Spike Lee Using Kickstarter to Raise $1.25 Million for Film

[Matt Ryan]

Where did you get this information from Rick ?

He talks on Kick starter like he's just another struggling film maker. ? scratching around for 1.25 ? ... If he was 40mil up then a 1.25 investment in your self is nothing.
2 things come out of that rant on kick starter,

1... yes he's just another struggling film maker searching the world for finance or kick-starter money. Becuase he aint got it himself, or hates to use is own money or hasn't got it to spend it.
2... He doesn't believe in his own work being a profitable overall outcome.. or he would invest his own money on his future.

Most times when someone tells me what they are worth, I usually divide that number by 7 , then halve that number again.

He's been around, he created some great work over the years, he deserves every cent he can find.
All the power to him though... I wish him luck... I wish anyone wanting to do a film luck, Its a tough game.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/spike-lee-net-worth/

While I do believe he has talent, he hasn't made films people want to see in years. 25th Hour is the only film of his I enjoyed. He is overhyped, but if he gets funding, he'll get to make another Spike Lee joint and maybe people will like it or not. If not I guarantee you he won't get Kickstarter funding next time... It will most likely be the end of his career.

On a side note, Zach Braff is worth $22 million : http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/zach-braff-net-worth/

 

[Scott Crawley]

I don't understand, so I will paraphrase you the best I can and if you would please correct me.

You say he has been failing his studio investors for years and that isn't of any consequence but if he fails a bunch of Kick supporters who don't expect to get any of their money back at all it will be the end of his career. Is that what you are saying?

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/spike-lee-net-worth/

While I do believe he has talent, he hasn't made films people want to see in years. 25th Hour is the only film of his I enjoyed. He is overhyped, but if he gets funding, he'll get to make another Spike Lee joint and maybe people will like it or not. If not I guarantee you he won't get Kickstarter funding next time... It will most likely be the end of his career.

On a side note, Zach Braff is worth $22 million : http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/zach-braff-net-worth/

 

[Matt Ryan]

I don't understand, so I will paraphrase you the best I can and if you would please correct me.

You say he has been failing his studio investors for years and that isn't of any consequence but if he fails a bunch of Kick supporters who don't expect to get any of their money back at all it will be the end of his career. Is that what you are saying?

My belief is that his career is over (studios will not invest in him). Kickstarter is his only means of filmmaking. If that fails, he has no chance... If the film is a hit, studios will come back into play. Does that make sense?

 

[Scott Crawley]

My belief is that his career is over (studios will not invest in him). Kickstarter is his only means of filmmaking. If that fails, he has no chance... If the film is a hit, studios will come back into play. Does that make sense?

I understand now, thank you.

What about Inside Man? That was not a "Spike Lee Joint", but he directed it successfully. I would be surprised to hear that he was not able to work if he chose to. His reputation suggests that he just isn't interested in making many of those kinds of films. Maybe that is why he is turning to alternative methods of financing.

By "those kinds of films" I mean other people's movies.

 

[Daniel Pearson]

My problem with this and Zack Braff's is how little you get for your money. $20 and I don't even get a digitial download? I backed a measly $10 in Zen Dog (looking good by the way Rick) and I believe I'll be getting a HD download. Both Zack and Spike offer 'online screenings', but I have to pay $50 for a signed bluray? And ridiculous shit like $750 for his signed sneakers or tickets to the basketball with him?

I would have no problem at all with 'celebrities' (using as examples Braff and Lee) used kickstarter to fund their projects, but at least give people a fair deal. If they offered a $10 or $15 HD download of the film, then that's rad, basically pre-ordering a film you have faith in. But the kind of obsessive fannish rewards they are offering are basically just vampiring their fans. Am I wrong in assuming that they don't want to offer fairly priced digital downloads as they are planning to double dip anyway - get the fans to pay, and then once the film is completed strike up a distribution deal (so they can't risk giving away the product as a reward and fans will end up having to pay twice).

 

[Nick Morrison]

For what it's worth, I thought Miracle at St.Anna was a TERRIFIC movie. But it's true, Spike Lee at times makes movies that are difficult to market.

Take that WW2 movie. WW2 movies tend to trend towards OLDER White men. But the Black story line in Miracle at St.Anna may have shrunk his audience. At the same time, black audiences aren't turning out in droves for Spike's movies either....so he's stuck between a rock and a hard place sometimes.

