Spike Lee successfully funded his Kickstarter campaign earlier in the week, reaching $1.4 million. On the surface, it seems like Lee turned controversy around and mounted a successful crowdfunding campaign, but some new numbers may tell another story.
The site Mars Investigations compared Veronica Mars’ Kickstarter to other high-profile campaigns (e.g., Spike Lee, Zach Braff, etc.). They found the following:
- The average pledge amount for Lee’s campaign was $220.98 (for Veronica Mars, $62.26; for Braff, $66.76)
- 8.6% of Lee’s donors were unlisted/unnamed (for Veronica Mars, 3.6%; for Braff, 6.3%)
- Unlisted donation amounts accounted for 42.8% of the total Kickstarter goal (for Veronica Mars, 4.8%; for Braff, 4.6%)
- 26.1% of the donations were at the $10,000 level or higher (for Veronica Mars, 0.6%; for Braff, 0%)
The Bitter Script Reader made the following and startling observation: “9.2% of Spike Lee’s donors are responsible for 68.9% of his campaign.” TBSR goes on to speculate that some of Lee’s big money friends may have stepped in to help the director save face and successfully fund his project.
It should be interesting as more and more numbers and facts come in about the project. Since our staff is interested in celebrity Kickstarters/crowdfunding (Liz Rugg in particular), we’ll be keeping an eye on this.
[Mars Investigations via The Bitter Script Reader]
