Last month, a Kickstarter project went up to fund Veronica
Mars movie. There was plenty of eye-rolling and derision (“RLY? Who asked for
this?” “Veronica Who?!”)
In five hours, fans had pledged $1 million (half of the projected
budget). The project page just closed about half an hour ago from the time I
write this and they’d collected almost $6 million from over 91,000 backers.
This ought to be quite an education to network executives
(those willing to learn and those not living in a bubble). Yes, the show had a
relatively small audience but that small audience can drop $5.7 million for a
movie the studio would have never
greenlit.
Kickstarter and Indiegogo have given power back to the content
creators and fans, and this will revolutionize the way people consume their art
and entertainment. It has already changed things, but big business has taken
little notice…
The news of the Veronica Mars movie project will put a giant
magnifying glass over this trend because of the amount of money raised.
Combined with the final take (box office, if released wide),
DVD-sales and streaming distribution, and promotional sales this will likely
become a profitable endeavor. Soon the studios will be used mainly for
distribution deals, and if a streaming world that is not even needed for all
projects.
This is putting ideas in my head and I am thinking of
scripting short animated pieces to match the stories on Because She Was a Woman,
for instance. It democratizes the delivery of art and entertainment by
attracting the people sooner into the process. Everyone can become a patron and
it is neither prostitution nor content creation by committee – there is no need
for the creator to compromise her vision.
I keep seeing new media jobs going to entry level prospects
because the old guard, not knowing what knowledge is needed, rely on the idea
that kids can figure it out and they won’t have to pay them a king’s ransom for
their service. I believe they also feel that they can train these young ’uns
into doing business as usual – which completely misses the point.
All this does is delay progress by slowly adopting new
technologies but adhering to marketing strategies that have yet to catch up and
in doing so adding poorly scripted analyses and showing no to little profit in
adopting new ways. It’s a vicious cycle!
Some book projects have been created this way and I predict
that authors will soon take over auxiliary projects by repurposing their own
writing (short films, music, graphic novels, based on their writings).
Will we all command a $5.7 million payday to create our
content? Probably not, but it frees us to dream and propose the dream to others
who may partake in sharing that dream. It evens the odds for the truly
talented. This is a very good thing indeed, don’t you think?
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