Zach Braff sells Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here" for $2.75m

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IndiePaul

According to IndieWire, Zach Braff just sold his Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here" for $2.75 million.

It seriously annoyed me when someone with Braff's wealth (reported at $20 million plus) asks for money from normal folks for a movie that he could easily have funded himself.

Now he gets to pocket $2.75 million.

If he ever goes back on Kickstarter...

Focus Features has acquired rights to Zach Braff's largely Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here," according to Deadline. The reported $2.75 million deal marks the first major acquisition since Peter Schlessel took over Focus from James Schamus.
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The source article
http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance-focus-features-falls-for-zach-braffs-wish-i-was-here
 
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It seriously annoyed me when someone with Braff's wealth (reported at $20 million plus) asks for money from normal folks for a movie that he could easily have funded himself.
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I find it so obscene when these celebrities have the gall to say that their presence on Kickstarter or Indiegogo should be seen as a boon to the indie community; that their presence will bring more investors to look at all the projects, like a high tide raising all ships. Y'know, because people so frequently think "hmm, I just spent $30 bucks that I hadn't otherwise planned to spend. However can I manage to spend more?"

This isn't "Brewster's Millions" you jerks, you're just walking on the heads of people who are legitimately struggling to find cash to finish their projects!
 
I'm trying to work out the math here but I probably don't have all the facts...

The Kickstarter campaign made: $3,105,473
Subtract $155,273 for Kickstarter's 5% fee.
So $2,950,200 is the total raised from Kickstarter.

IMDb and other articles say the final budget was closer to 6 million.
Which means Zach and his other investors paid $3,049,800 out of their own pockets.

But they sold to Focus Features for 2.75 million.... Seems like they lost money.
Unless Focus Features didn't completely buy out the film, and Zach still owns part of it, hoping to cash in in the long run once the film becomes profitable.

Side Note: Imagine if Zach took his share of the money and paid every Kickstarter contributor his/her money back + the rewards. This will never happen, but if it did he would be a hero and his public image would be saved.
 
I guess the thing you have to think is that those who donated money towards the project did so of their own free will, they didn't have to donate but they did. It's the same for anyone else who starts their own crowd funding campaign.

I can see why people are upset that an actor who has lots of money is utilizing the website but the thing is, like with YouTube, celebrities and others who are at the highest level of the film industry were always going to start using Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, it was inevitable.

From the websites and their perspectives it's a grand promotion for them because it gets people like us here talking about it, going to the link for the page and adding to the visitor count.

All publicity is good publicity whether it's positive or negative someone wins because of it.
 
I think it will soon morph into a wide spread form of pre sales. Given cinemas are expensive,4K TV's are incoming, DVD's sales suffer from piracy, kickstarter like platforms can become a new business models for Hollywood. Directors,actors,producers etc. can pitch directly to the customer ( market research which actually gives you money and exact info) hence studios gain a certain degree of risk eliminated, once a project locks in so many customers before production has begun. Soderberg's problem of marketing is helped too. So a 1-5mil films can be made much more successful. As a result creative have more freedom to make original,non mainstream content. Maybe even studio made films for direct to Ipad distribution without cinema release. Or maybe not and it will be just a scam
 
moonshieldmedia said:
I'm trying to work out the math here but I probably don't have all the facts...

The Kickstarter campaign made: $3,105,473
Subtract $155,273 for Kickstarter's 5% fee.
So $2,950,200 is the total raised from Kickstarter.

IMDb and other articles say the final budget was closer to 6 million.
Which means Zach and his other investors paid $3,049,800 out of their own pockets.

But they sold to Focus Features for 2.75 million.... Seems like they lost money.
Unless Focus Features didn't completely buy out the film, and Zach still owns part of it, hoping to cash in in the long run once the film becomes profitable.

