When Kickstarter launched in April 2009 it created a way for the little guys to fund their dream projects. Someone who had a big idea but a little bank account could still find funding through the benevolence of the crowd. Lately, though, that seems to be changing. We're seeing more people with big ideas and big bank accounts find funding.
People like Zach Braff, perhaps best known as Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian on the TV show Scrubs. Last week he launched a Kickstarter to fund his film Wish I Was Here. The film, a follow-up to his indie love story Garden State, tells the story of a 35-year-old actor and father trying to find himself. According to Braff's pitch, the film needs fan-funding because he believes Kickstarter might be the way to make a "smaller, personal [flim] that didn't involve signing away all your artistic control."
The project – born of a fairly famous actor/director with many, many fans and Twitter followers — raised nearly $2.2 million from more than 30,000 backers in just four days. It was an unqualified win, for Braff and Kickstarter. Yet it raised an uncomfortable question: Why does a famous TV star with a directorial hit under his belt need my money, a question Valleywag posed with the headline, "Rich Person Zach Braff Wants the Internet to Pay for His Next Movie."
Braff has an answer for you.
"I'm not Oprah, OK? I think there's people who have slight misconceptions about how much money I have," Braff said in an interview with Wired. "I've been very successful in my career, I am going to put a ton of my own money into this endeavor, but I can't go out and fund what will likely be a $5.5 million movie out of my wallet. If people think that, they're very wrong."
Braff is the latest in a spate of big names passing the hat at Kickstarter. Rob Thomas and the talent behind Veronica Mars made a huge splash three weeks ago when they raised more than $5.7 million to fund a film version of the popular show. The campaign, which inspired Braff's Kickstarter, had a goal of $2 million and became the largest amount ever requested on Kickstarter to receive its funding. Braff became the second when he hit two mil, putting the two projects well above indie fare like the campaign to fund a film version of Eric Powell's comic The Goon, the $52,527 campaign that funded the Oscar-winning short Inocente and (as of this writing) Brian Knappenberger's push for an Aaron Swartz documentary.
These are huge successes for creators looking to do something outside the system, but what about people without name recognition who were never in the system to begin with?
While it's not likely Kickstarter will overthrow Hollywood any time soon – making a single episode of Game of Thrones costs more than any crowdfunding campaign has ever raised – there can be a bit of uneasiness when Hollywood plays in the indie world's grassroots sandbox. Even Thomas acknowledged this when he told Wired it "would be so gutsy" to attempt crowdfunding a million-dollar-plus project that wasn't a known property. And music industry blogger Bob Lefsetz wrote after Braff's campaign launched that "when the big boys come to play, it squeezes out the wannabes. Kickstarter's no longer a left field club, but the playground of the people who won't hang with you, who are always behind locked gates and velvet ropes."
What this boils down to looks an awful lot like the Amanda Palmer Problem. Last year the the Dresden Dolls singer raised nearly $1.2 million on Kickstarter for her album Theater Is Evil, well beyond the $100,000 she'd asked for. When she turned around a few months later and asked musicians to join her tour for nothing more than beer and hugs, more than a few people were upset. Legendary musician and music engineer Steve Albini even weighed in, saying that if "you are forced by your ignorance into pleading for donations and charity work, you are then publicly admitting you are an idiot, and demonstrably not as good at your profession as … every band ever to go on tour without a slush fund." Palmer went on to do a TED talk about "the art of asking" and even participated in a South By Southwest panel to explain and respond to the backlash. Despite the criticism, Palmer has remained a big supporter of crowdfunding, even posting an open letter on Salon on Sunday telling former Smiths singer Morrissey he ought to tap the power of the Internet to assist in making a new album.
In other words, if people think you have a lot of money, they're going to ask why you're asking them for more. There always will be a backlash against anyone who seems like they're reverse-Robin-Hooding a situation. But there is something more specific happening with the campaign for Wish I Was Here – Braff is a television star and probably a lot more famous than Palmer (though likely on par with someone like Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell). After his Kickstarter took off, filmmaker Jared Caldwell tweeted a message at Braff that said "You're ruining it. I don't blame you for using @kickstarter, but your privilege is hurting upcoming indies. Please stop." Braff responded that he "humbly disagree[d]."
What is actually in play in a situation like this is something a little beyond his control. Psychologically we are wired to determine our worth compared to other people, and as a story last week in Psychology Today noted, recent research has shown that if we perceive someone to be "above" us socially, we are less likely to want to support them. One recent study even found "upward or downward comparison can make people feel less empathic toward the targets and thus less inclined to help them." It's hard to imagine these attitudes aren't compounded when the target in question is a famous person.
But while it's totally natural to not want to help someone who seems already amongst the haves, telling them to not to play on Kickstarter could hurt the have-nots. The day Braff's campaign started, Kickstarter saw more traffic than ever before, and it's not hard to imagine at least some of his supporters discovered, and backed, other campaigns. While a recognizable face in the feed could draw attention away from smaller filmmakers – particularly in the site's "Popular" list – there's a chance it could bring in people who otherwise might never visit Kickstarter.
The crowdfunding site declined to comment for this story but in the past has noted that there are "blockbuster effects" that cause one campaign's success to bring a windfall to others. "One project's backer isn't another project's loss," Kickstarter noted last year on the company's blog. "The backers that one project brings often end up backing other projects as well."
That's something Braff wants the doubters and the haters to recognize.
"I think it's naïve to think we didn't introduce an ass-ton – and you can quote me on the word 'ass-ton' – of people to the idea of Kickstarter," Braff said. "And when you click on Kickstarter, it's not just a big picture of me smiling, it's dozens – if not thousands – of awesome projects."
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