April 24th, 2013
03:27 PM ET
Zach Braff gets Kickstarter support for 'Garden State' follow upCourteney Cox, Jessica Simpson and Aaron Paul are just a few of the famous who have joined fans in supporting Zach Braff. The 38-year-old actor/filmmaker is following in the footsteps of Rob Thomas, who set a record when he Kickstarted a "Veronica Mars" movie in March, with his own Kickstarter concept: a follow-up to his 2004 feature directorial debut, "Garden State."
Called "Wish I Was Here," the movie's co-written by Braff and his brother, Adam, and centers on a struggling actor, husband and father named Aidan Bloom. Braff, who also wrote and starred in the prior romantic dramedy, will portray Aidan, a 35-year-old who's still searching for his identity and purpose in life. "He and his wife are barely getting by financially," Braff describes on his Kickstarter page. "Aidan passes his time by fantasizing about being the great futuristic 'Space-Knight' he'd always dreamed he'd be as a little kid." But when Aidan's dad can't keep paying for a private school education for the couple's two kids, Aidan winds up home-schooling them, developing his own curriculum, and learning a few lessons himself along the way. Braff's hoping to raise $2 million for the follow-up by 3 p.m. ET on May 24, and he's well on his way to reaching half of his goal within a day. He said he was initially going to go with a "typical financing deal" for the project, but doing so "would have involved making a lot of sacrifices I think would have ultimately hurt the film." So in the aftermath of Thomas' Kickstarter success, Braff "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." Funding "Wish I Was Here" through Kickstarter would give him more control over casting, location, editing and the budget, he said, and give him the opportunity to "make a movie ... with no compromises." If he gets the money he needs, Braff wants to begin filming in August and wrap up "Wish I Was Here" in time to debut it at the Sundance Film Festival. Like with "Veronica Mars," fans who contribute to the movie via Kickstarter will have opportunities to be involved. For $10, you'll get a "production diary," which includes weekly updates on the filmmaking process from Braff and a PDF of the script, and $40 or more earns the contributor a "Wish I Was Here" T-shirt. For $10,000, a fan could join the movie as a cast member - and one person has already snatched up that offer. Those who give $100 and up are eligible to attend advance screenings and Q&A's in Los Angeles, London, New York and Chicago, which at the time of this post were rapidly selling out. "My pal @zachbraff is a brilliant filmmaker," Cox, who's worked with Braff on her comedy "Cougar Town," tweeted Wednesday, while Simpson encouraged her Twitter followers to join her "in helping @zachbraff make another movie." One fan was happy to support the movie, with one condition: “I'll donate to 'Wish I was Here' if you promise to cast ['Garden State' star] Jim Parsons and [Braff's 'Scrubs' co-star] @donald_faison. Deal?" the fan said, to which Braff replied, "done."
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FACT: THIS IS NOT THE FIRST MOVIE STAR WHO FEEL SHE IS ABOVE THE LAW.
FAME AND MONEY CAN MAKE YOU ACT CRAZY.
MANY STARS LIVE IN A DREAM WORLD...UNTIL REALITY HIT ...OH WHAT A CRASH!
"BE AS ME, SEE ME AS YOU, RICH YET POOR, REMEMBER WHEN YOU HAD NOTHING OR
DID YOU ALWAY HAVE..BUT YOU SHARED YOU WERE HAPPY...I WILL BE AS YOU.
I too am an independent filmmaker desperately trying to raise funds for my 4th feature film ‘Bonobo’ (after a backer pulled out and we go into production on June 5th) so we set up a Kickstarter campaign for which I’ve already shaved my hair off as publicity and agreed to get a Kickstarter tattoo if we hit our goal of $17,000 (this is to re-top up our small budget)….yet it is so slow!
Unlike Mr Braff I’m not ‘known’ and I certainly don’t have the kind of money he A)earns or B)has access to, yet I’m currently BANK ROLLING THE PRODUCTION MYSELF at huge financial risk (if and until we find another investor) so I feel that if a well known (and financially well-off) individual is as passionate about their film as I am mine they should be prepared to personally ‘put their money where their mouth is!’
Because just like the Hollywood blockbusters this pushes aside the smaller indies, leaving them lagging behind in their shadow, barely noticed.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1987850720/bonobo-a-serious-film-by-multi-award-winning-silly
if you wanna check in and consider helping out folks who aren't in Braff's shoes or had a popular tv show prior - well, have a looksee of what my sis and i are trying to do! THANKS ALL http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/two-dogs
I think I'll take a massive steaming dump in my neighbor's koi pond tonight.
Boring.
I get paid over $87 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Here’s what I've been doing, Wow55.com_
For $87/hr would you fellate a goat while taking it up the poop chute?
Did you know that posting material like that in a public forum can be classified as a form of molestation? If a child were to come in here and read that and it was subsequently reported... Hope for your sake you're not on a public, work or school computer because you could be branded a s e x o f f e n d e r for that. Good Luck with that!
That's an interesting legal opinion you've presented here, "whoever." Do you have a background in law? Do you mind giving us some sources for that? Or, at the very least, can we have a look at your briefs?
i think its great to get the people that like your work to support it, that business, but zach is hogging up all the kickstarter backers for himself. an army of celebs are on twitter giving his project lip service so i started my own twitter @notzachbraff to push my own kickstarter project http://kck.st/ZmV8a3 – & yes, i backed his movie but i mean , damn, save some for the rest of us!
If you close your eyes and turn out the lights, he also looks like Bill Cosby.
Like to try some jello pudding? Hey Hey Hey.
I be tellin Mr Drummond on you.
What you talkin bout, Willis?
This guy looks just like Webster too ! It is scary ! Exactly like Webster but different.