Here's an idea.
Kickstarter could replace Hollywood.
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Where I went to college there was one television,
which means that while the neo-noir teen drama "Veronica
Mars" was airing on the CW and growing
it's huge and dedicated fan community of marshmallows,
I was busy with my underwater basket weaving and architecture
through interpretive dance homework.
So I and a lot of other people never
would have guessed that it would Kickstart $2 million
in just over 4 hours for a revival movie project.
At this very moment, like while we
are filming, not while you're watching,
the V Mars Kickstarter has raised over $3.5 million bucks.
Say what?
From a group of almost 60,000 people, 50% of them
are brand new to Kickstarter and gave an average pledge
of $65, which is $40 more than the average Kickstarter pledge.
And there's still a few weeks to go,
which might make you wonder whether director Rob
Thomas will be able to stack his earnings all the way to Mars,
or maybe Neptune.
All right.
So maybe some perspective would be
useful before celebrating the complete upheaval
of the movie making status quo.
Kickstarter has already leaped over the National Endowment
for the Arts, which gave $146 million
last year to Kickstarter's $319 million for 18,000 projects.
With the "Avengers," a single movie
cost $220 million dollars, which would take
about 3.4 million $65 backers.
So before we start talking about how the "Veronica Mars"
Kickstarter is going to change everything,
let's also consider that Robert Downey Jr.'s craft services set
up probably costs more than my rent.
In 2012, Hollywood took in over $10.8 billion,
with a B. That's a lot of dollars.
It employs hundreds of thousands,
if not over a million people, through related industries.
And according to the MPAA-- so get your grains of salt
already-- contributed over $150 billion to the US economy
last year.
Not to mention, Hollywood makes 600 films a year, all of which
are awesome and totally worth watching.
So comparing Kickstarter to Hollywood
is a little bit like standing Kristen Bell
next to the Hulk, one of them loves sloths
and the other one suffers from an uncontrollable rage that
will sometimes result in the destruction of entire city
blocks.
But that doesn't mean that the "Veronica Mars" Kickstarter
doesn't invite the comparison.
I mean, Kristen Bell and the Hulk are both from the Midwest.
I mean, film and video is Kickstarter's most popular
category, with almost 25,000 launched projects
and over 9,000 successes raising $96 million.
This year 10% of Sundance films were funded in some way
by Kickstarter, and 63 Kickstarted films
have made their way to theatrical releases,
including the Academy Award winning documentary "Inocente."
That is box office mojo.
Mojo which comes from its ability
to capitalize on, amongst other things,
preexisting fan communities, like bronies, Minecrafters,
and now marshmallows, which would
be a risky bet for Hollywood.
So to be clear, we're not saying Kickstarter
is going to replace the $150 billion a year
Hollywood industrial complex.
But what it could do is give the Hollywood decision making
process, arguably the beating heart of Tinseltown,
something of a reboot.
Contrary to appearances, the point of Hollywood
is not to make movies or television
but to make money through the investment
in movies and television.
Meaning, turning your moolah into mo' moolah.
Sort of like the stock market or craps.
And Hollywood isn't always great at the gamble
because it depends on a small number of sometimes very out
of touch people to make all of the big decisions.
And then someone goes ahead and makes
"Do No Harm," or "Real Steel."
Like of the 650 movies made in 2012,
441 made less than $1 million at the box office.
295 made less than $100,000.
John Carter lost more money than the vast majority
of movies even made last year.
Someone somewhere thought audiences
were going to lose their minds over whatever
it is John Carter is about.
Um, I don't know.
Space?
Kickstarter gives audiences a way to be involved,
to vote with their dollars in early decision making
and green lighting, the part of the process
responsible for the approval of things like John Carter.
Hollywood is a system for predicting what movies
people might want to pay for.
Kickstarter is a system for making
movies which people want to watch and be invested in
and be a part of.
You know, the exact thing that Hollywood
wishes it were flawless at.
This isn't to say that the two systems are mutually exclusive,
they're just incredibly strange bedfellows.
Unlike fan-loved productions handed down from on high,
like the "Avengers" or "Harry Potter,"
a Kickstarted film involves the fandom as early
as pre-production.
If the world's marshmallows can front production costs
in return for swag not everybody gets,
then Warner Brothers, the gatekeeper
slash key master of the V Mars intellectual property,
will cover marketing and distribution.
