Zach Braff has raised over $1million via Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website which has already helped Veronica Mars generated just under $6m for its own film.
Braff’s new film is called, Wish I Was Here , and has been written by him and his brother, Adam. Zach himself will also direct and star as the protagonist, a father, actor and husband looking for his identity.
It will be his second film as a director, after 2004’s Garden State which was a delightful hit for the Scrubs star. Braff is aiming for $2million and the actor has stated that he wants to raise the funds in this manner so that he can maintain creative control over the project.
On his Kickstarter page, Braff wrote, “I was about to sign a typical financing deal in order to get the money to make Wish I Was Here , my follow up to Garden State. It would have involved making a lot of sacrifices I think would have ultimately hurt the film.”
He added, “I’ve been a backer for several projects on Kickstarter and thought the concepts was fascinating and revolutionary for artists and innovators of all kinds. But I didn’t imagine it could work on larger-scale projects. I was wrong.”
Braff the remarked that he as astounded by Veronica Mars success on the site, which was due to Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas’ efforts.
The Scrubs star noted, “I couldn’t help but think (like I’m sure so many other independent film-makers did) maybe there is a new way to finance smaller, personal films that didn’t involve signing away all your artistic control.”
He then concluded, “Financing an independent film the traditional way often means having to give away your right to ‘the final cut’, casting choices, location choices and cutting down your script to make it shoot-able on the cheapest budge possible. What if there is a different way?”
Braff follows on from the likes of Charlie Kaufman, Alex Cox and Thomas, each of whom have used the site to finance their projects.
