Financing Serenity 2 (or more Firefly)

POSTED BY: reesgolf
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 04:41
VIEWED: 8815
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REESGOLF

Monday, June 9, 2008 1:48 AM

Here's a silly question:

The production budget of Serenity was 39MM. If fans dontated money to have a second film made, how much do you think Universal would ask for before something like this became a reality?

Would you donate? If so, how much?

I know that I would be willing to make a four figure contribution myself, but that's but a drop in the bucket against 39MM. I'm just trying to gauge interest, and feedback would be greatly appreciated. If anyone can do it, it's the Browncoats.

Thank you.

FONGLUH

Monday, June 9, 2008 2:25 AM

I would definitely make a donation. Can't say how much really. Depends on how much I have.

wuh tzai chien shr ee-ding ruh dao shuh-muh run luh bah

FARFLY

Monday, June 9, 2008 3:27 AM

Take a look at Weekly Poll Results..

http://www.fireflyfans.net/pollresults.asp

OUT2THEBLACK

Monday, June 9, 2008 4:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by reesgolf:
Here's a silly question:

The production budget of Serenity was 39MM. If fans donated money to have a second film made, how much do you think Universal would ask for before something like this became a reality?

Would you donate? If so, how much?

I know that I would be willing to make a four figure contribution myself, but that's but a drop in the bucket...

Not a silly question , but it is one that has been asked before...And , debated a bit...

Someone go get Raycheetah or FlatTop , or someone else that wants to crunch some numbers...

We can talk about this some more...

STAPLES

Monday, June 9, 2008 4:32 AM

If I had money, I would donate it, but I don't. This may be a problem for a lot of people too. I would be more than willing to donate my time, but I'm not sure how much good that will do...

OUT2THEBLACK

Monday, June 9, 2008 5:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Staples:
If I had money, I would donate it, but I don't. This may be a problem for a lot of people too. I would be more than willing to donate my time, but I'm not sure how much good that will do...

Truth be told , time's all anybody's got anyway...

'Cause more 'money' can be had , but no one can get any more time than the next guy...

Seems time is going to be the most important thing to have when it comes to keeping 'er in the air...

You've got the will...That's enough.

SHINYGOODGUY

Monday, June 9, 2008 10:44 AM

It would be great to have the browncoats all over the world give what they could and be the cause to get 'er flying again.

I couldn't give much more than a couple of hundred but, time I got.

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

ROGUESCHOLAR

Monday, June 9, 2008 2:45 PM

I have not been with the Browncoats for very long; only since late last October, but I am often confused by how difficult it seems to be for us to raise funds in a coordinated manner.

I will skip the examples, which are many, for the moment, and focus on what seem to be not-unreasonable numbers. If the first movie generated approximately 38-39 million in theatres (which I have seen stated in a few places), then it would be reasonable to assume that it was seen by more than 1 million people worldwide. The fandom has continued to grow since then, which is good, because we are going to need lots of Browncoats, all moving in the same direction (for once).

Costs will certainly have increased greatly in the past few years, so let us use a working estimate of $60 million (probably more than we need, but advertising this one would not hurt). If there were two million of us willing to donate, then we would need to give $30 each. Some people could not/would not give that much, and some could/would give much more. Quite a few people have movie props (and tell me that it would not be cool to see the Ariel Ambulance, even just in a background shot), replicas, and other items that they would be willing to give or loan to the production, and others would be willing to donate time (the most valuable resource of all) and talent.

On the face of it, this is not at all an unreasonable thing to attempt, and I would certainly be willing to give whatever I have to the project. On a case by case basis, I feel confident that finding 2 million people to give what ammounts to the cost of a set of Firefly dvds to the cause would not be that difficult (getting it from them is a different story).

The problems are to convince those 2 million that their efforts will pay off this time (many of the Browncoats that I have met seem to want some kind of guarantee), and to mobilize them all at the same time. For example, the fan initiative to buy Mal's coat for Nathan raised several thousand dollars, but they lost the bid -- they should have been able to raise ten times that without breaking a sweat, or asking anyone for more than a dollar or two. Can't Stop the Serenity is trying to raise $150,000 this year -- that should not require any effort at all, and there should be many more cities participating, but we are not sufficiently organized and mobilized.

Every time I bring up words like "organization", I hear cries of "Alliance", but the Independents were organized -- they could not have fought effectively otherwise. If we want to create a fan-funded big screen movie (personally, I would suggest that proceeds from that film go toward funding another film, webisodes, etc.), then we will need activity and commitment far beyond anything I have yet observed or heard of. Active cells exist all over the world, and they do remarkable things, but they have difficulty working together, and they refuse to relenquish any autonomy -- many of them enjoy being little kings of little hills (sad or otherwise). We are not losing due to a lack of numbers; we are losing because we don't work together.

I do not think that creating an effective global organization would be even remotely easy -- many Browncoats would never agree to join, it would require several full-time administrative types, and an intimidating amount of paperwork (just ask Haldira over at CSTS).

On the other hand, the internet is a tool of extraordinary power -- physical location and travel time are no longer obstacles -- for organizational purposes, it is more powerful than transporter technology. I do not say that this is an impossible task; it is merely difficult. Since we are capable of impossible deeds, difficult is well within our range.

PIZMOBEACH

Monday, June 9, 2008 7:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by farfly:
Take a look at Weekly Poll Results..

http://www.fireflyfans.net/pollresults.asp

Taking those poll results and putting final numbers to each line:

How much are you willing to contribute annually to produce Firefly or another movie?

Total Votes: 49058

Between $10 to $20: 35.64% @ $15 each = $257,554

Over $100: 30.88% @ $125 each = $1,893,638

Between $50 to $100: 14.42% @ $75 each = $515,109

Between $40 to $50: 7.40% @ $45 each = $163,363

Between $20 to $30: 7.26% @ $25 each = $88,304

Between $30 to $40: 4.42% @ $35 each = $75,549

Total = $3 million

Obviously "over $100" could mean more than $125, but it would have to be way over $125... you really do need studio money...

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

AURAPTOR

Monday, June 9, 2008 7:56 PM

If Joss, or someone on his behalf wrote me a letter/ e-mail, and asked for a chunk of change to help start get Serenity off the ground again, with some assurance I'd get a piece of the set/ props which appears in the movie, I'd oblige. Maybe even $ 500 ?

Yeah, that'd do it.

It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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