THERE IS A KICKSTARTER FOR A VERONICA MARS MOVIE

Rob Thomas, Kristin Bell and just about the whole damn Veronica Mars gang are getting back together for one last shot at a Veronica Mars movie. And they're doing it through Kickstarter, trying to raise 2 million bucks to make the movie.

"Wait a second," you're thinking. "Two million dollars isn't enough to make a movie!" Well, probably not. Turns out, Warner Bros., who own Veronica Mars, are willing to back the movie with enough fan momentum behind it. If they raise two million bucks, it's on. You can look at it as the first sleazy Hollywood takeover of Kickstarter or as a great show turning to a niche audience for backing. Either way, there's a new damn Veronica Mars movie on the line.

The Kickstarter Page

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Of course, Warner Bros. still owns Veronica Mars and we would need their blessing and cooperation to pull this off. Kristen and I met with the Warner Bros. brass, and they agreed to allow us to take this shot. 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. So this is it. This is our shot. I believe it's the only one we've got. It's nerve-wracking. I suppose we could fail in spectacular fashion, but there's also the chance that we completely revolutionize how projects like ours can get made. No Kickstarter project ever has set a goal this high. It's up to you, the fans, now. If the project is successful, our plan is to go into production this summer and the movie will be released in early 2014.

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The campaign has already topped a million bucks and might hit its $2 million goal by the end of its first day. I'm in for $35.

I'm also curious how the money will break down on the project. If Warner Bros. is putting up some amount of funding, or even the majority of funding, what kind of budget will the movie have with a $2 million kickstarter? What if it raises $3 million or $5 million? Will the movie be good!? We'll find out in a year.

I don't think there's enough fans. I'm sure lots of people like the show but not enough to pay money for a movie lol

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Originally Posted by McLovin'

I don't think there's enough fans. I'm sure lots of people like the show but not enough to pay money for a movie lol

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Well, there were enough fans to pledge $2,000,000 for the movie in a single day.

Never watched the show though so I really have no opinion on a movie.

Those are some of the lamest Kickstarter rewards ever. xD

It's cool that it's all worked out, though. I never got round to watching the show, though apparently it's pretty sodding great.

The first season, especially, is awesome. I like season 2, but it never gets up to those levels again. Season 3 is so-so. Still a great show overall.

This Kickstarter totally shattered the records for fastest to $1 million (it was like 4 hours, 8 minutes or something insane) and I'm sure fastest to $2 million. The pace will obviously drop off, but it still has 30 days to go--it could easily surpass the Pebble Watch's $10 million haul.

I'm super curious how transparent they can be about money when the movie actually goes into production--whether we'll find out how much they got from Warner Bros., how much of the Kickstarter funds went to rewards, etc.

$10,000 to say "Your check, sir."

Ha.

I'd demand to be cast as Veronica Mars for that sort of money.

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Originally Posted by Cim

$10,000 to say "Your check, sir."

Ha.

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Right?! smurfing 10,000 down the drain.

I loved this show, would love to see it as a movie, but how would that even work?

I feel like they have been saying for ages that there was a movie in the works. It's awesome that it may actually come to pass!

Awesome! i so wanna see this happen, i loved Veronica Mars when it aired... season 1 was the best one, but the other two were great too... it's awesome to see a movie finally in the works as more than just a rumor...

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

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Originally Posted by Cim

$10,000 to say "Your check, sir."

Ha.

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Right?! smurfing 10,000 down the drain.

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I think you are all forgetting that a lot of very rich, Hollywood-involved people are interested in seeing this happen. For instance, Joss Whedon was a huge fan of Veronica Mars when it was airing (and he appeared in one episode to show for it). 10k is certainly within his means and he, or any other big fan, could have plopped it down to appear in the movie. I doubt a college student put down ten thousand dollars just to say a simple line, that would be fairly outrageous. A rich person doing so, however, is not.

I am a pretty big fan of Veronica Mars and I am happy to see that they are finally going through with the promises they were making since the series ended. I am not particularly worried since I do not think any of the cast (aside from Kristen Bell, and maybe Ryan Hansen, have any major obligations) but the format of a just does not seem to fit with what the show actually needed to succeed.

Oh well, I won't see it in theaters anyway.

Raises 2,000,000 bucks in a single day. Yeah I think this has the proper fan support.

Who?

I think this the fatest turnaround on Kickstarter ever. Also for $10,000+ dollars they should be giving at least an Associate Producer credit, but really Executive Producer. "Your check sir." That's b.s.

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Originally Posted by Bunny

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

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Originally Posted by Cim

$10,000 to say "Your check, sir."

Ha.

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Right?! smurfing 10,000 down the drain.

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I think you are all forgetting that a lot of very rich, Hollywood-involved people are interested in seeing this happen. For instance, Joss Whedon was a huge fan of Veronica Mars when it was airing (and he appeared in one episode to show for it). 10k is certainly within his means and he, or any other big fan, could have plopped it down to appear in the movie. I doubt a college student put down ten thousand dollars just to say a simple line, that would be fairly outrageous. A rich person doing so, however, is not.

