Instead of appealing to Hollywood studio executives, Blue Velvet auteur David Lynch has asked his fans to help fund his latest film.
“Lynch Three” will be the final film in a trilogy that will feature the subject, Lynch: documenting the filmmaker’s life and work. John Nguyen the producer explained the new approach to financing the film: “A film can take a long time to finance so we had this crowd-funding idea. We went to David Lynch for his seal of approval and he was up for it. He ended up making an abstract self-portrait and we’re going to give an original print of it to anyone who chooses to donate $50 towards the film, or a T-shirt featuring the print. We hope to raise part of the money in this way.”
Fans will also have the chance to influence the content of the film if they choose to donate, by requesting questions they’d like Lynch to answer about himself.
“There are so many questions that we would like to ask David and building a network of his fans enables us to reach out to them and hear what his fans would like to ask him if they could hold the camera,” Nguyen said.
The concept of ‘crowd-funding’ is a strategy that harnesses the power of the web to gain investment for directors and their latest projects. In return for their contribution, fans can be given film mementos and even a rolling credit at the end of the film. Who said money can’t buy you happiness?
