Supporters of a fundraising campaign for a documentary film attacking libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch recently lashed out at the film’s creators for charging what they say is an exorbitant sum for a copy of the film.
Donors to the online Kickstarter campaign for the film, Citizen Koch, accused left-wing filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin of greed and hypocrisy for their decision to provide an online download of the film only to donors who gave $75 or more.
"I believe you have ripped that page from Koch B. playbook," accused one supporter. "Don't be greedy! Remember, that is what this film is supposed to be about."
The film examines the Kochs’ role in the election of Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker and subsequent recall effort. It received lukewarm reviews. "For a film that takes such a strong stand against such an important issue, there is remarkable little fact-checking on display," one reviewer wrote.
Citizen Koch gained attention when Lessin claimed that officials at various arms of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) spiked the project, which was slated to air on New York’s WNET public television station, due to pressure exerted by then-WNET board member David Koch.
"Because of David Koch’s influence, we can’t get our film out there," Lessin said at a June event. She said PBS allowed the Kochs to "dictate their programming decisions."
WNET, PBS, the station’s financing arm for original content, and the Kochs themselves all rejected Lessin’s conspiracy theory.
After losing the backing of ITVS, PBS’s financing arm, Lessin and Deal turned to Kickstarter, a popular online fundraising tool. They have raised more than double their initial $75,000 goal thanks to contributions from more than 3,000 users.
More than half of the project’s donors, though, will not receive a copy of Citizen Koch. Lessin and Deal will only give users who contribute $75 or more access to a digital download of the film.
That irked a number of supporters, some of whom said Lessin and Deal were undermining the message of the film.
"‘More than 76%’ of Citizen Kock [sic] contributions have been for $50 or less," one user noted (that number has since dropped to about 54 percent). "But it looks like politic [sic], you need to give a lot of money to get what you want. Otherwise, you don't matter."
"The $75 level for a digital copy / DVD of the film is borderline offensive," another user wrote. "So it's ~$72 for you to use randomly, and ~$3 for the reward ... uhmm ... ok. That's far out of line with the typical film KS."
The filmmakers responded that the $75 is not the price of the film but rather a donation benchmark that they felt should be rewarded with a copy.
"We’ve been making films for a while but are new to Kickstarter, and we looked at statistics about rewards," they explained.
"$75 seemed to be the average, and we wanted to put our actual film reward in this price-range since we thought if this was the average, the backers at this level would surely want the digital download or DVD of the finished project as one reward."
Lessin and Deal said they instituted the $75 price point "in good faith."
High profile Kickstarter fundraisers have had far lower price points. The campaign to fund a Veronica Mars movie granted donors of $35 a digital download—as well as a t-shirt and a digital copy of the shooting script. Zach Braff offered those who donated to his Kickstarter fundraiser an online screening of the film for $30.
Supporters of Citizen Koch said the high price point would hinder fundraising for the project and dilute its impact.
"If your goal is to release and have it seen by as many people as possible then you're shooting yourself in the foot by requiring a $75 pledge to be allowed to watch the film," one user said.
"This sounds like an important film for people to see, and I want to help make it happen," another explained. "But like many others, I'm not able to part with the $75 necessary for the free download pledge level."
Kickstarter has been used for other prominent documentaries of a political nature. FrackNation, a film by journalists Ann McElhenny and Phelim McAleer, raised more than $212,000 last year.
Unlike Citizen Koch, the FrackNation Kickstarter project gave a copy of the film to all donors of more than $20.