Thanks to 28,000 of his closest friends, Zach Braff has reached his Kickstarter goal in just three days. Spurred on the by the success of the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign, the actor/director turned to the crowd funding site to finance his next film, Wish I Was Here.
In it’s first 24 hours, the campaign raised $1.1 million, more than half its goal. As of Saturday, April 27 Braff has reached his goal of $2 million, with 26 days left to go in the campaign.
Braff took to twitter to share his excitement and thank his fans. “28,000 Financiers in 3 days! Un-f-cking I will not let you down. Let’s go make a killer movie!” He also posted a video on Facebook with the caption “This is how you’ve made me feel.” (It’s just him bopping his head to “The Lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of Music).
The Scrubs star turned to crowdsourcing to help make his movie after discovering that having the financial backing of a large studio meant a loss of creative control over his film. “I couldn’t help but think (like I’m sure so many other independent filmmakers did) maybe there is a new way to finance smaller, personal films that didn’t involve signing away all your artistic control.”
Not everyone is feeling the love; Braff’s Kickstarter campaign has sparked some debate and backlash. Some Kickstarter proponents believe that Braff’s campaign violates the sprit of crowd funding because intention of the site was to help fund the dreams of the creative amateur, not seasoned professionals. Many took to Twitter to express their disappointment.
“What bugs me about Zach Braff et al using Kickstarter is not so much that they’re rich, but that they already have access.”
“That’s what I don’t like about Kickstarter. Zach Braff could pay for his movie himself and still have $20million left over.”
Robert Kessler, a writer for Celebuzz.com, also took issue with Braff ‘s use of Kickstarter. “There is something particularly awful about professionals who have already risen to the near top of their field asking for handouts as if they can’t get work any other way,” he wrote.
Like it or not, the film has already reach its fundraising goal and Braff is fired up about making the film. On Friday, he tweeted “Dear Fans, I cannot believe your unbelievable support for WIWH. I wish I could hug each and every one of you.” Wish I Was Here is Braff’s second writing and directorial effort; he wrote and directed the successful Garden State in 2004.