'Veronica Mars' gets its funding, but at what cost?

Posted Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 3:58 PM Central
Last updated Friday, November 6, 2015 at 10:34 AM Central

by John Couture

By now, I'm sure you've heard that Veronica Mars is indeed coming back, on the big screen. If you haven't, I'll quickly rehash the story.

Yesterday, creator of the TV series Rob Thomas took to Kickstarter to plead to fans of the popular, but canceled, TV series that if they could raise $2 million in the next 30 days, Warner Bros. would agree to allow them to make the film.

You see, Warner Bros. owns the rights to Veronica Mars and basically has the last say on anything regarding the property, even if Rob and star Kristen Bell were to secure financing elsewhere and make the film, Warner Bros. could block its distribution. So, without Warner Bros. on board, any talk about a movie was a non-starter.

Finally, Warner Bros. made a deal with Thomas, if he was able to raise $2 million to finance the production of the film, Warner Bros. would take care of distribution, marketing and manufacturing. In other words, bring them a finished movie and they'll release it.

How nice of them, eh?

Well, it didn't take them 30 days to raise $2 million, it didn't even take them one day. In a little over 10 hours, they met their goal and Veronica Mars got its greenlight. Currently, they have raised $2,795,310 and they still have 29 days to go.

Now, before I go off on my little rant, I want to make sure that I'm clear. I'm happy for everyone associated with Veronica Mars. I generally love the philosophy behind Kickstarter and I think crowdfunding is a viable option for many projects out there.

I just think that a few common sense things got lost in the whirlwind of excitement yesterday as the pledge total rose towards its goal with such speed. As a few colleagues have pointed out, Warner Bros. changed the financing paradigm and I'm left to wonder if we're better off in this new reality.

First, what did Warner Bros. gain or prove by forcing the creators to basically beg its fans for the film's financing? Let's face it, $2 million is chump change to Warner Bros. This is the company that spent $200 million both on Terminator Salvation and Green Lantern.

Combined, those films barely grossed over $200 million at the box office. So maybe, the real question is why are they spending money to lose money? And who has to shoulder the burden of Warner Bros. misses? The fans, that's who.

Oh sure, you can try to justify the move by saying that you've simply "pre-sold" 20,000 (and counting) DVD or Blu-ray copies and an additional 12,000 digital copies. But, even then, I'm thinking that $35 for a digital copy, $50 for a DVD and $100 for Blu-ray is a bit steep.

Not only that, but you're basically fleecing your biggest fans and double-dipping over a year in advance. When Veronica Mars hits theaters, there's a pretty good chance that most of the people that contributed to the Kickstarter campaign will go and see it in theaters. In fact, Warner Bros. is counting on it.

Now, I'm not privy to the deal that the creators worked out with Warner Bros., but I imagine that with a production budget of $2 million all of the principals involved are working for scale. If this is the case, I hope they got significant points on the back end.

But still, the ramification remains the same. The studio, which has been throwing bad money after good for decades is now willing to pass along more direct costs to you the audience. It isn't enough that the average cost of a ticket to see a movie at the theater is just over $8 (many prime time shows cost upwards of $10 and that's before the requisite 3D up-charge and the outrageously overpriced snacks), but now we are asked to share the cost of production.

For now, backers are given rewards, such as the aforementioned DVDs and Blu-rays, but how long before studios take those away too? Even worse, how long before studios hold our favorite TV shows and movies hostage?

"Oh, you want a tenth season of CSI? Well, the fans will have to pre-order 10,000 DVD copies or it's off the air."

"What's that? You want more Star Wars films? Time to open your wallets now and we'll think about it."

Unlikely? Probably. Impossible? Not after yesterday.

Beyond the woes of the fans, let's look at this new reality from other people's perspectives. There's no denying that "Marshmallows" are committed in their devotion. By basically pre-selling all of those DVDs and Blu-ray copies, the business at retail will suffer greatly.

Now, I'm not going to try and convince you to shed a tear for Best Buy losing a few ancillary sales, but there are many people employed in the physical goods distribution (including the operators of this very site) and a move like this will have an effect on the industry.

What about all of those smaller projects that truly benefit from the Kickstarter model? You know, the ones that don't have their own fame or famous friends to lend their support to their fundraising efforts?

If the studios start hijacking Kickstarter for their glorified proof of interest vanity projects, will we ever see another Inocente, the film that won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Inocente received $52,000 from 300 contributors during its Kickstarter campaign.

Finally, think about the fans of the next big project that fails. What if Nathan Fillion were to get the browncoats into a tizzy with the potential of a new season of Firefly only to fall short of its goal? I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say that it will only take one of these to fail miserably for the industry to turn its back on fan-funded initiatives forever.

Again, I couldn't be happier for Veronica Mars and its fans. My wife counts herself among the "Marshmallows" so I'm sure we'll see the film at some point. I still have to watch the series first, but I've got a year. I hope that Kickstarter takes its 5% fee (currently $139,102.85 and counting) and invests it into smaller, more independent projects in the future.

There are other ways to make your projects work. Take a look at Kevin Smith. He has leveraged his massive fan base by four-walling his last film Red State and the upcoming Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! Basically, he presents the film and has a Q&A afterwards and charges a premium price for the ticket. Both of those films made it into the black before they were available on home entertainment.

Of course, I'm sure Warner Bros. made those involved with Veronica Mars use Kickstarter so they could get a good gauge of public interest. And that's the real issue here, the studios have all of the control and by giving them our money like this, it just reinforces their actions.

In a perfect world (you know the one that we currently live in), the audience would dictate what gets made with their decisions at the box office and the video store. When you allow the studios to have all of the power, it's a slippery slope and it won't be long before studios are dictating everything we consume and Kickstarter is just a faded memory of something cool that once existed.

Oh, and I didn't even mention all of that interest they will earn on your money between now and the film's release.