The next Spike Lee joint will be a Kickstarter production.
Following in the footsteps of โVeronica Marsโ and Zach Braff, Lee has launched an online campaign to help fund his next feature film. The Brooklyn filmmaker on Monday unveiled his bid to raise $1.25 million over the next month using the fundraising site Kickstarter.
Lee offered few details on the film, but said it would be about โthe addiction of blood.โ
The 56-year-old director said he was inspired to crowd-source the film after hearing from a student of his that the โVeronica Marsโ movie raised $5.7 million on Kickstarter, and Braffโs film pulled in $3.1 million. Said Lee in a video posted on his Kickstarter page: โWhen I heard about that, I said, โOh, snap!'โ
Though filmmakers including David Fincher have been involved with Kickstarter projects, Lee, the director of โDo the Right Thingโ and โMalcolm Xโ is easily the most established filmmaker yet to use the service to raise money for a feature. His remake of the 2003 South Korean thriller โOldboyโ is to be released in October.
Kickstarter, which takes a percentage of donations, has found both supporters enamored by the ability to circumvent the usual means of film production, and critics who call it digital panhandling and lament that backers, unlike typical film investors, get no cut of any eventual grosses.
In a video message, Lee said the current climate is difficult an independent filmmakers and the only way to insure your vision gets on screen โis when you bring the money to the table.โ
โSuper Heroes, Comic Books, 3-D Special EFX, Blowing up the Planet Nine Times and Fly through the Air while Transforming is not my Thang,โ wrote Lee. โTo me itโs not just that these Films are being made but it seems like these are the only films getting made.โ
Contribution levels range up to $10,000, which earns a trip with Lee to a New York Knicks game in his courtside seats.
โDo you wish to see Human Beings dealing with each other on a Human Level?โ implored Lee. โHow many more explosions with Ear splitting Sound Effects can you take? Cโmon People, please get behind this Joint.โ
Mindy Kaling and Kate Hudson Take On Pro Basketball In Netflix Series โRunning Pointโ
In Mindy Kaling's new Netflix series, "Running Point, " Kate Hudson stars as Isla Gordon, the new president of the Los Angeles Waves, a pro basketball team that's been run by her family for years. Hudson's character has to prove herself as a woman in a man's world not only to her passed-over brothers, but also to players whose egos need checking and other executives who don't take her seriously.
If Isla's story rings a bell, take a look at the list of executive producers on the 10-episode season dropping Thursday: Among them is Jeanie Buss, the president of the Los Angeles Lakers, who was embroiled in similar turmoil over control of the storied NBA franchise after the death of her father, Jerry Buss.
Buss not only has given the show her blessing, it was her idea said Kaling. Buss was a big fan of "The Office" and approached Kaling with the premise about five years ago. Kaling ended up as the co-creator, writer and executive producer alongside Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen.
"She's in a very serious, stressful job but she loves comedy. She does not take herself seriously," Kaling says of Buss. "That's really rare when someone has that much power and that much to lose."
Jeanie Buss' blessing
In fact, Kaling said, Buss wanted the show to be funny and had "no ego" about using her real life as inspiration.
"She's had some extremely interesting things happen to her as the president of the Lakers. Some of it is she literally dated the coach for many years and she's like, 'Do whatever you want,'" Kaling says, referring to Buss' former relationship with Phil Jackson. "To get that kind of carte blanche, I'd never heard that from someone who is so famous and, you know, pretty private."
Shortly after the news... Read More