Zach Braff’s Kickstarter Project Lands Full Financing at Cannes

Posted by on May 15th, 2013   Filed under: Industry News, Internet
Source: THR

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Update: Zach Braff says that The Hollywood Reporter got their facts wrong and Worldview is merely providing a loan for gap financing. Read more in his latest Kickstarter update.

Just when you thought this whole Kickstarter thing couldn’t get anymore confusing than it already is, Zach Braff had to go and make it more complicated. Last month the internet lit up with strong opinions and heated arguments after Braff launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his movie Wish I Was Here, a spiritual successor to Garden State. Many people questioned the ethics of a rich Hollywood actor asking fans to donate money to support a personal project, eventually prompting the founders of Kickstarter to post a response on their blog entitled Who is Kickstarter for?. Braff’s film went on to reach its $2 million goal in just 3 days and currently sits at $2.6 million. With the campaign still active, however, this week it has been announced that Wish I Was Here landed full financing at the Cannes Film Festival. Huh?

According to THR, well-known financier Worldview Entertainment has come on board to fund Wish I Was Here, which Zach Braff will direct and star in. Josh Gad and Mandy Patinkin also recently signed on for supporting roles in the film. The full budget is said to be less than $10 million.

Clearly this news is rubbing many people the wrong way and some are even calling for supporters to rescind their donations while the Kickstarter campaign is still active. However, it’s clear that the Kickstarter campaign was only intended to cover about 20% of the film’s total cost. What’s more, his movie probably would not have landed a financing deal without the massive boost in publicity that Kickstarter provided. It’s also worth pointing out that not all of the $2.6 million will go to Braff since Kickstarter takes a cut. What do you think, is Braff betraying his grassroots supporters or is it proof that Kickstarter works? Should people take back their donations while they still can?



  • I think it’s proof Kickstarter works. I think the last thing we want to do is scare “celebs” away from using it just because they may have a name or money. If you think about the traffic that Kickstarter brings in because of Braff and Rob Thomas, the chances are a lot higher that people will stay on the site and look for other deserving projects to give a few bucks too.

  • luke

    i hope walruses eat his face

  • What New York Dinner For One Comedy has to see about the matter in 2 minutes!!

    http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/befbdc2f25/fundraising-sucks

    Check it out!

  • Alex

    If he didn’t end up getting full financing at Cannes, he probably would have made a 2.6 million dollar movie. I wouldn’t get butt-hurt just because investors wanted to contribute more money to his already successful idea.

  • Paul

    It’s more the “I turned down traditional funding because it wasn’t for me” claptrap he kept sprouting whenever his Kickstarter campaign was mentioned. Now he found some traditional funding that he agrees with & is all “Fuck it. Now traditional funding is okay”. It’s a joke. I think what will be funny now is with tradtional funding in place Braff has ZERO REASON to put any of his money into his project. Some dude on Kickstarter might have just put more money into ‘I Wish I Was Here’ than Braff ever will … and that guy will still have to buy a ticket next year.

  • Bryan

    Now Sean has to update this post with Braff’s response. This guy’s seriously hard to like. Don’t think he’s scamming, and I thought he was great on that NPR interview, but geez – he should exit stage left right quick…

  • Gerry

    If Braff posesses integrity he’ll refund the money / cancel the campaign.

    Kickstarter did good by generating the publicity that secured funding.

    Kickstarter themselves got publicity from this so that is their reward rather than a chunk of un-needed cash.

  • Bob

    Well, without that money he wouldn’t have the full budget and if you have supported this on Kickstarter you want this project to happen so you’re contributing to the budget. Nothing’s changed. People don’t go to Kickstarter for their daily dose of charity, they go to see what projects they’d like to come to fruition and hope to make it happen – that’s happened here. Furthermore, if you had the ridiculous standpoint that Kickstarter should only be for Indie projects then you wouldn’t have backed this in the first place so, there is no conflict of interests here at all. People have extended goals in Kickstarter – Braff just didn’t list them in the margin.

  • Jr

    Here’s what matters the most:
    Garden State is gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

  • patrik

    Good for you Zach Braff. Good for you..

  • darksiders

    @Bryan….what was his response?

  • There is a lot of people on the interwebs confusing the people on kickstarter as ‘investors’ vs. what they/it really is:

    [A connection between content providers and their audience that allows production decisions not to be made by some “gatekeeper, suit, corporation”; these decisions are made by the amount of donations from the audience]

    everyone seems to be going apeshit over the celebrity attachment and missing the larger point that the kickstarter system is allowing the people to vote on what they want to see. whatever your view of the financing scenarios involved; the kickstarter campaign has generated the monies/heat needed to get the project made.

    UNLESS there is so nefarious scenario going on were Braff and the Suits were going to greenlight it anyway and are using kickstarter for free money and free PR…..oh my god – I just blew my own brain!!!!

  • Peter

    To those saying cancel the campaign:

    It’s not like the people who backed it were donating their money. They chose rewards and are paying to receive specific things, as well as backing an idea.