If it please the prosecution, please permit me to draw your attention to Tribeca Films' recent article on Kickstarter's $100M intake last year.
Of that $100M, almost $32.5M were pledged towards film & video projects.
In 2011, film & video projects were pledged $32,473,790, a larger number than all projects in 2010. These pledges came from 308,541 backers, for an average pledge of $105.25 per backer.
To put it in ordinary language—over 300,000 people decided that a large number of film/video projects on Kickstarter were worthy enough to “invest/give” an average of $100.
This makes me happy. Despite myriad sky-is-falling pronouncements from Hollywood lobbyists entrenched in 20th century business models, these kinds of articles suggest that there's still a hunger for market-driven content.
I don't think I'm alone here, so I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that what there isn't a hunger for is the nth sequel to a bloated and story-less property that I must endure watching in a venue filled with Chatty Cathy types who aren't willing to turn off their cellphones for a couple hours after paying a tickets/snacks/parking/babysitter aggregate that would exceed discount regional airfare. Call it a hunch.
Besides, you know those DVDs we all snarfed up over the past decade? Yeah, I wanted to see them in their full glory, so I bought a 42" plasma screen and nice mid-range 5.1 home theatre.
Tribeca's observations on Kickstarter are prescient. The model is changing. It's getting pulled by the market. It's getting push by creators. It's getting push-back by those unwilling to evolve with the direction the 21st century is pointed. It's not going to work but sometimes you gotta wonder at whatever masochistic Sisyphean impulse that can command a good lobbyist.
I suspect the safe money is on seeing more successes from the Kickstarters and IndieGogos out there. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to silently rooting for Lisanne & Jamie, creators of crowd-funded Indie Game: The Movie on the eve of their first Sundance!
That's an inegoinus way of thinking about it.
Posted by: Buffie | January 23, 2012 at 10:59 AM