Zach Braff Draws Criticism for Using Kickstarter to Fund his Next Film
With the global economy continuing to struggle along, people worldwide are looking to more innovative forms of funding for their business ideas.
Sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have received a lot of press for their crowd funding techniques where ordinary people can donate even the smallest sum to feel like they helped to get an idea off the ground – often in return for rewards.
Low budget films have often been the surprise hit of Kickstarter, with a number of low budget auteurs looking to the site to fund their big break. But so far Hollywood has stuck to its traditional funding models – until now.
Zach Braff, the star of hit TV show Scrubs is one of the most successful comedians in the world. He has just launched a Kickstarter project for his next movie – reaching his target, a staggering RM 7 million, in just four days.
But perhaps it wasn’t the success that Braff had hoped for. The internet is up in arms that a supposedly big shot Hollywood figure with hits such as Garden State to his name, would resort to Kickstarter taking away the opportunities of struggling filmmakers.
His case wasn’t helped by his rather cloying video that accompanied his pitch for the film, where he went on at length that his reason for using Kickstarter was that his evil studio overlords would try to take away his artistic vision.
After all “I don’t have Oprah Winfrey money,” Braff claimed. True, he doesn’t have access to a RM 9 billion fortune, but Forbes estimates he still has RM 70 million tucked away so he’s not doing badly.
Is the Writing on the Wall for Frank Lampard?
Although Chelsea football club might have ruled out renewing his contract, the veteran midfielder is very much still a team member, playing for the club during Chelsea’s semi-final win in the Europa League against Basel this week.
Yet according to Chelsea’s in-house television channel, he has already been dropped from the West London team, describing him as a “former Blues midfielder.”
It would certainly appear that someone at the team has decided the end is nigh for the 34-year old who is rumoured to be joining David Beckham’s former team LA Galaxy next season, with interest also coming from Manchester United.
In the meantime Lampard, who recently scored his 200th goal for the club, is still busy writing books for children, including the imaginatively titled Frankie’s Magic Football.