Truth about the Atlas Shrugged Part 3 Kickstarter

[MikeMarotta 0]

If you enter "Atlas Shrugged Part 3 kickstarter" in your search engine, you will find that the mass media bloggers from Time to Salon and beyond are having a great time not stating the facts.

The goal of the kickstarter was to put $250,000 into the advertising budget of the movie. The purpose of the campaign was to let people get involved.

The producers did not need the quarter million dollars -- but money is always nice to have. What they offered was a hierarchy of values based on your willingness and ability to buy into the process. For $35 you get a special T-shirt. For $1000 you get your name listed in the roll-up of the credits at the end of the movie. You can buy a signed film cell, or a specially endorsed DVD, and several other mementos. These are vanity gifts, indeed, and if you want one, you can still buy one. The deadline is October 23.

[Jim A. 0]

If the producers of ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART 3 are doing these things, I'm not surprised. I've said it elsewhere either on this forum or on Facebook that a great director and a great screenwriter won't resort to taking polls or giving people questionnaires on how their film should be made. And they don't resort to this other kind of stuff, either.

[PhilO 0]

I think it's very unfortunate that Parts 1 and 2 were ever made. Abominations and completely unworthy of the name.

[MikeMarotta 0]

Over 3500 people contributed $446,907 toward a $250,000 goal to fund the advertising budget for Atlas Shrugged, Part III: "Who is John Galt?" If you go to the site and make the effort to load the full list, you can see all the names. You may recognize people you know from this board or others.

I found no easy way to read the full roll of contributors until I loaded it with repetitive keystrokes. The list is in chronological order. Consequently, at at the top is the roster of early supporters who themselves have kickstarted tens, even hundreds, of other projects, including this one though they may not be Objectivist or even "objectivish" at all. I am there near the bottom. I took it to the last minute while I worked to bring home a contract that would let me sign up for the $1000 commitment. As it was, I bought the t-shirt.

If you sign on the Galt's Gulch site as a Producer for $3.95 per month billed to your card, you will have access to the "Producers Lounge" where you can access special features, such as Frank Lloyd Wright's design for Ayn Rand's home. The most recent is a video made in 1993 to promote investment in the movie. That advertisement includes encouragement and support from Leonard Peikoff.

[PhilO 0]

"The most recent is a video made in 1993 to promote investment in the movie. That advertisement includes encouragement and support from Leonard Peikoff."

Do you believe, at this point, that he supports the effort?

[A N Other 0]

The producers of the movie seem to be doing things appropriate to the mass info/entertainment culture that exists today, things to drum up interest in and support of the movie(s). I wish the culture were different than it is.

The movies pleased me at times and disappointed me at others.

I find the attitude of some people discouraging. This is - apparently - the best deal Ayn Rand's hand picked heir and executor could make. It is a fact that he made this deal. To the extent the movie has a purpose beyond mass entertainment, it cannot be solely to please only those of us who are "believrs" ( a better word won't come to mind). There aren't enough of us to give them as big a box office as they've had.

I know several people who've picked up the novel since seeing the movie, some who surprised me with the extent of the impact of the ideas.

I've rewatched The Fountainhead lately, screenplay by the master herself, production steered and supervised by herself to the reatest extent possible, and she was not happy with that result. I think as a movie it works very well and first time viewers "get it".

The movies could be much better. I'm sorry they are not. But better the message is out there and new interest is being cultivated. Given today's world, maybe this IS the best deal that could be hoped for.

[PhilO 0]

"Given today's world, maybe this IS the best deal that could be hoped for."

No. Far better could have, and should have, happened. Given that Ayn Rand was furious at King Vidor for changing

ONE WORD

of her screenplay for The Fountainhead, can anyone imagine what she'd think, feel, and say about the Atlas Shrugged movies to date? I wouldn't want to be within 10 miles of the blast radius of *that* reaction.