The internet is ablaze with the news that the Veronica Mars kickstarter campaign broke records by raising it's $2Million goal in a single day. As of this writing, they've raised $3.3Million...in three days...let that sink in for a moment.
Veronica Mars was a popular TV show that got cancelled 3 seasons in. I personally have never watched it, but I've heard good things. I've been trying to gather my thoughts about this over the past several days and keep bouncing back and forth between excitement and revulsion.
On the one hand, a rising tide lifts all ships, as they say...meaning all the publicity this story is receiving potentially attracts more attention to the struggling artists who slave over kickstarter campaigns every day.
BUT...a rising tide may raise all ships, but an aircraft carrier plowing through is probably going to capsize your sailboat. I don't think that just because Mars may draw more attention to kickstarter that it will necessarily help struggling artists...the new converts may simply be drawn to the more popular (and sometimes corporate sanctioned) kickstarter pages, since popularity is what drew them to kickstarter in the first place. Like attracts like. I currently have a kickstarter page up and running for my documentary...since the flood of Veronica Mars fans hit the site, I haven't seen much upchuck to my campaign. That is actually a bit unfair I know...there are hundreds of kickstarter pages, some maybe even more worthy than my documentary, and my page could simply be buried under a sea of digital information that your average site visitor may not even get to.
But I was making a greater point. Who is really going to benefit from this new paradigm? Is it the Farrell Rose's on kickstarter? The upstarts who have the talent, drive and ambition, but may simply lack the connections needed for a groundswell to occur to get their project funded. If anything I'd like a quid-pro-quo with studios. As in, "I will donate to Veronica Mars, if you donate ten times my donations to my kickstarter campaign...since you are a multibillion dollar corporation who could easily fund the peanuts being raised on the VM page, and since the donations you are receiving from fans are not investments and do not have to be paid back...you are essentially collecting free money...quid-pro-quo...yes or no...?"
Potentially (and very likely IMO), all this exposure to kickstarter will simply make studios less willing to foot the bill for development costs on their lower budgeted features, using fan gullibility to fund projects outright, or fund their development (scripting, etc) with the promise of memorabilia. I offer the following potential future scenario:
INT. WARNER BROTHERS CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Mike and Tom eagerly sit across from the STUDIO BRASS, having just finished a pitch for their thriller.
STUDIO BRASS: Great idea guys, we love it...but we have some reservations.
TOM: Like what?
STUDIO BRASS: We don't know if there's a market for this material.
MIKE: Are you kidding? People love thrillers...they see them all the time.
STUDIO BRASS: Our last thriller actually bombed, so no, people don't love thrillers. But tell you what...if you can raise the necessary $5Million in development costs on kickstarter, we'll give you a greenlight.
MIKE: Um...
STUDIO BRASS: If you're worried about recognition, don't...your last film was a success. The kickstarter could read "from the writing, directing team behind 'Danger Beach' comes...'Wipe Out'...potentially starring Channing Tatum and Olivia Wilde, IF we reach out $5Million goal in 30 days. BOOM! YOU GOTTA A WINNER BABY! That way we don't have to pay the development costs, you guys go off, write a killer script and we've already got the interest of the fans...the American Dream..."
Mike and Tom look at each and smile.
FADE OUT
..............
ADDENDUM:
Alternately, studios can now use kickstarter as a way to crap out low budget knock offs of cult properties purely funded by kickstarter as a way to gain free profit with zero risk at the expense of the fans (who would pay for something knowing nothing of its quality...there are no early reviews of the film with kickstarter). "Hey guys, remember Power Rangers? We want to do a reboot but need $5M..." so they start a kickstarter, easily raise the money (lots of kids watched Power Rangers), film a cheesy, low budget crapfest and it's all profit...they've invested nothing.
Really the sky is the limit now for studios to find ways to milk the consumer even more with low grade product.
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