I am a big fan of Spike Lee and totally understand the constant battles he has to take in trying to get his films to screen but his latest attempt in trying (and winning) in the crowd funding battle leaves me in two minds on the overall landscape.

For Mr. Lee, rather than go hat in hand to the studios he can make his films sans interference and get his vision out to the public faster with total freedom for the kinds of stories he does. This is a plus as i don’t think Do The Right Thing would get the green light today and films such as this need to be made. Also to mention that Spike has been honest about his intentions including the obvious question, why crowdfund when he is rich and successful already? Read his page to get the answers.

I feel the downside is that the studios/ Distributers will now wait for these established filmmakers to get their films crowd sourced and then do a ‘Negative Pickup’ and push it to market without having put up any initial outlay at the beginning. Esentially the fast money to production with a slight feeling that the entire enterprise is being hijacked. Where does the money go?

That said,  i am in Spike Lee’s corner as he deserves the money and it’s better that it goes to him than a Michael Bay-esque mindless travesty.