I personally think he's capable of brilliant film making, and in time will likely be considered one of America's great auteurs.

 

[Christopher Mills]

Hey.. if you don't like his pitch or his films, don't buy in.
I am gong to defend him, even though I have not enjoyed all his films. It is very hard to get a studio to let you make a movie without dictating a great deal of content now. And if you arent interested in doing what they want to release, then you are going to face an even tougher battle.

He is an iconoclast.. very much his own person, and he absolutely does know how to direct... and has his own voice.

His !.25 Mil movie will be better than so many other 10Mil movies, I just may give up some $ to the campaign....

 

[Nick Morrison]

Hey.. if you don't like his pitch or his films, don't buy in.
I am gong to defend him, even though I have not enjoyed all his films. It is very hard to get a studio to let you make a movie without dictating a great deal of content now. And if you arent interested in doing what they want to release, then you are going to face an even tougher battle.

He is an iconoclast.. very much his own person, and he absolutely does know how to direct... and has his own voice.

His !.25 Mil movie will be better than so many other 10Mil movies, I just may give up some $ to the campaign....

I pretty much agree with you. He's an auteur, has his own voice, and I think that's important.

 

[Michael Millichamp]

Are you guys serious?

Spike Lee shouldn't even be allowed to have a Kickstarter. It's in the rules of Kickstarter that you can't just ask people for money for no reason and offer them rewards... Which is exactly what he's doing. He doesn't have a script, stars, or anything. He has an idea and he wants you to fund it. Kickstarter is just using this to promote their website more.

I understand Veronica Mars doing it. They had a huge show everyone wanted to watch, but after 7 years of trying to finance it, they just couldn't.

Zach Braff is a little different, he has a huge following but I think he could have chose a different route and succeeded just as much.

Spike Lee just directed fucking Old Boy.... HE JUST GO PAID. That dude has money but he doesn't want to use his, he wants to use yours so HE can make a movie about what HE wants. He isn't asking you if you support his script, he's asking you if you support him. He could raise 1.25 Million dollars and then direct a stop motion movie, which if people knew what he was directing, they wouldn't have helped fund it.

He is a pompous ass who thinks he is amazing.

I hope he doesn't get funded...

 

[Mark Toia]

My problem with this and Zack Braff's is how little you get for your money. $20 and I don't even get a digitial download? I backed a measly $10 in Zen Dog (looking good by the way Rick) and I believe I'll be getting a HD download. Both Zack and Spike offer 'online screenings', but I have to pay $50 for a signed bluray? And ridiculous shit like $750 for his signed sneakers or tickets to the basketball with him?

I would have no problem at all with 'celebrities' (using as examples Braff and Lee) used kickstarter to fund their projects, but at least give people a fair deal. If they offered a $10 or $15 HD download of the film, then that's rad, basically pre-ordering a film you have faith in. But the kind of obsessive fannish rewards they are offering are basically just vampiring their fans. Am I wrong in assuming that they don't want to offer fairly priced digital downloads as they are planning to double dip anyway - get the fans to pay, and then once the film is completed strike up a distribution deal (so they can't risk giving away the product as a reward and fans will end up having to pay twice).

+1

 

[Ethan Knight]

I believe all of that coke does no good to ones brain.

If you forget the (self created) hype behind his name, he's coming across in that video like a world class schmuck. I've noticed one caveat he says: "the only to make a movie is if you bring the money to the table" I think he means other people's money

 

[Brice Ansel]

My belief is that his career is over (studios will not invest in him).

Ha ha this make me laugh.
As if Hollywood's studios were the only alternative to make movies.
Thanks they are not a monopoly yet.

 

[Gary Paul Walker]

With the exception of 25th hour, I've never like Spike Lee films, and he always comes accross as a self-hype-all-talk character.

He's using Kickstarter? of course he's using kickstarter, 99% of people on Kickstarter have money in the bank, in most cases not enough, but people can always invest a little more / remorgage your house / go to a loan shark.. but if its there, free and legal, why wouldnt you?

My real problem, is not that Spike Lee can afford it (which obviously he can), my issue is his closing statment:
"In closing I will continue to do My Thang and this Joint, which YOU THE PEOPLE financed is gonna be HOT and DAT'S DA TRUTH, RUTH. Ya-Dig? Sho-Nuff."

This is the the filmmaker who doesn't want to make the big fluffly non-substance tentpole movies?

