UPDATE: Zach Braff Kickstarter Movie Gets Financing From Worldview Entertainment
It’s unknown whether the 38,377 people pledging to Zach Braff’s Kickstarter campaign will now get their money back, but The Hollywood Reporter has announced from Cannes that the actor/filmmaker’s controversially crowdfunded film, Wish I Was Here, will receive funding from Worldview Entertainment (Killer Joe).* This is a very big deal, although it’s not clear what it means for the $2.6 million raised from fans on the Kickstarter site. According to THR, “Worldview will provide most of the financing for the drama” and “the budget is less than $10?million.”
A couple weeks ago, Braff told the Los Angeles Times that the budget was about $5 million and that the money not funded through the drive would come from his own pocket and foreign distribution pre-sales. In the same interview, Braff was asked whether he’d take money from “industry types” that now see the film as a hot commodity and want on board. “I think that would be in bad taste for all the people who are backing this” he replied. “It wouldn’t be in the spirit of the thing.”
From what I understand about Kickstarter, because this campaign hasn’t ended yet anyone who has contributed can cancel their pledge. It will be interesting to see if people are aware of this and if it has an effect. It will be even more interesting to hear what Braff’s official statement on the Worldview deal is and what happens next with the whole story. One thing that should be realized is that Worldview did only come aboard because they could see how much support and interest there is in the project, so if you’re one of the fans who pledged, you still helped make it all happen.
Do you think the Wish I Was Here Kickstarter campaign should be canceled now?
*Update: Variety reports that the funds from Worldview are “gap financing,” meaning it’s a temporary loan so the film can go into production as planned this summer even if it hasn’t yet found enough foreign pre-sale dough to make up the budget after the Kickstarter money and Braff’s out of pocket contribution are counted.
Zach Braff has issued a statement correcting the Hollywood Reporter version of the story, which sums up the clarifications deduced through the Variety report.
Related Topics: Kickstarter
