If the AV Club has you worried you're an idiot, just know you're in decent company:

Wait, we hate Zach Braff and Natalie Portman now?!

I don't know if this fact in particular means that much.  Just because Garden State was successful doesn't mean investors are jumping to fund another independent film by Zach Braff, who hasn't made anything of note since then (9 years ago!).

@avclub-7e1e22a62ee38a4a0fb3e0daf5be492e:disqus It might be a little crazy, but it's not hard to fathom.  Forget that everyone here apparently thinks Zach Braff and Garden State are the worst abominations to have tarnished this plane of existence.  Much like The Big Bang Theory, Braff has set of fans that apparently…

…why are you giving it to him!??  It's a very cumbersome process that makes it very easy not to donate if you don't want to…

Actually, people with terrible ideas and no connections get funding from Kickstarter too…

It's not that curious at all.  The only Kickstarter success stories that make the news are ones created by celebrities (who may be rich, although that hardly means they the capabilities to fund their own projects).

I would definitely agree that it is a crapshoot, but I have no idea whether that's because Kickstarter has actively become more cynical about the process, or whether that's just a function of a service that has become bigger and more popular over time.  I also have no way of judging whether funding success and failure…

Yes, there's a positive-feedback mechanism there that tends to promote a "richer-get-richer" scheme, but that hardly makes it the corporate and commercial sell-out that you're suggesting it is.

Well, what do you mean by "promote?"  I may be wrong, but Kickstarter is not the one that solicits their projects to pop culture sites or Facebook.

There aren't that many large-scale projects.  It's like Veronica Mars, this, and some videogames.  And even some of those videogame KS projects produced by experienced companies still fail (miserably).

Here is the link to that Kickstarter:

I think the hate here for Braff is comically extreme, but I get it: Zach Braff is worth $22 million - He could easily afford this himself.  Most independent directors probably couldn't.

Well, I get your concerns.  I don't feel any compulsion to defend Penny-Arcade, but I think the lack of ads generally benefits site viewers, not the site owners.  People do not like ads, anywhere.  So if fans can donate a moderate amount of money to see a site that they visit and view frequently sans advertisements…

She could have, but maybe not "easily".  According to celebritynetworth.com (I have no idea how reliable it is), she's worth $8 million.  If I were in her shoes, I would be wary of using up 25% of my cash, but of course, she'd still be $6 million richer than the rest of us, which would easily allow her live…

It's an interesting thought, but it's mainly just famous people who have an easy time getting funded through Kickstarter.

That's a very strange definition of abuse.  While I can understand (if not necessarily share) the hate for Zach Braff's cash-grab, no one is forcing people to spend money on these projects.  The Veronica Mars movie would not exist otherwise, and plenty of fans have been hoping for a proper conclusion to the series for…

The lack of traditional funding may have to do with the inexperience/ineptitude of the project creator, but I think it's mainly because the projects themselves generally have very little chance of commercial success.  An investor would go bankrupt trying to invest in 90% of these projects.  Meanwhile, a Kickstarter…

While it's still somewhat of a crapshoot, I don't think it's that hard to tell which projects will likely to succeed and which aren't.  Obviously, projects involving video games created by passionate and experienced profession developers are probably going to be successfully.

It's a little surprising, but I'm pretty sure Happy Endings and New Girl have gotten away with worse at an earlier time slot on a network channel.