It has been widely reported that shortly following its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the distribution rights to writer/producer/director/actor Zach Braff’s latest film, Wish I Was Here, were purchased by Focus Features for $2.75 million.
What makes this noteworthy is that the film was funded substantially through Kickstarter. Apparently heeding the old entertainment industry adage to never put your own money into a film you are producing, Braff took to the crowdfunding site in April last year with an original goal of raising $2 million. For those not familiar with it, Kickstarter is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. The company’s stated mission is to help bring creative projects to life. Since its launch, more than 5 million people have funded more than 50,000 creative projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, and food-related projects. Normally, the people seeking funding are small, independent filmmakers—not established stars like Braff. Unlike traditional investments in film projects, people who back Kickstarter film projects do not receive an equity or debt stake in the funded films. Instead, they normally are offered small tokens (such as t-shirts, scripts, posters, etc.) and special experiences (such as attending a premiere or watching a live shoot) in exchange for their contributions.
Braff’s decision to pursue crowdfunding was an interesting one. He did receive funding offers from one or more studios prior to that time, but he claims that accepting such studio funding would have forced him to give up certain creative control of the movie. So, instead, he decided to use Kickstarter and he raised $3,105,473 from a total of 46,520 “backers.” The total film budget was around $5 million. In return, those backers (like those “investing” in all Kickstarter crowdfunded projects) were told that they would receive things such as t-shirts, posters, etc. (but no right to receive a share of the film’s profits).
A good deal of criticism has been leveled against Braff (who, as the star of the sitcom Scrubs, reportedly earned around $350,000 per episode) for not using his own wealth and connections to get the film project completed and, instead, taking “gift money” from the Kickstarter community. Some investors have claimed that it is “not fair” that they are not going to get to participate in the profits of the film, but they clearly are not legally entitled to such a cut of the profits. Still others have claimed not to have received their promised gifts yet. Not exactly the best way to generate a positive vibe with those who wrote checks to see the film made.
Braff has defended using Kickstarter to fund the film, saying that he did put “a lot of his own money into the film,” but mostly claiming it was the only way he could retain creative control. So, he got to make the film that he wanted to make AND he didn’t have to pay investors to do so. Not a bad deal.
For its part, Kickstarter had no problem with a famous, wealthy person using their site to crowdfund a film. Although this has not been the norm, and considering the negative reaction that has resulted regarding the Braff film, will other celebrities follow Braff’s lead and use the crowdfunding model?