I am a pretty big fan of Veronica Mars and I am happy to see that they are finally going through with the promises they were making since the series ended. I am not particularly worried since I do not think any of the cast (aside from Kristen Bell, and maybe Ryan Hansen, have any major obligations) but the format of a just does not seem to fit with what the show actually needed to succeed.

Oh well, I won't see it in theaters anyway.

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I'm with Shiny on this; they should really get a more worthwhile reward no matter how rich they are.

I think the concept of rewards has really clouded or changed what Kickstarter was originally about, which has both advantages and disadvantages. In a lot of cases it's basically a pre-order system--you pay money upfront to let someone make something, and you secure a copy of your own. In its purest form, though, it's also meant to enable a system of patronage. People give money to the arts to see things exist and expect nothing in return except the satisfaction of that thing existing and the enjoyment you derive from it.

So, yeah, on the one hand, obviously getting one crappy line in a movie doesn't seem like much of a reward for $10,000. But that's not really the point of the donation. The point is that you have the money to put towards a cause you believe in--getting a movie made that you really want to see, in this case--and the reward is secondary. Could the reward be better, though? Sure.

Also, an executive producer credit wouldn't really make sense, since that's an actual job with actual responsibilities on the movie, and being able to donate a few thousand bucks doesn't qualify you to do that job. And it seems like they've removed that associate producer reward now, or at least I can't find it on the page. Weird.

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Originally Posted by Bunny

I am a pretty big fan of Veronica Mars and I am happy to see that they are finally going through with the promises they were making since the series ended. I am not particularly worried since I do not think any of the cast (aside from Kristen Bell, and maybe Ryan Hansen, have any major obligations) but the format of a just does not seem to fit with what the show actually needed to succeed.

Oh well, I won't see it in theaters anyway.

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Your posts about Veronica Mars here years ago were actually the first thing that put it on my radar. I somehow forgot or missed the fact that it was noir/detective mystery--all I retained was that it was set in high school, had snappy dialogue, etc. Once I started watching it a year or so ago I couldn't stop.

Why not see it in the theater if you're a fan, though?

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The point is that you have the money to put towards a cause you believe in--getting a movie made that you really want to see, in this case--and the reward is secondary. Could the reward be better, though? Sure.

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This is exactly the point. If you are donating to something solely based on the reward you are getting in exchange, you might want to rethink the actual reasons you are donating in the first place. You donate because you are able and it is something you would like to eventually see, not because you get cool stuff in return.

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Why not see it in the theater if you're a fan, though?

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The main reason is that I have found it increasingly difficult to sit through recent movies in a theater. I also have an increasing dislike for movies as a storytelling medium when compared to things like books and television.

I also think that Veronica Mars existed in a time and place that is no longer obtainable. Had the movie come out shortly after the series had ended, I probably would be more thrilled and excited about the prospect of the film. But it has been six years, likely 7 or 8 when the movie actually comes out. The cast has grown up and gone separate ways and their connection to the characters have diminished over this time.

It's the same reason why, while I loved Firefly as a series and Serenity as a companion movie, I would not like to see Whedon and the cast back at it because I think it would pollute the good memories that Firefly and Serenity provided me when I first watched them.

I am still excited for the movie, but not as excited as I would have been. I will see it, just like I would see and support a Firefly expansion, but I am very wary of it at the same time.

Investors are credited as Executive Producers a lot these days for films, not so much for television though.

The point in any Kickstarter donation is yes, that you want to see the project happen, but with film projects there is also the romanticism of getting your name on the big screen with a major credit. Some people may be more than okay with the cameo appearance, but I'd much rather have the IMDB Producer credit if I'm to go giving out 10 g's or more.

I think these VM people need to take better care of the people backing this project. Financing is really the most important thing in getting a film of this caliber made. The finnacers don't seem to hold the same importance to them judging from the lame rewards. I would be thankful to get $10,000 for a film project and $2 million is exactly what I need to get the indie film I'm working on off the ground, so I guess I'm also a little bitter about that.

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The money raised won’t all go toward making the movie:
“We only get to count the money that we have after we fulfill rewards, and the rewards could be expensive because we are giving really good packages, so we’re losing a lot off the top. It’s not as though you can look at our total, like right now we’re at $3.5 [million], and say, “That’s, $3.5 for their production budget.” [Ed. note: At publishing time, the fund sits at just over $3.7 million.] It’s going got be significantly less than that once we send out 50,000 t-shirts and all those DVDs and posters and pay to rent the giant theaters for premieres. There’s a lot of overhead.”

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Read more at ONTD: Oh No They Didn't!

That's something that has actually smurfed over a few Kickstarter projects, I think. Probably moreso when there was first a big popularity explosion last year, but I remember some guys doing video game kickstarters not accounting for how expensive it is to produce and ship physical goods. And Amazon takes a cut.

Since this is the first studio-backed movie to hit Kickstarter, it's going to be interesting to see how much money Warner puts into it on top of what they raise. Seems like this may be a rare case where the funding isn't that important--it's mostly just about proving there's an audience. I'm sure they'll still be making it on the cheap, though.