a digital version of the movie with limited edition t-shirt and a copy of the script.
“Pledge $35 or more
You will receive a digital version of the movie within a few days of the movie’s theatrical debut, plus the T-shirt, plus the pdf of the shooting script. Naturally, you will also receive regular updates and behind-the-scenes scoop throughout the fundraising and movie making process.”
Exactly! They are giving the people who donate something in return, so it’s not like they’re taking money from the people. Also, people are not REQUIRED to give, so if people want to give money to the rich, let them.
Great for Rob Thomas that he can still do so much after Matchbox 20.
Just kidding.
In all honesty, it’s great that this project is happening, and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it. Right now they’re doing it through WB because of rights and distribution, but soon enough we’ll be seeing projects like this get crowd funding just to be released online. Hopefully people gravitate towards great projects and not just internet memes or a four hour theatrical cat video.
Cat videos don’t cost $35.
It’s all perspective. I don’t consider this ‘donating money to the rich’. Rather, it’s a huge pre-sale event. For $35 you can pre-order a copy of the script, a t-shirt, and a digital download of the movie. That’s not a bad deal. The brilliance of this is that you know if there is enough interest before any money has to be spent. In this case, the people behind Veronica Mars have over 10,000 pre-orders for digital/DVD/Blu-ray before production even starts.
Studios do NOT need money from the public and should NOT take money from the public. Take $2 mil from average joes and make million$… damn Hollywood.
Leave crowdfunding for the struggling artists, students, etc.
What they need to be offering is a share in the back-end profits. No risk for WB should mean no reward.
No risk for warners? Do you think they’re going to make the movie for 2 million dollars? The episodes cost that much probably…
Exactly WB is putting a lot of money into this also they just needed to see there was a fan base for it. The show was cancelled because of it’s ratings, it would be a huge gamble and stupid move to make the movie without something like this backing it up.
I don’t think people also realize what kind of rewards there are for this. Even just for ten dollars you get the script before the movie is even out.
I don’t think you realize that WB has been selling this show not only in the US but internationally since it went off the air. They might not have made back every penny the second it hit airwave or even the second it was cancelled but she show is seen around the world so let’s not act like WB is taking such a huge risk. Also, if they were so worried about risk don’t you think they would reconsider many of the movies they have released in the last 2 years?
makes me think i should watch the show… i always thought of it as some crappy HS girl show. though, party down was genius so i dunno why i haven’t given it a try before.
You should absolutely watch it. I think it’s on Netflix.
Hasn’t been on Netflix for a while, but it is on TheWB.com.
http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars
Def not… its an awesome show!!! I always saw it as like Nancy Drew meets Gilmore Girls meets Dawsons Creek… lmao its a little bit of everything… important issues like school shootings and suicide but a bit of mystery and the close relationship of father and daughter like (alexis and lauren) have on GG.
Well now Buffy fans should do this…
only problem is all the guys have gotten fat. fat vampires are just sad.
If only Sarah Michelle Gellar were on board.. but she quit after season 7 and there ain’t no turning back from that!
It would surprise you how people change their minds after a series of failed projects.
Buffy seems like a good contender for the next campaign of this kind. I would prefer a Gilmore Girls movie, though.
The difference between the two–Veronica and Buffy–is that the latter doesn’t need to do a Kickstarter project. I’m a fan of both shows, but if Joss Whedon wanted to make a Buffy movie, it would get the greenlight in a second.
Just went over $1 million. Insane.
1st million is done :-)
Just broke a million. Crazy. As a fan, I could not be more excited. We’ve been waiting for this for years.
It’s interesting how many comments on the Kickstarter are from international fans who can’t get the rewards. If they open up the rewards somehow to international fans, they’d make ever more money. They should have their goal of $2M by the end of the day.
I have to agree with what kind of precedent this sets, BUT it is a great alternative to get our favorite shows back on the air. At this rate, VM could raise 30 mil and then it would be nice to see the tv show back instead of a movie. I just want rhe studio to invest in it be ause it will be us again paying for movie tickets. But of ALL the shows out there to do this, VM is the best and i will contribute because i loved the series and have wanted a movie. Just goes to show how misinformed execs can be about a series’ fanbase.
It’s really fun seeing the movie reach it’s goal in mere hours!! I love the extras like twitter follows or DVDs for contributing. It’s damn awesome!
I agree that anyone helping a corporation start a project should share in the profits. Judging by the size of the kitchen, they could afford to do the movie with their own money.
Yeah because if you got a nice house means you got millions of dollars to invest in a movie.
Firefly NOW.