VERONICA MARS Kickstarter Model: Other TV Shows have Noticed & Reacted

The Veronica Mars Kickstarter Model Replicated. This was bound to happen after Veronica Mars, a Kickstarter Funded Film, Began a New Movie-Making Era and its a good thing in my book. TV show creators have taken notice of what can now be called The Veronica Mars Kickstarter Model or The Veronica Mars Model (hybrid funding between a TV or motion picture studio and a crowding-funding source).

So have the fans. Show creators of now deceased TV shows have been tweeted and emailed questions of possibly resurrecting their shows. They include: Firefly (Joss Whedon), Pushing Daisies (Bryan Fuller), Terriers (Shawn Ryan), Men of a Certain Age (Mike Royce), and Chuck (Zachary Levi). All have spoke of the new Veronica Mars movie funding model.

Joss Whedon:

Whedon revealed that he initially felt “unfettered joy” over the project’s success, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who caught his cameo appearance in the Season 2 episode “Rat Saw God.” But it wasn’t long after that that he realized what the news might mean to Firefly fans.

“My fourth feeling when I read about [the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign] was a kind of dread. Because I realized the only thing that would be on everybody’s mind right now. I’ve said repeatedly that I would love to make another movie with these guys, and that remains the case. It also remains the case that I’m booked up by Marvel for the next three years, and that I haven’t even been able to get Dr. Horrible 2 off the ground because of that. So I don’t even entertain the notion of entertaining the notion of doing this, and won’t. Couple years from now, when Nathan [Fillion]‘s no longer [on] Castle and I’m no longer the Tom Hagen of the Marvel Universe and making a giant movie, we might look and see where the market is then. But right now, it’s a complete non-Kickstarter for me.

I think anything we could get off the ground would be appreciated by the fans. But what form it would take is I think under some debate.

For me, [Kickstarter] doesn’t just open the floodgates. God knows, things are cheaper now than when we made even Serenity. Good effects can be done in a different manner. Nor is that universe all about spectacle either. But it is a tad more expensive — and a little all-consuming! And of course, there’s the other fear: What if it’s not that good? I can do something that’s not that good — that’s fine. But if I do that and it’s not that good, I’m going to feel really stupid.”

Shawn Ryan (on Twitter):

Very interested to see how this Veronica Mars kickstarter goes. Could be a model for a Terriers wrap up film.

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV) March 13, 2013

 Mike Royce (on Twitter):

This has most certainly gone thru my head RT @analogtransmit: Kickstarter for a MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE finale movie.cc @tvoti

— Mike Royce (@MikeRoyce) March 14, 2013

Bryan Fuller:

Fuller is taking a rather active interest in the new model. Thomas reveals that the Pushing Daisies creator has already gotten in touch.

Advertisement

 

“I did get an email from Bryan Fuller earlier today saying, ‘Hey, can you jump on the phone with me at some point? I know you’re busy, but I would love to talk to you about how this thing works.’ And I know it was specifically for Pushing Daisies.”

“When I saw [the campaign] online, I said to my agent immediately, ‘Can we do this with Pushing Daisies or Wonderfalls?’” Fuller told THR. “And he said, ‘Pushing Daisies is going to take a lot more than $2 million to make into a movie.’” Still, he’s optimistic that Veronica Mars could change things. “It’s going to be easier to get in line behind Veronica Mars,” he noted.

Zachary Levi (on Twitter):

1st, congrats to @imkristenbell & @robthomas for helping move entertainment a little closer in the direction I’ve always hoped it would go…

— Zachary Levi (@ZacharyLevi) March 13, 2013

Levi went on to say in an interview that:

“I went to both [executive producer] Chris Fedak and [Warner Bros. Television president] Peter Roth at the very end of the fifth season and said, ‘Hey what if we made an online movie and just sold it directly to fans? We could keep this going. It could be fun.’ Even though that was only a few years ago, we’re obviously at a different time.

All I can say at this point is that because Veronica Mars, like Chuck, is a Warner Bros. [production], and because Warner Bros. has now opened that gate, I feel confident in being able to get the same results for a Chuck movie. If Warner Bros. is game, I’ve got great ideas for what the movie would be that I’m very excited about.”

On the Veronica Mars test case and the future according to Rob Thomas:

I know… that Warner Bros. isn’t treating Veronica Mars like a one-off. I think they’re treating us like a guinea pig — in the best way. They want to see if this model works, and they made the calculated decision, and for a lot of the reasons you articulated in that story, that we were a good test case for this. We just happened to be the right show at the right time, got to be the first one out of the gate. I think Warner Bros., if t works, it works, and they could start doing more of these. And you know that if it works at one studio, that they’re not going to be the only studio in town that will be trying it.

Would you like to see any of these TV shows resurrected? My vote is for Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. What’s yours?

Source: Firstshowing, Slasfilm, Buzzfeed, Hollywoodrepoter