The wave of crowdfunding and DIY, guerilla-style marketing has spawned some bold strokes from fearless filmmakers, but demanding $50,000 in ransom from Harvey Weinstein?
That’s a whole new size of cojones.
Stuart Acher, an independent writer/director seeking distribution cash for his finished film “Stuck,” says he or one of his table companions accidentally took Harvey’s hardware from the Director’s Guild awards dinner (see image below left and video, above) back in February.
The statuette apparently isn’t something Harvey actually won – it’s really more of a personalized souvenir – and Acher swears he didn’t realize he’d grabbed the wrong one until long after it was in his possession. The Weinstein Co. had no comment on the purported statue switcheroo — or Acher’s willingness to use it.
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Unlike other crowdfunding campaigns seeking production funds, Acher’s romantic comedy — starring Madeline Zima (“Californication” below, left) and Joel David Moore (“Avatar,” below right) as a one-night-stand hung up in an epic traffic jam — is already in the can. Instead, the writer/director is looking to raise cash to rent theaters nationwide to show it, so it can in turn get reviewed, placed higher in VOD queues, and so on.
With less than a week to go, he’s raised $64,000 – approaching half the $150,000 goal. (Of course, Acher can keep going if it pleases him: Instead of using an established platform like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, Acher built his own web platform to raise the cash.)
And if someone bites on Harvey’s trophy, Acher (below, middle) will be much closer: He’s asking $50,000 for it.
Here’s guessing he’d offer a discount with a sweet distribution deal.