 

[Brandon J.F.]

I had no problem with Zach Braff using Kickstarter or Veronica Mars. They both put a lot of work into running good campaigns and they were actual projects.

Spike Lee hasn't put any work into his campaign. He doesn't even have a script or story. It's all a big joke to him. A fun experiment. He recorded a quick video and threw up a couple paragraphs of text. His pitch basically is, "I'm Spike Lee. Give me money."

A non-celebrity who submitted a project like this to Kickstarter would NOT be approved. A celebrity does it and not only is he approved, but he gets over 12,000 news articles written about it in 1 day and Kickstarter makes the project a Staff Pick and promotes it heavily.

I've lost a lot of respect for Kickstarter the last couple months. I was one of their biggest fans.

One piece of advice to Spike: Look through some of the other projects on Kickstarter now and back the ones you like and mention that you backed them to your backers. That will put your campaign in a more positive light. I backed/promoted more than 50 other campaigns DURING my Kickstarter campaign. It sure would be nice to see someone with a large amount of influence do the same.

 

[Andy White]

I thought the Braff & Mars Kickstarters (sounds like a legal firm - LOL) were good for KS PR, but not that good for the industry, as it would open the doors to everyone with built in fan bases being able to 'exploit' or 'directly access' a funding/revenue stream without any direct comeback or penalties.

For example, even getting a few million $ for a project from a Studio will end up in studio ownership of the IP - there are always caveats upon caveats contracts.

This latest KS from Spike Lee is basically saying 'I'm Spike Lee, I have a few ideas - please fund me and I'll get back to you when we're done'... as Brandon says, where's the project details or info? Just because it's Spike Lee, are we to 'presume' all of that will come?

Really, I think this marks the bubble bursting for crowd funding of this type... if Spike hits his goal without any real mention of a Project and manages it because of who he is rather than what he's showing, then a new set of flood gates will open.

Essentially Kickstarter will become a simple access cash mechanism were fans directly fund their favorite Celebs, starts, film-makers et al and vanity projects will increase.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Steven Soderbergh made a $10,000 pledge to Spike's campaign: http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/steven-soderbergh-pledged-10k-to-spike-lees-kickstarter/

It's the first campaign he's backed: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/684240980

Spike hasn't backed any other campaigns: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/spikelee

Kickstarter actually tells you to back at least 1 other campaign before you launch your campaign.

Zach Braff backed 13: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1869987317

Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) backed 7: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/559914737

 

[Scott Crawley]

Steven Soderbergh made a $10,000 pledge to Spike's campaign: http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/steven-soderbergh-pledged-10k-to-spike-lees-kickstarter/

Wouldn't it be interesting if a loose association of celebs were to form in this way.

I wonder if Soderbergh is planning his own campaign...

I wonder Tony Harris, if your opinion about celebs on Kickstarter crushing the little guy would change if one of them were to drop a few coins into one of YOUR campaigns. There is a flip side to your concern, isn't there?

Spike definitely should give a little to get a little like everyone else. Make the chain letter/pyramid scheme work instead of exploiting it.

Pardon my simple ignorance (I know next to nothing about Kickstarter.) but I am curious. I see upstarts privately promising shared profits every day, hoping to get their stuff funded. Is it against Kickstarter rules to offer shares as a perk? Could Spike have said for every dollar you put up, you receive 1/125,000,000 share (or whatever percentage) in the profits if there were any? Is it possible to put together a real, functional production proposal even if it has only a pipe dream's chances of success?

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Wouldn't it be interesting if a loose association were to form in this way.

I wonder if Soderbergh is planning his own campaign...

I'm sure he's thinking about it.

 

[Scott Crawley]

I'm sure he's thinking about it.

He surely seems like the kind of guy who would say "Hey, I was planning to self fund a film for 1.25 but instead I will give 10k to 125 of you if you do the same for me."

Lol

 

[Noel R.]

While I agree with some that the original intention of kickstarter was to fund the underdogs, I believe we will see many more celebrities jump on now. I'm curious if celebs will now outshadow many of the underdogs who are really looking for a chance? Spike Lee has had his chance, been there and done that. I also see the other side of it which I like, where Hollywood doesn't hold exclusive rights to dictate what makes it and what doesn't. Is this the new era of filmmaking that many of us have hoped for? With distributors such as Odemax content creators have a better chance of seeing a direct profit of their films without the Hollywood accounting.