Zach Braff begs internet for money, gets over $1.4 million

[kuronosan]

This is pretty much what happened to YouTube too.

[Timwakefield]

I mean, I watched a lot of Entourage.

Vinny Chase partially funded Medellin by selling his house. Get it together Braff.

[TacoTaru]

Oh man. People who hated it before are going to love this:

Just last month, Garden State director and "Scrubs" star Zach Braff turned to Kickstarter in order to help get his new directing effort, Wish I Was Here, off the ground as an independent production. Well, the film raised more than $2.6 million from more than 38,000 people, exceeding the $2 million goal, in about a week. Nice job, Kickstarter! Well, maybe not. THR has news that the Kickstarter response to Braff's film has actually inspired Worldview Entertainment to fully fund the project, and it seems like the campaign was just a pawn in getting a real company to back the project as opposed to just going the indie route. More below!

Supposedly a small percentage of the money raised from Kickstarter will be returned in the form of a fee to Kickstarter, though it's not clear what happens to the money after that. Basically, the issue here is that Braff's intentions to subvert the studio system and do things his own way without interference from a financial backer don't seem genuine at all now. With backing from Worldview Entertainment, the film isn't really what Braff purported the project to be from the beginning. I'm hearing that those who donated might still have time to cancel their contribution if they feel slighted.
This is not good press for Braff and actually kind of makes me disinterested in seeing the film now, despite the fact that Josh Gad was just announced as joining the cast as well. For those out of the loop, here's the official synopsis from the Kickstarter campaign:

'Wish I Was Here' is the story of Aidan Bloom (to be played by Braff), a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He and his wife are barely getting by financially and Aidan passes his time by fantasizing about being the great futuristic Space-Knight he'd always dreamed he'd be as a little kid.
When his ailing father can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids (ages 5 and 12) and the only available public school is on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them.
The result is some funny chaos, until Aidan decides to scrap the traditional academic curriculum and come up with his own. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn't find.

At the very least, people who contribute to the film should be given a little something extra after being deceived about the independent nature of the project, especially now that the film has full funding. If a full refund isn't in the cards, then something should be done for all these contributors who believed in Braff enough to fork over money. Otherwise, these people are paying to fund a movie that they won't even get to see for free when it hits theaters, and they don't get any of the spoils that Worldview will get for funding the film fully. This just seems disrespectful to passionate fans. What do you think?

http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/zac...ull-financing/

tl;dr
It sounds like Zach Braff leveraged the Kickstarter to get backing, and now (appears?) to be using both the Kickstarter money and studio money. I haven't watched the video since I'm at work and don't have sound, so maybe someone can clarify if that's actually the case.

*Edit*
Could be false or clever spin by Braff, but it looks like THR article is potentially bunk.

Correcting "The Hollywood Reporter"

Dear All,

The movie trade publication "The Hollywood Reporter" released an article today with a lot of wrong information about our project and I need to clear up some of what they said. I seem to get called a "douchebag" quite often these days. And that's fine; not everyone's gonna root for my success... but I can't sit by while my fans get wrong facts.

This is a whole new way of making a movie. There is lots of discourse on Earth about it. Some of it is very misinformed. Let's clear it up so you have it from my mouth. I will tell you the truth. As David Mamet's writes in his masterpiece, "Glengarry Glen Ross": The truth is the easiest thing to remember:

The Truth:

— The story out there about the movie being fully funded by some financier is wrong.

I have said on here and in every interview I've done on this project that the film would be fully financed from 3 sources:

My Kickstarter Backers
My own money
Pre-Selling foreign theatrical distribution.
Those three amounts will bring us to a budget of around 5 to 6 million dollars.

— Nothing about the making of this movie has changed. This movie is happening because backers funded it.

This film would not be happening without my backers. The traditional way is to have a financier put up the money and then sell the foreign rights. What I did, was to say to my fans, "If you and I provide the capital, we don't need some rich dude dictating how we make the movie; we can then go sell foreign distibution and we'll be all the way to our goal. Are you interested in that? So far 38,455 people have said yes.

— What happened today is that a financial company agreed to fill in the gap between what Kickstarter backers have funded and what I have put in, and what the movie will actually cost. Shooting could not happen without this.

When you pre-sell foreign distribution, you don't get that money for some time. So you need to go to a company to provide something called "Gap Financing". They are essentially a bank. Loaning us the "gap" between what we've raised together and what we need to actually make the movie. I have no idea where a 10 million dollar number came from but it is wrong and a lie.

