While I genuinely don’t have a horse, dog or other animal in this race, I’m fascinated by the whole Veronica Mars Kickstarter thing. So fascinated that I’ve got some questions(1).
(A) Is Warner Brothers actually going to put any money into this venture?
(B) Assuming that WB isn’t providing a cent, did Rob Thomas actually believe that he could make a film for $2 million? I know it’s possible – shit you can make a film for $10,000 or less – but I’m assuming the cast and crew expected to get paid. As it is, it’s a moot question given he raised that money in 10 hours. But I am curious to know whether Thomas went into this with a planned $2 million budget.
(C) Now that the Kickstarter is open to Canada (and assuming it’s subsequently open to other territories), there’s a chance that Thomas will raise $10 million. That’s pretty cool. Now, the normal business model would be to make a film for as a little as possible. And maybe Rob Thomas’ script only requires a maximum budget of $5 million. So, if he does raise up to $10 million, will the Kickstarter process compel him to use all that money? And would fans feel betrayed if they found out that Rob Thomas (and Warner Brothers) had pocketed a chunk of the cash?
(D) And finally, if Thomas does use all the money raised, how does he expect to make a profit given that the bulk of fans interested in the movie will have already paid upfront?
What would be interesting is if Thomas, after hitting a mark of about $5 million, actually closed down the Kickstarter because he’d more then reached his budget goal.
As they say, interesting times…
(1) If you want to read actual opinion, have a look at these two posts from Harry Connolly. The second posts also links to other interesting discussions on the topic.
There’s an interview with Rob Thomas that answers some of these questions. He does seem to have planned it all out and think he could make a film on a $1.4million budget, which is what’s left of his $2million once Kickstarter, Amazon, and producing all the rewards take their chunk. I don’t think it would be a great movie, but you could probably make one for that price, especially if the stars don’t charge much and you shoot it in San Diego. WB appear to be handling all the mundane stuff with T-shirts and DVDs which is good, because I’m guessing they can do it pretty cheaply.The question of whether he has to use all the money is an interesting one – I don’t think there’s anything that compels him use all the money, just to produce the rewards he sad he’d produce – but unlike most projects he doesn’t have a stretch goal he can point to and say “That’s what I’m doing with your millions,” just that the film will get bigger.
Thanks so much for that Liz. I think compelled is the wrong word, what I should have said is whether he feels obligated to use the whole amount.