Update: The "Veronica Mars" Movie Reached its Goal!

[JamesG]

The "Veronica Mars" Movie Will Actually Happen — But Only If You Help!
Mar 13, 2013
by Sadie Gennis


You don't have to hire Vinny Van Lowe to know that "Veronica Mars" fans are one dedicated bunch of marshmallows. And after all these years since it went off the air — six, to be exact — all that waiting, tweeting and praying might pay off: The "Veronica Mars" movie is actually going happen! But only if you're willing to help.

Creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell launched a Kickstarter campaign Wednesday to raise money for the project, with a goal of $2 million in 30 days. If the goal is met, the movie would begin shooting this summer and would get a limited theatrical release in early 2014. (Yes, that soon.)

Afterward, the movie will be available on VOD, iTunes and other online platforms.





So what would a "Veronica Mars" movie look like after all these years?

"Life has taken Veronica away from Neptune. In the years since spoiling Keith's chances to be reelected sheriff, Veronica hasn't taken a case," Thomas writes. "But something big is about to bring her back home and back to her calling. My goal is to include as many of your favorite characters as possible. It is, after all, time for Veronica's 10-year high school reunion."

"Keep in mind that the more money we raise, the cooler movie we can make," Thomas continues. "A two million dollar fundraising total probably means cross words are exchanged at the class reunion. Three million? We can afford a full-on brawl. Ten million? Who knows... For some reason the Neptune High class reunion takes place on a nuclear submarine! A Hobbit shows up! There's a Bollywood end-credit dance number! I've always wanted to direct Bill Murray. We'll figure out something cool. Hey, if that total goes high enough, I'll bet the good folks at Warner Bros. will agree a sequel is a good idea."





Unlike the series, the "Veronica Mars" movie is considering a range of shooting locations, including Los Angeles, Vancouver, Baton Rouge, La., and San Diego, Calif., depending on funding.

So do you hear that, people? Even if when the goal is met, don't stop donating! Especially if we have any hope of enticing back SAG-nominated actress Amanda Seyfried for one last Lily Kane apparition.





Bell and Thomas are also offering rewards to fans who contribute to the campaign, including a PDF of the shooting script (for a $10 donation), a personalized voicemail from Kristen Bell ($500) and a part in the movie ($10,000).

Oh, and don't worry, LoVe 'shippers. Thomas is taking your hopes for Veronica and Logan into consideration (even though, as he points out, in noir "there aren't a lot of happy endings").

Noting how long we've been waiting for this, Thomas jokes that because of LoVe, he'll go back and rework the "super-grim ending."


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-movie-project
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Veronica...r-1062703.aspx

[JamesG]

"Veronica Mars" Movie: Meet The Guy Who Just Pledged $10k for a Speaking Role
by Hillary Busis
Mar 13 2013


There are fans, and then there are stans — the rabid zealots who spend 12 months creating detailed replicas of a fantasy world out of Legos, or those who make it their mission to cook every single food mentioned in their favorite series, or who camp outside for hours in a blizzard in hopes of maybe getting a ticket to see the object of their devotion perform.

Steven Dengler, the man who pledged $10,000 to Rob Thomas’s "Veronica Mars" movie on Kickstater today, is… not one of those people — at least where Veronica is concerned.

“I’m not a superfan in the sense of knowing every line from every episode or anything like that,” he told EW during a phone interview this afternoon. “In fact,” he continued, “if you put me in with your average group of superfans, I’d probably get bounced pretty quickly… I would call myself a small-f ‘fan’ of the series.”





Dengler is, however, a superfan of something else: crowdfunding itself. A wealthy entrepreneur — he co-founded XE.com, a currency site that ranks among Alexa’s top 500 most popular webpages globally — he’s also an active philanthropist who has backed some 65 projects on Kickstarter, contributing to projects including videogames and an engineering set designed for girls.

“What I love about Kickstarter is it really is empowering the artists, the people who create content, to go directly to the fan base and say, ‘Look, let’s skip this baloney,’” he said, referring to the old-fashioned method of finding financiers who may demand creative control in exchange for funds.

“Let’s just make it and not involve this crazy stupid layer of people who think they know what you want.”





Clearly, fans agree with Dengler’s philosophy — the "Veronica Mars" movie raised more than $1.3 million in about six hours, with its total is climbing by the minute. The film’s biggest single investor guesses that its budget will soon exceed its goal of $2 million, much like the CRPG game Torment (which Dengler also backed).

And this money will come in addition to whatever the cult series’ stars like Kristen Bell and creator Rob Thomas pitch in themselves. “My experience with self-financed production is, ‘Don’t worry, they’ll be kicking in,’” he said, noting the “piles and piles of invisible costs” that crop up during a project like this.





Soon enough, then, Dengler could find himself reaping the reward that his $10,000 entitles him to — a speaking role in the "Veronica Mars" movie itself. Well, as long as his schedule permits:

“I’m really busy, and I travel a lot,” he noted. “I do have a day job which takes up my attention, so ironically, this might be something I won’t even be able to do in the end. I may have to nominate one of my friends to do it in my place.”

Note to actual "Veronica Mars" superfans: Make friends with Steven Dengler ASAP.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/03/13/ve...speaking-role/

[JamesG]

"Veronica Mars" Movie Meets Fundraising Goal
by Kimberly Roots and Andy Patrick
3/13/13


No offense to Mars Investigations’ canine mascot, but "Veronica Mars" fans on Wednesday provided the real backup, pledging — in just over 10 hours, and with an average donation of $63 — the $2 million necessary to start production on a film version of the defunct CW series.

http://tvline.com/2013/03/13/veronic...1/vmideas_fbi/

[robyrob]

that's pretty awesome that they hit their goal so quickly - they got my $10 and I can't wait to see the movie

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by Rob Thomas

Records of note
Update #2 · Mar. 14, 2013 · 94 comments

By the way, yesterday we set a few records.

We were the fastest Kickstarter project to hit $1M. We were the fastest Kickstarter project to hit $2M. We set the record for highest goal ever achieved. (Other KS projects have done better than us -- so far -- but none set a goal as high as our $2M goal.) We're also the largest film project in Kickstarter history.

Cannot thank everyone enough.

wow !

[robyrob]

well, it just ended, they broke some more records too -

91,585 Backers

$5,702,153 pledged of $2,000,000 goal