Kevin Smith ser på mulighetene for å kunne finansiere skrekkfilmen Red State via donasjoner fra fans. Kevin Smith er kjent for komedier som Clerks, Chasing Amy og Zach and Miri make a porno. Nesten alle filmene har vært produsert via Weinsteinbrødrene, enten gjennom Miramax eller The Weinstein Company. Weinstein-brødrene har sagt nei til hans nye prosjekt Red State. Filmen er ifølge Smith en relativt kontroversiell skrekkfilm og et forsøk på å teste ut en annen sjanger enn hans vante.
Etter avslaget fikk Smith forslag fra en fan om å sette opp en web-side for å finansiere filmen med donasjoner fra fans. Smith tente på ideen og har sett på om det lar seg gjennomføre. Han understreker på bloggen sin at dette er langt fra å være en realitet, og at det er svært komplisert juridisk sett.
– This fan-financed-film (aka, “begging”) hasn’t happened yet, nor might it ever happen. While it all sounds perfectly Amish, it’s fraught with crazy pitfalls and tax problems that have required hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in legal fees to investigate even the possibility of the fan-financed idea’s merit.
Ideen til Smith har selvsagt satt av kommunist-alarmene til haugevis av republikanere på nettet. Han har blitt anklaget for å trygle til seg penger til sin egen lomme. Smith slår tilbake mot anklagene, og sier han selvfølgelig ikke vil ta betalt om filmen blir finansiert på denne måten.
– If (and I mean IF with a huge fucking i & f) this fan-financed idea were to move forward? I’m not making a dime. If I were, as suggested, to turn to the fan-base to fund the movie, do you honestly think I’d even take a salary? I was just tickled and touched a bunch of people wanted to see it so badly, they were like “Here’s my twenty, if it’ll help.” All without having read a script. I wouldn’t want or take one dime from something as pure as that gesture.
– If we did fan-finance and actually make the film, let’s say it sold: what then? There will be profits? Would people get their money back? Where would that money go? Our plan is to put anything we make into a fund that would, in turn, finance other (cost-sensible) flicks fans want to see. And from that? Build a People’s Studio. Simply have any interested/frustrated/desperate party put their script on our website, open for all to read, during a “pilot season” of sorts. Script that gets the most votes, gets the loot. That flick gets made and sold, all the loot goes back into fund for next round. If there’s enough loot from RED STATE sale to do so, idea would be to fund two low budget flicks a year. Ultimate dream: Indie Movement, v.3. Because with the shuttering and impending sale of Miramax comes the sober realization that the specialty business has just died completely. The 90’s are long over and Indie Movement v.2 has come to a sad close. Until that market is vibrant and thriving again, maybe this is a small way to keep the home-fires burning. I know we’re supposed to let all things run its course, but can’t help it: I don’t wanna see the indie film world I knew go away forever. I’m an idealist and a silly-heart, and I’ve got a dream. But that’s all it is right now: a dream.
Denne typen fan-finansiering er nok komplisert å gjennomføre, men det har allerede vært lignende tilfeller i musikk-bransjen. Bl.a. har det tyske bandet Einstürzende Neubauten finansiert noen av sine album ved å la fans abonnere på en nett-side hvor de legger ut ekslusivt materiale fra innspillingen.