Side Note: Imagine if Zach took his share of the money and paid every Kickstarter contributor his/her money back + the rewards. This will never happen, but if it did he would be a hero and his public image would be saved.
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He'd be getting a nice cut of the gross box office/DVD etc returns.

Variety reports the budget was $5m.

Budget: $5M
Kickstarter funding: $3.1M
Distribution rights: $2.75M
-----------------------------------
Surplus: $850,000

Plus his slice of the gross so I would not be surprised if he makes a million or two from this.

Just stunned that so many people funded his project via KS given his net worth. That fame thing, wow - it sure is powerful...
 
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I would like to comment on a film that was slated in the media called Storage 24, it was highlighted in a previous thread because it only made 30$ or something like that in the states, however i spoke to the director and he said the film was a profitable success, so sources aren't always accurate.
 
He's not the first celebrity to use Kickstarter regardless of their financial status. Nor is it technically not helping the other projects.

When questioned about it Kickstarter stated that their projects brought new members of the site that had never used it before and later went on to help smaller projects. I see nothing wrong with projects like Braff's or Veronica Mars.
 
SkyCopeland said:
He's not the first celebrity to use Kickstarter regardless of their financial status. Nor is it technically not helping the other projects.

When questioned about it Kickstarter stated that their projects brought new members of the site that had never used it before and later went on to help smaller projects. I see nothing wrong with projects like Braff's or Veronica Mars.
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I suppose the question then becomes how many people who were existing members on the site wound up donating to those projects instead of something else that they would have otherwise. It's possible that it would still generate a net positive influx of donations, but it's also very unlikely to be a number that kickstarter determines since it would somewhat diminish the mostly positive spin they gave it.

I dunno, I suppose if it was a net gain for the indie community I'd have to stomach it more, but it just feels dirty.
 
I also have no problem with celebrity Kickstarters. They've figured out a way to get more money for their projects and they've decided to utilize it. The amount of money you have in your bank account doesn't stop you from taking more when the opportunity is there. That's how capitalism works.

The question now is how do you feel about stepping over the heads of other filmmakers? How competitive is your nature? Isn't Zach Braff a business man afterall?
 
I think it's nice. All you need is to get a celebrity involved in your indie project and you can use kickstarter to get funding.
 
Last I saw him he was sick with a fever. A fever that only has one prescription :D

Whip out a video camera and film him talking about anything. Anything. He doesn't have to be talking sense, it can be complete non-sequiters. I'd back that project... who wouldn't? :)
 
SkyCopeland said:
He's not the first celebrity to use Kickstarter regardless of their financial status. Nor is it technically not helping the other projects.

When questioned about it Kickstarter stated that their projects brought new members of the site that had never used it before and later went on to help smaller projects. I see nothing wrong with projects like Braff's or Veronica Mars.
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My argument to the first bit would be that it may bring money to other projects as well but KS's opinion of the matter is more than a tad biased when they get 6% to 8% of the sums raised. So sure they would be pro Braff raising $3.1 million when that get big $$$$ as a result: let's take 6% - 6% of $3.1m is $186,000. That's a lot of cash for KS.

I have no issue with the Veronica Mars KS project. The Veronica Mars fans have been pleading for more Veronica Mars for years. They were asked to help the project out and they did so - big time. Some of the rewards offered were damn cool too: $100 or so got you a personal message for your answer phone/voicemail recorded by a the cast member of your choice, including Veronica Mars. That's one pretty damn nice reward that a fan could treasure for years.

Back to Baff. No one forced anyone to give their $$$ to Braff. Sure it's capitalism at work but I think it's a pretty damn perverted aspect of it: someone of Braff's wealth asking normal folks (what's the average wage: $40k or so?) for money. Braff earned $350,000 per episode for Scrubs - that's 9x the average person's annual salary, for one week of work for Braff. He's worth $22 million or so yet goes asking for money on KS from normal folks... :mad:

Zach Braff Net Worth
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/zach-braff-net-worth/
 
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