Never underestimate your power to influence Hollywood! Ever since the popular TV series Veronica Mars, starring Kristen Bell, got cancelled abruptly in 2007, fans have been dreaming of a Veronica Mars movie. We loved her because she was smart, sassy and daring as she, a mere teenager, solved crimes like a kickass Nancy Drew. She also had to deal with school bullies and nervousness over talking to cute boys like any normal teenage girl. Veronica Mars was awesome! Then, like what happens to all good shows, it was cancelled. BuzzFeed writer Jessica Testa describes the finale as not feeling very final.
The creator of the show, Rob Thomas, decided that if Warner Bros. wasn’t going to do it, he and the fans were going to make a movie finally happen. Warner Bros. Digital Distribution agreed to cover the costs for marketing and promoting the movie if fans agreed to chip in with production costs, according to Entertainment Weekly. What’s the best way to get the fans in on the action? Why, Kickstarter, of course!
Kickstarter is the popular crowd-funding website that helps entrepeneurs and creative types raise funds to start their businesses or their creative projects. So Rob Thomas created the Veronica Mars Movie Project. He set the budget to $2 million, which is a small budget for a film. On Kickstarter, Thomas writes: “…if we could get 30, 000 people to give the average donation, we could finance the movie, particularly if the cast and I were willing to work cheap.” Well, he and the cast love Veronica Mars so much that they are willing to join in this project and bring Veronica back on the big screen for a limited time and on your small screen with the DVD release. The minimum donation is $1, but you can pledge more and get cool movie-related swag.
Fans jumped at the chance to make it happen, and Rob Thomas raised his entire goal (and then some) in less than 24 hours, according to Forbes and E! The campaign is still active for another 29 days, so there’s still time to donate and add more to the production budget.
Are you excited that a Veronica Mars movie is going to be happening?