Is The Entertainment Industry Doing Itself Any Favors With Ridiculous Loss Claims?

David Lynch Tries Crowdfunding His Next Movie

from the will-it-have-backwards-speaking-midgets? dept

Wed, Jul 14th 2010 5:41pm — Mike Masnick

We've seen plenty of stories about crowdfunded movies, but most have been by little known filmmakers. There was some talk about how Kevin Smith might crowdfund his Red State project, but after the success of Cop Out, traditional movie financiers stepped in and did the deal instead. So it's interesting to see another well known filmmaker testing the waters on crowdfunding. Shocklee points us to the news that David Lynch is going to experiment with crowdfunding a new documentary. It's a pretty simple crowdfunding setup. No tiers. Just one price: $50. And with that you get to choose between a limited edition print (a self-portrait by Lynch), a t-shirt or a tote bag. I'm sure plenty will pay up, though, I'm surprised he didn't try more interesting tiers -- at both higher and lower prices.

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Filed Under: crowdfunding, david lynch

22 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 6:29pm

perhaps more than anything proof that in tough economic times, studios arent going to fund just anything. that is doubly true for what appears to be a self indulgent documentary about, well, himself.

will you pay $50 to watch lynch stroke his own ego on film? i wouldnt pay 5 cents.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 7:31pm
  
  Re:
  Yeah! Fuck that artist! That artist sucks! Fuck his art! "I wouldn't pay 5 cents to fuck his art!"
  
  Fucking artists!
  
  But studios, on the other hand . . . .
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  - Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 8:12pm
    
    Re: Re:
    perhaps if you read the article, rather than trying so desperately to troll me, you might actually understand.
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    - Hephaestus (profile), 14 Jul 2010 @ 8:30pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "perhaps if you read the article, rather than trying so desperately to troll me, you might actually understand."
      
      I like the quiet, egotistical, self importance that showed. Keep up the good work, you amuse me.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 8:41pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Seriously, do you not read what you write? And you wonder why people call you a moron, you moron.
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- Lady in the Radiator, 14 Jul 2010 @ 10:15pm
  
  Re:
  I'm still waiting on a refund for suffering through Eraserhead. And part of some other movie he made with people dressed up like rabbits reading the paper and ironing.
  
  However, that just means that his crowdsourcing attempt will get those that, unlike myself, want to see more from him to foot the bill. I wish them luck.
  
  But studios make what I consider crap all the time. I want my money back for Naked Lunch , with its ass-talking typewriter (do Lynch and Cronenberg do the same drugs or share an affliction?). And - GAWD - Observe and Report. And that Ben Stiller Thunder movie. And almost anything my SO rents on demand before I can talk him out of it.
  
  Can we negativesource?
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  - PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:31am
    
    Re: Re:
    Meh, to each their own. I love Cronenberg and like Lunch (though not all his movies) and have all of them on DVD. Naked Lunch, for my money, is the only truly good thing Cronenberg did in the 90s (Crash and Existenz left me cold for some reason), though he's redeemed himself since. I did think Tropic Thunder was a missed opportunity though.
    
    But, it's down to taste. I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than watch Sex And The City 2 but other apparently feel differently, so they can have that and I'll have my Lynch. Fair trade, I think.
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    - PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:33am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "I love Cronenberg and like Lunch"
      
      Heh Lunch/Lynch whatever :)
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      - DS, 15 Jul 2010 @ 4:08am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No, he's saying he likes lunch. I'm more of a dinner fan myself, but to each their own.
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    - Lady in the Radiator, 15 Jul 2010 @ 8:53am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Y'know, I was thinking about what I wrote there and while I'm still not a huge fan of those guys, I absolutely do respect their, um, weirdness of vision. They go off the usual grid in moviemaking, which I'm all for.
      
      Something like SATC2 doesn't appeal to me either, but I wonder if, granting the fanbase it has, it could've successfully crowdsourced?
      
