By all accounts, the launch of a Veronica Mars film project on Kickstarter last week has been a swift, staggering and somewhat dizzying success. The proposed feature-length adaptation of Rob Thomas’ cult-darling TV series rocketed past its crowdfunding goal of $2 million in a roughly 11 hours, and had reached $3.6 million by Monday afternoon. While its circumstances as a preexisting fan favorite and major-studio property make Mars an obvious outlier in the mostly independent realm of creators on Kickstarter, Indiegogo,Seed&Spark and other crowdfunding sites, its success calls attention to one of the oft-overlooked elements of those sites’ many runaway hits: How to deliver “rewards” promised to hundreds or thousands of backers for their donations.
I wrote about this last week as it pertains to Thomas and Veronica Mars, whose delivery of t-shirts, DVDs and Blu-rays, signed posters and more has the infrastructure of an international entertainment conglomerate to fall back on. (Thomas, who made it sound as though he was on his own in his initial Kickstarter pitch, has since acknowledged that Warner Bros. has his back on fulfilling the demand.) Most other filmmakers who’ve considered or tried crowdfunding do not share Thomas’ luxury, and the temptation of all those crowdfunded dollar signs — more than $100 million to date for independent film on Kickstarter alone — can sometimes overshadow the stress and complications that accompany such a windfall.
From conception to shipping, rewards can and should be awesome. Before you go passing the hat, consider a few dos and don’ts that will help maintain your — and your backers’ — focus squarely on your creative effort…