This is the source of all the hubbub.
It's the cultural force of a fandom
and the economic force of a Hollywood studio finally
all buddy buddy, simpatico, best friends.
But is it really all high fives and doughnuts?
Could be, but also maybe not.
For fans of "Freaks and Geeks," and "Firefly,"
and "Twin Peaks," and "Buffy," there
is now a faint glimmer of revival shaped hope.
This, this is the place that we can
go to get good and exciting and important things made.
It's Kickstarter-wood.
But for a lot of other people there's
a skepticism and a dramatic squinty-eyed gaze at what
might be a dangerous precedent.
Does this mark a turning point where Hollywood can now
leverage price discrimination as a positive thing
and hold abandoned properties hostage asking fans
to pay out the nose so producers don't have to?
Hollywood could flood Kickstarter saying, oh, you
want a "Twin Peaks" movie?
Well, if you all paid us $1,000 and suddenly
the entire weight of the green lighting process
is on the shoulders of the crowd,
ruining the independent and excitable spirit
that got us things like "Inocente" and "Veronica Mars."
This is a kind of Holly-starter, a place where studio executives
can go to milk preexisting fan communities for all
of their milk money, a place for hedging bets,
saving bucks, and avoiding what few risks Hollywood still
takes.
Or maybe, maybe the "Veronica Mars" Kickstarter
will prove that Kickstarter, and Hollywood,
and fans can work together, that Kristen Bell and the Hulk
can live side by side in peaceful movie
making harmony, simplifying the process
and making sure we all get to see the movies we want.
What do you guys think?
Will Kickstarter replace the Hollywood green lighting
process?
Let us know in the comments.
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because it is free.
I think my house sigil would be two banjos crossed in front
of Jake and Finn's tree house.
Let's see what you guys had to say about "Game
of Thrones" and piracy.
AlexPogueGuitarist says that while piracy
might have helped "Game of Thrones"
it has hurt the anime industry.
I'm not an expert in the anime industry
but this makes me wonder whether or not
they were hurt from piracy or hurt
because they refused to adapt to new modes of distribution.
I don't know, I wonder.
Eddy Schodenfuss points out that depending upon where you live
and what you want to watch, piracy
might be your only option for enjoying your favorite shows.
This actually makes me wonder, can you get "Doctor Who"
easily with Portuguese subtitles?
I don't even know.
LegendaryBlade points out that not all pirates
are of the same ilk in that there are a lot of people who
just will pirate things because it is factually cheaper
and then not invest in the property in other ways, which
is, yeah, yeah.
To kreskova, I'm in, along with the "Game of Thrones" game.
I'm also a real big fan of "Cosmic Encounters."
I just got the expansion and "Mansions of Madness.
So game on.
Piotrmil points us towards a Polish study of piracy
that has similar results to the ones we talked about.
But then Hakajin and Ben Bashor says
that correlation does not necessarily imply causation
and that people who download media are probably
just more likely interested in media in general
and therefore more likely to spend money
on it, which is a very fair point that I'm
glad someone brought.
Benjamin Dolder, I'm glad that you gave me Tyrion and Arya,
cause I totally agree, first and second.
Third, would probably be Jaqen H'ghar.
That guy is the coolest.
Good idea, Ian Mcvicker.
Yeah, that's going in the notebook.
Eric Vilas, total coincidence.
And for everybody else, if you haven't watched Dan's video
on ethical piracy you should check it out.
We'll put a link in the description.
LaytonsLoveliest makes the really interesting point
that piracy could cause people to be economically
lazy in the same way that like a moving walkway could cause
people to be physically lazy, which is, I think,
a really interesting comparison and maybe kind of true.
Yeah.
That's really-- that's really good.
MrMonfresClass points out that piracy
can lead to word of mouth advertising, which
in most cases is better than actual advertising.
Which is, yeah, yeah, I agree.
AMETHYSTwolfP, what did happen to the Samy?
Samy, are you-- are you out there?
Are you-- are you still there?
Say hi.
Where are you?
Did you ever get first?
This week's video was made with the awesome help
of these people.
And the tweet of the week comes from voxstulte,
who points us towards a YouTube video containing all six "Star
Wars" films.
Simultaneously.
It is brain melting and awesome.
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