      To address the comment below, that a documentary isn't or can't be as compelling as a typical studio effort...that's just bunk. It's all about a story well told in the end.
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  - DS, 15 Jul 2010 @ 4:07am
    
    Re: Re:
    You're the idiot who keep sitting through things that you thought sucked.
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- PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:25am
  
  Re:
  "perhaps more than anything proof that in tough economic times, studios arent going to fund just anything."
  
  Actually, perhaps more proof that you don't know what the hell you're talking about. To my knowledge, Lynch hasn't been funded by a major studio for at least a decade, (The Straight Story) and has worked independently for almost the whole of his career. Whether or not they have the balls to fund art rather than commercial trash has no bearing on Lynch's funding.
  
  "will you pay $50 to watch lynch stroke his own ego on film? i wouldnt pay 5 cents."
  
  Whereas I'm considering donating $100 just to piss you off!
  
  I know several people who think that Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire are masterpieces and will happily hand over money so that there's not a 5 year wait between his films every time. Don't like them yourself? Don't watch them. Easy.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 6:23am
    
    Re: Re:
    paul, read more closely - this isnt to make another movie, this is to make a documentary about him making a movie he already made. it has nothing to do with turning out a new potential masterpiece (or coaster), it is all about an ego stroking "i am great watch me work" documentary, one that no sane studio would touch.
    
    there is no better way to justify ego masturbation than getting your 'fans' to pay for the lube directly.
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    - PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 7:27am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      ...and if those fans want to do that, then what's the problem?
      
      I admit I replied without reading the attached article as to the nature of the project, but that doesn't affect any of the main points. Your tastes do not matter if other people like his work enough to pay for it to be made. You can wail and moan all you want, but you're just an anonymous troll on the internet, and Lynch (and his fans) will be unaffected by the fans that you don't like him.
      
      Ditto the fact that studios have financed very little of his work, so the fact that studios wouldn't finance this project means exactly nothing in the grand scheme of things.
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      - PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 7:35am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "unaffected by the fans that you don't like him."
        
        *sigh* that FACT that you don't like him. Multitasking at work leads to typos today...
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      - Mike Masnick (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:53am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I find it especially funny that the folks who spend the most time claiming they're looking out for the best interests of artists, are also the first to attack artists whenever they do something unique, by calling it "crap" or "ego stroking." Shows their true colors. They have no interest in helping artists at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2010 @ 9:39pm

I might have supported this, but have you seen the limited edition T-shirt / print / bag design? A three year old could do better. They're taking us for mugs!
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Nick Coghlan (profile), 14 Jul 2010 @ 9:53pm

Actually 3 tiers (kind of)
For $50, choose one; for $100, choose two; for $150, get all three.
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Will (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:03am

Cop Out
For the record, the original mention of Kevin Smith makes no sense as Cop Out was universally regarded as a huge failure. By far Smith's largest fail.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coupleofdicks.htm

Doing 52 worldwide on a production # of 30 is not even close to profitable. That's bath time.
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- PaulT (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:14am
  
  Re: Cop Out
  "By far Smith's largest fail."
  
  Huh? Cop Out was actually the highest-grossing theatrical movie of Smith's career.
  
  http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=kevinsmith.htm
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 2:10am
  
  Re: Cop Out
  For the record, the original mention of Kevin Smith makes no sense as Cop Out was universally regarded as a huge failure. By far Smith's largest fail.
  
  As Paul noted, the film made more money than any previous Smith film, and he has admitted, multiple times, that the box office performance on Cop Out is what got Red State funded. Timing wise, there's no denying it, either. He'd been trying to get Red State funded for years, and a few weeks after Cop Out opened, suddenly it was funded. Smith publicly said it was because of Cop Out. The issue wasn't the direct profitability of the film (and Smith claims that WB made plenty of money on Cop Out), but whether or not Smith could attract an audience beyond his standard "Clerks" crew. Cop Out showed that he could.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:09pm

Actually, if you follow through to the article's source www.lynchthree.com, you will see that David Lynch is NOT crowdsourcing.
It is an independant "independant film company" who is creating a documentary on Lynch. Lynch donated the poster. That is all.
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