— This loan is secured against proceeds generated by selling the foreign rights to the movie. That's been the plan all along.

This loan, helps us start! We're opening an office and casting and we're fully under way. We couldn't be doing that without "Gap Financing" to cover our... (wait for it) gap. As these foreign sales are occurring as we speak at the Cannes Film Festival, you will likely be hearing more and more about them. It is good for us! More eyes on our movie.

— The film business is weird and complicated, and this is a great example of how that's the case. Consider this our first lesson in The Biz.

Let's be frank. There are people out there who don't want this to work. There are people out there rooting for me and you (if you're a backer) to fail. There are bloggers writing hateful things about me. I can take it. I'm kind of used to it. I hope you can. But if you feel misinformed or you no longer like this, you can cancel your support anytime in the next 8 days.

— This whole process has been amazing and is happening because of you. We repeat: because of YOU!

No matter what the haters write, this would not be happening without your support. If I failed at the end of the time allotment, this film would be put on a shelf, like others I've tried to make since "Garden State". But it didn't fail. It's making the whole Earth talk about the future of financing movies no studios want to make.

— Sorry for the momentary distraction. Let's get back to making a great fucking movie.

I'm sorry for the hoopla. I'm sorry if your friends think you've been duped. But you haven't been. This is real. Crowd-sourcing films is here to stay. Love me, hate me. We're gonna make a killer fucking movie. And I love you for it.

To my detractors, I shall continue to seek your approval in the most mentally unhealthy ways possible, much to my loved ones' chagrin.

To my BACKERS, A giant casting announcement is coming in a few hours.

I love each and everyone of you. And that... is the truth.

ZB

[Day]

It's 17 min of braff talking. sorry I tried. Got about 1 min into it.

[Brill Weave]

Wow I want to punch that mother fucker in the face even more now.

[Tyrath]

Wow, before I could excuse it as "hey if people are dumb enough to want to fund a millionaire's project then whatever" but thats just low. Wasn't the whole point of this so he could avoid giving creative control to studio's?

[Day]

As much as I hate this idea, and braff himself, I'm not sure that article holds much weight, I'm sure someone will dig deeper than I'm willing too, but just browsing comments he may have already addressed this.

[Delirium]

Zach Braff assaulted by 38,000 people. More incoming

What a douche.

[Aevis]

he already adressed this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...1/posts/482298

seriously, this is like a witch hunt. no idea where all this hate is coming from, but if you don't like him or the kickstarter, just ignore it.

[TacoTaru]

No witch hunt by me. I actually like Zach Braff and I'm excited for another movie of his, I just saw the article and though people who already hated him would enjoy it. That said, since it appears to be false (partially false with spin?) I'll edit his response to it into what I posted originally.

[Day]

he already adressed this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...1/posts/482298

seriously, this is like a witch hunt. no idea where all this hate is coming from, but if you don't like him or the kickstarter, just ignore it.

some people hate things for inane reasons or very solid reasons, either way, if you're hoping they will ignore things on the internet you're in for a sad world of disappointment.

[Aevis]

yeah meant which hunt by THR and similar bad press he previously got for his kickstarter.

[Day]

btw he looks like 3 buckets of ass in that interview video jesus christ take a shower.

[Scythiroth]

For the low, low price of $1 million, Zach Braff will take a shower.

[Baelorn]

I actually like Braff and will probably see this movie but I sure as hell won't be donating and I think his Kickstarter is a bit of a ripoff.

His rewards for donating are absolute shit. You don't even get a copy of the movie for less than $150. Almost all of his rewards below $75 are things most give away for $10 donations. A sneak peak of the soundtrack? Weekly playlists? Come on, son.

[Headspace]

Braff should take the 2.8m he got from Kickstarter and give it to the guys trying to make an Eternal Darkness sequel god damn it

[Bregor]

finally looked up this douche. I remember hearing hes one of the douchiest douches to ever douche.

More true now than ever.

[Hirronimus]

Not to sound like a bleeding heart, but those moneys would go to better use to help tornado victims in Oklahoma

HEAR THAT BRAFF?! DO GOOD!

[Eurell]

Not to sound like a bleeding heart, but those moneys would go to better use to help tornado victims in Oklahoma

HEAR THAT BRAFF?! DO GOOD!

Is this a serious post? lol