What happens when Hollywood gets involved with a Kickstarter

[40hz]

One word: nightmare.

From the good folks at TechDirt comes this telling story:

Warner Bros. Turns A Kickstarter Success Story Into A Flaming Mess With Proprietary Platforms And DRM
from the how-not-to-do-it dept

Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about a rather encouraging development in filmmaking, highlighting the story of Warner Bros. film studio working out a deal with the producer and actors of the popular Veronica Mars TV show, that if they could prove demand for a film via Kickstarter, Warner Bros. would fund the rest of the film. Basically, Warner Bros. had been unconvinced that there was enough demand for a movie to finance it upfront. But, with tools like Kickstarter today, you can prove demand upfront, taking away a big part of the risk. And that's exactly what happened, as the project raised over the $2 million target very quickly, and eventually brought in $5.7 million. Part of what was interesting about this was it showed how movie studios could actually embrace crowdfunding as well, creating some interesting hybrid models that don't always involve some studio head deciding what people will and won't like.

The movie came out last week to very good reviews... but leave it to Warner Bros. to totally muck it up, screw over the goodwill from all those backers and scare people off from such future collaborations. That's because one of the popular tiers promised supporters that they would get a digital download of the movie within days of it opening. But, of course, this is a major Hollywood studio, and due to their irrational fear of (oh noes!) "piracy" they had to lock things down completely. That means that backers were shunted off to a crappy and inconvenient service owned by Warner Bros called Flixster, which very few people use, and then forced to use Hollywood's super hyped up but dreadful DRM known as UltraViolet.

The end result? A complete disaster for the film's biggest fans and supporters...<more>

Does anybody here want to pretend they're surprised?

[rgdot]

Not one bit. Kickstarter should not be about established corporations, even though strictly speaking it wasn't them that started this campaign ... actress wanted the movie, etc.

[Vurbal]

Does anybody here want to pretend they're surprised?

I really wanted to but for some reason I don't think I could come up with something convincing enough to fool anyone here.

[mwb1100]

Does anybody here want to pretend they're surprised?

-40hz (March 17, 2014, 04:06 PM)

Well, those Kickstarter backers sure seem surprised. But I don't know if any of them are here on DC, though.

[wraith808]

* wraith808 raises hand

Not one of the surprised, but one of the backers.  I thought that perhaps since it wasn't a major motion picture release, and most of what they were putting up was PR and distribution, it might slip by.

silly me.

but...

If Veronica Mars proves to be the thing that finally bring down Flixster and Ultraviolet, it will officially be the most successful Kickstarter campaign yet.

...and another gem...

Hanlon's razor at work?

“I will not be supporting anything VMars related in the future, and may never support a similar Kickstarter project again.”

Given the studios really hate services like Kickstarter for providing creators means of funding that doesn't require them to sign all of their rights over, I have to wonder if part of what drove this latest disaster was an attempt at poisoning the well for other creators looking to get funding for their films, funding which, being crowdsourced, wouldn't come with tons of 'strings' other than 'provide backers, and others, with film when finished'.

A few bait-and-switch 'projects' like this, and you'd likely have a whole bunch of people swearing off movie/film kickstarter projects altogether(although a smarter move would be to do the same, but limit it to just studio-based projects).

It's either that, or just another indication that the major studios and those that run them are just as brain dead, and full of contempt for their 'customers' as ever I suppose.

... and a laugh...

I love Ultraviolet, at least when included with Blu-ray combo packs. This means I get a Blu-ray copy for myself, a DVD copy to give to someone I like, and an Ultraviolet code to give to someone I secretly loathe. It looks like I'm giving them a gift, but they have to deal with Ultraviolet digital copies. I will never use an Ultraviolet code myself.

Personally, the only reason I use it is because my TV and blu-ray player support it.  I'd never install that PoC on my computer...

[Deozaan]

I love Ultraviolet, at least when included with Blu-ray combo packs. This means I get a Blu-ray copy for myself, a DVD copy to give to someone I like, and an Ultraviolet code to give to someone I secretly loathe. It looks like I'm giving them a gift, but they have to deal with Ultraviolet digital copies. I will never use an Ultraviolet code myself.

Personally, the only reason I use it is because my TV and blu-ray player support it.  I'd never install that PoC on my computer...

-wraith808 (March 17, 2014, 08:12 PM)

My mom will often give me the ultraviolet codes. Most of which are redeemable through VUDU, which is a pretty awful digital video platform (and the Android app is horrible). But somehow I got lucky and was able to redeem one of them on Google Play. I wish they all did that. Almost all of them have an iTunes option, so why not a Google Play option?

[40hz]

Almost all of them have an iTunes option, so why not a Google Play option?

-Deozaan (March 18, 2014, 12:22 PM)

Probably for the same reason half the movie studios and networks seem so intent on squeezing Netflix out lately. It works too well - and they don't control it.

(And iTunes is as rabid about DRM and proprietary platforms as the studios are. So that was a match made in heaven as far as the media old guard is concerned. Not that Google is all that much better once you get beyond outward appearances IMHO.

[wraith808]

And iTunes is as rabid about DRM and proprietary platforms as the studios are.

-40hz (March 18, 2014, 01:01 PM)

On some things (and movies are one of those things, as far as I can see).  But on others, they've loosened the reins.  I'm actually able to buy music from iTunes now and get the non-DRM'd versions, so that's a win for me.

[Deozaan]

Almost all of them have an iTunes option, so why not a Google Play option?

-Deozaan (March 18, 2014, 12:22 PM)

Probably for the same reason half the movie studios and networks seem so intent on squeezing Netflix out lately. It works too well - and they don't control it.

(And iTunes is as rabid about DRM and proprietary platforms as the studios are. So that was a match made in heaven as far as the media old guard is concerned. Not that Google is all that much better once you get beyond outward appearances IMHO.

-40hz (March 18, 2014, 01:01 PM)

Sure, it's definitely still DRM, but it's convenient and it works well. All I need to do is sign into my account and I can watch it anywhere and on all of my devices (especially with a Chromecast dongle).

The VUDU app, however, is awful, cumbersome, annoying, and more. Bleh! 

[Vurbal]

The reason Google gets squat is because they refuse to stop stealing from content producer's. No I don't believe that, but yes most of the bigshots in legacy content industries believe some or all of the following.

Google refuses to rework their search algorithms to eliminate illegal offerings. They do this partly to generate traffic, but primarily to sell ads on illegal sites when they could easily make them go away

YouTube, not an addiction to throwing away $200 million a pop on movies written by executive committee, is the reason people don't buy what Hollywood tells them to.

Google TV is all about stealing from the broadcasters because otherwise consumers would be happy to ante up for endless price hikes with money they don't have.

Google = the Internet but Apple = the entertainment industry


Also, this:

[40hz]

Google = the Internet but Apple = the entertainment industry

-Vurbal (March 20, 2014, 02:24 PM)

Spot on the sugar with that one!