'The Guild' Kickstarter Breaks Crowdfunded Movie Record
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- 'The Guild: Ren Faire'd' surpassed the 'Veronica Mars' Kickstarter record of $5,702,153 set in 2013, reaching $5,704,000 from 37,455 backers with 38 hours remaining in the campaign
- Critical Role's 'The Legend of Vox Machina' still holds the TV Kickstarter record at $11.39 million (88,887 backers, 2019); Amazon's Prime Video picked up the series and renewed it last year for a fifth and final season
- The reunion film brings back original cast members Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Robin Thorsen, and Vincent Caso, and adds Nathan Fillion, Misha Collins, and Wil Wheaton
- The campaign applied for and was denied a California Film Commission tax credit; Day said losing the credit made the crowdfunding push even more important to the project's viability
- Day criticized the credit allocation, noting only 5% ($37.5 million) of California Film Commission funds is earmarked for independent projects under $10 million, and said credits 'should be automatic' at that budget tier
- Day argued the system favors '$500 million projects where A-list stars are benefiting and big studios are benefiting' and said losing the credit may force her to rewrite her script to shoot in California rather than relocate to Atlanta
Why it matters: The $5.7M milestone was achieved after Day's production was denied a California tax credit from a pool where only 5% ($37.5M) is set aside for sub-$10 million indie projects, meaning this record run was partly a workaround for a state program that structurally underserves the filmmakers it claims to support — and Day used the platform to publicly challenge that allocation.
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