Greetings,
So if you have any interest in the film world you will probably know that last week Mr. Zach Braff of Garden State and Scrubs fame (also check out the excellent Last Kiss) launched a kickstarter campaign to raise $2 million for his new flick and he has been heavily criticized for making the move. Well as a filmmaker, writer, producer, film fan and human being I say that he has every right to raise the money through kickstarter, why not?
I wish more filmmakers would ask their audience for funding, it would lead to better films being made. I have no doubt that Zach Braff (from here on in I'm just going to call him Zach as if we're old buddies) will make an excellent film with the funds that he has raised (currently $2,265,096). If Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon, Sam Raimi or any one of a hundred directors were to crowdfund their next movie I'd be in with a donation asap and I will be donating to "I wish I was here" before Zach's campaign ends. As filmmakers it's important that we make the movies that we want to make, not the movies that some fatcat thinks will make money.
I had complete freedom when I made ALL OR NOTHING, although I did only have $500 to play with the idea is the same. Maybe a money person would have given me thousands to make the movie but maybe they wouldn't have wanted the twist in the end which people are loving. Maybe the money person would have wanted different actors or different music, maybe they would have want to change a line of dialogue or two. I didn't have to worry about that and so I know exactly why Zach wants to keep control of his flick and I admire him for that.
So let's be clear, I'm a fan of Zach, I'm planning to contribute to his movie and I respect his decision to crowdfund. I am though trying to raise funds for a new movie, something that I've been working on for a while now. I don't have a huge fanbase, I don't have money from a successful film and television career, I don't have any famous friends... not really. I know people who know people, I have good friends who know people. But it's a tough economy so let me fantasize about having Zach's $2 million for a second. Here's how I'd spend it.
First a little about the movie I want to make. The Girl at the End of the World is a love story about two people in a long distance relationship who must find a way to reach each other when all technology has died. It has two lead characters, Katie and Dan who are very much in love and who will do anything to complete the journey to each others arms.
The first thing we'd do with the money is to pay our lead actors a sum of about $250,000 each. Our lead actress would be needed for 3 days and our lead male for 4 (we're planning on shooting for a total of 5 and a half days). With $250,000 we would be sure to attract some well known faces to the roles. If I threw out the names Lindsay Lohan and Robert Sheehan you'd probably laugh, but I have faith that those guys would knock it out of the park.
Our supporting actors, the roles of Jess (Katie's sister) and Sam (Katie's best friend) would be filled by similarly known actors, maybe not as well known but good actors think Jason Mewes and Alison Mack (Smallville's Chloe Sullivan), these guys could expect $100,000 for their acting performances. So far the total comes to $700,000 and we've only paid four actors, but thankfully that's the big spending out of the way.
The rest of the cast/crew will split another $100,000. For a one week shoot and a skeleton crew of two or three this means that everyone will be getting a nice chunk o' change for their work.
$1,200,000 left in the budget and it's time to look at travel. As our lead characters are so far away from each other at the beginning of the movie we will need some travel included in our budget. Dan is Irish which means he lives in Ireland, Katie is from California and that's a long bike ride from Dublin, so we need to fly Dan to the US along with myself (director) and my brother Karl who is the sound department/editor/producer and colorist. On the return trip we will also need to bring Katie with us so that we can shoot our final scene in Dublin city. Obviously stars like me don't travel coach (Lindsay can!) so let's throw $50,000 in the travel budget.
There are a couple of important props needed for the flick, the first is a nice guitar that Dan has been saving up to buy for a long time. We were going to use a $150 axe for this but now that we have lots of cash to burn I'll go ahead and bump the budget to a couple of grand. I'm a huge guitar fan and this will be heaven for me, shopping for guitars is a hobby!
We also need a row boat and overboard engine, some candles, two bikes, a beat up acoustic guitar, some wardrobe choices and a couple of cell phones (we could use our own but we have cash to burn, remember?). Total props budget is $5,000.
If you've been keeping track you'll know that we've now allocated $855,000 of the cash, leaving $1,145,000 still in the bank.
Let's be generous and give $1000 a day to food and lets say 7 days (even though we only need 5) and throw in another $5,000 for accommodations and transport. $1,133,000 remains.
Now we get to film equipment. We already own two Canon DSLR's and I love them. I'd shoot the movie on them again but seeing as how we have over a million left in the budget we should upgrade. I love research cameras, right now I want a BlackMagic Design 4K cinema camera, three different lenses, a good tripod a couple of sliders and a jib or two. Let's say $20,000 for a nice camera package.
The sound department could use some new microphones, a new mixing console and some boring sound equipment that I don't care about, let's throw them $10,000 and let them figure it out.
Computers are always good, currently I'm writing this post on a mid 2009 macbook pro, upgraded to the highest spec it can take. There is nothing wrong with this computer and it could easily be used to edit The Girl at the End of the World, but with all this money lying around I'm going to buy a top spec Mac Pro and a couple of high spec new MBPs. $20,000 should cover it.
We're left with $1,083,000 still available in the budget. I'm going to set aside $200,000 for distribution of the flick which includes, festival entries, dvd/blu ray production, screenings in NYC, LA, London and Dublin, Advertising, Promotion and Online fees.
Which means that we have $883,000 still in the budget and all that's left to pay are the director and the sound guy/editor/colorist/producer guy who will each take $441,500 leaving $0 in the budget.
I think Zach Braff would like this film!!!
That was fun! Really I am going to make The Girl at the End of the World for a budget of between $5000-$10,000 - yes I'm going to open a crowdfunding campaign, but I doubt it will raise all of the money needed. I am willing to sell a kidney if anyone wants it. I just want to make this movie and tell the story which I am totally and utterly in love with.
The point of this post is not to slag off Zach Braff, rather to defend him and if he should read this: Good for you Zach, I can't wait to see what you do with the movie and good luck with it.
I think more famous people should get involved with crowdfunding because the more people become aware of the cool projects that are being funded the more the little guys out there like me have a chance to win them over and make them our fans. It isn't easy though, you have to work at it.
However I have a suggestion which would make celeb crowdfunding a little more popular: If the celebs make over their goal they should donate everything over the goal amount to small projects on the CF website of their choice. So for example this mornings count have Zach's campaign at $2,265,096 ... imagine if he used the $265,096 to projects like The Girl at the End of The World... we need $10,000 to make a great film... that means that 25 and a half films like ours could be funded by my friend Zach!
Before I leave you I have a quick word for the Zach Braff bashers the ones saying that he should put his own money in and that he shouldn't crowdfund... YES HE SHOULD! Read the FAQs on the kickstarter page, he is putting some of his own money in and as a filmmaker let me tell you, he's more emotionally invested in the project than you will ever know.
And one more thing to the haters, who the hell are you to say that someone should or shouldn't do something? Stop complaining about other people and go do something with your life other than bitching about people who are making stuff happen.
Zach Braff, if you're out there please get in touch, I would love to volunteer to work on your film completely at my own expense just to help you get it done.
Peace out Homies.
Dave
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