Quick preface. This letter was written over the weekend, and I was planning to send it Monday afternoon. In light of the tragic events that took place in Boston, sending a message of celebration that afternoon felt wrong. My deepest sympathies go out to anyone who was affected. What follows is the original letter I had planned to send. - Rob
Gang,
We did it. 30 days, 91,585 backers. $5,702,153 raised.
And because of you, I can finally say this definitively: we're going to make a Veronica Mars movie. It's impossible to describe how exciting that statement is for me. But before I talk about the future, let me talk about the past for just a minute.
The Story Thus Far
Six years ago, we wrapped on the final season of Veronica Mars.
Eighteen months ago, I started working with the team at Warner Brothers to figure out how we could get a movie made.
One month ago, Kristen and I asked you to help make that movie possible.
In under eleven hours, you came through, pledging the baseline $2 million we needed to move forward.
And last Friday night, we crossed the finish line with almost three times that amount.
In the process, we managed to break several Kickstarter records:
Fastest project to reach $1 million: 4 hours.
Fastest project to reach $2 million: 11 hours.
All-time highest funded Kickstarter Film project. (The next highest was $808,341.)
Most backers for a single Kickstarter project (We smashed the record by 4,442!)
When we broke the record for most backers on Friday afternoon, I was lucky enough to be in a Skype chat with a few dozen of you. On Friday night, when the countdown ended, I was lucky enough to be celebrating in a bar with a few hundred of you. I say lucky because there's no other word for it, or for how how fortunate I feel to be going on this adventure with all of you.
One of the funniest, happiest moments from Friday night was sitting with several hundred of you, watching the Kickstarter page projected on a large screen, and the collective anticipation that ran through the room as we waited for the counter to tick over to 90909 backers. That moment was the most I've felt like part of a team since my high school basketball days. And while we raised an amazing final total ($5.7 million!), that feeling – that we're all in this together – is a memory I'm going to treasure for a long time.
Another amazing feeling: finally getting to sleep this weekend. Wow, did I miss sleeping.
That brings us back to the present. Now let's talk about the future.
What Happens Next?
Over the past month, I've been so busy surviving the Kickstarter that I didn't talk about much else. And, over the next several weeks, we're going to have our hands full sorting out next steps, answering all of the questions we've received, and starting pre-production on the movie.
Before we do that, I want to take a minute to focus on the bigger picture.
Since the campaign started, we've talked a lot about the idea of making history, and we – you! – have already done that. But making history is about more than just breaking records, and it should definitely be about more than just raising money. So when people talk about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter in the future, here's what I hope they'll say: the really amazing thing about the Veronica Mars movie is how the fans were involved all the way through production.
Now, the truth is that you're more than just our fans: you're our backers. The Veronica Mars movie is happening because you made it possible. And while we're going to work our butts off to give you the best movie we can, I think we can do more than that. The most exciting part of being a backer shouldn't be pledging money, but what comes after that. And if that's true, then the experience of making this movie should be just as remarkable and historic as the fundraising was.
We're still figuring out how that's going to work. As we do, I promise to tell you more about it. But here's what I can tell you already: we want to find new and better ways to keep you involved. We want you to feel like you're part of the process. And while we don't want to spoil the fun of the movie, we do want you to see as much as you can.
I promised you that backers would get exclusive content, and believe me, you will. We're working on a ton of fun ideas and content already, and we're making plans for how we'll keep you informed and involved. I'm pretty excited about what we're planning, and I think you will be too. More on that soon.
Need Help?
Got questions, payment problems or other concerns?
If you sent us a message, we're working on responding as quickly as we can. (Please be patient. There were a lot of messages.) If you have a problem and haven't contacted us, please keep sending us messages through Kickstarter. We're also putting together a FAQ, and will share a link to that soon.
Rob, seriously, stop sending me so many messages!
I get it. Some of you just want to see the movie, and not get ongoing reports and extras for the next six months. No problem. When we send out backer surveys in a few weeks, you'll have a chance to tell us your preferences.
Last Words
This update is long enough, so I'll finish with the most important thing. If I can be sentimental one more time...
Thank you.
Thank you for everything you've done to get us this far.
Thank you for giving us a chance to make the movie we've been waiting to make.
Thank you for trusting us, believing in us, and encouraging us.
In the next few days, I'll be meeting with a team at Warner Bros to turn in a draft of the script, and then the real fun will start. We'll begin location scouting. We'll do our best to get the rest of our cast and crew back on board. And then, we'll get back to work again.
We're going somewhere good. I'm glad you're coming with us.
Muchos gracias,
Rob[/i]
