Spike Lee’s Kickstarter Project Hits Goal
Spike Lee’s fundraising effort has topped its $1.25 million goal, five days before the Aug. 21 deadline.
As of 10 a.m. PDT, Lee’s campaign had received $1.302,891 million from 5,368 pledges for a new film that’s known for now as “The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint.”
“God is Great,” Lee said in a Tweet. “Jesus Saves. Special shoutout to my brother Gene who put us over our goal. We did it. We did it. $1,251,231 and still going hard.”
About a quarter of the funds have come from 28 pledges of $10,000 in exchange for dinner and a courtside seat with Lee at a New York Knicks game during the upcoming season. Lee is perhaps the best-known fan of the Knicks.
The campaign also generated $70,000 via 14 pledges of $5,000 in exchange for being named an associate producer and a $5,000 pledge in exchange for Lee flying to the donor’s hometown for a showing of any of his films — selected by the donor. He also managed to sell three pairs of autographed Nikes that he’s worn for $500 each.
Lee has only described the film as being focused on human beings who are addicted to blood. “Funny, sexy, and bloody (and it’s not ‘Blacula’),” he said at the time of the campaign launch.
(The director was referring to cult blaxploitation pic “Blacula,” which starred William Marshall as an 18th century African prince who returns from the dead in 1972 Los Angeles.)
Lee announced on Aug. 5 that he had tapped British actress Zaraah Abrahams as the female lead after discovering her while watching “Black Girl in Paris,” a short film by one of his students.
For Lee to tap into the Kickstarter funds, the campaign was required to hit the $1.25 million goal by Aug. 21.
The two most notable Kickstarter campaigns for the Veronica Mars movie and Zach Braff’s film “Wish I Was Here” reached their campaign goals of $2 million in three and four days, respectively.
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