I don't understand how you see a goal that is no where near close to being meet and just donate dollar amount after dollar amount. Three $500 donations were made for Dinner with Nick Bateman, the only actor to be cast in this "movie", over the last three days of the campaign. One donator parted with $3500 for a "Special Thanks Combo" which included all of the previous gifts like posters, personal greetings, signed merchandise, t-shirts, set visit, etc., but also included a special thanks in the films credits and a shout-out on the films Facebook page. $3,500 for all this.
Now, I have my doubts that anyone actually donated this amount. My theory is more likely the author and or the producer donated their own money to get the ball rolling on the larger prizes. I could be wrong, I could just be jaded on this entire process. However, now that I've said it, you all are thinking it too.
There were nineteen "Perks" you could donate to and came with prizes ranging from a thank you for a $5 donation to Nick Bateman fathering your child for a $1,000,000. Yes, you read that right. On the campaign it states that Nick Bateman will father your child.
Now for the fine print which really wasn't fine print at all. Directly under the ping "Contribute Now" button reads: Flexible Funding: This campaign will receive all funds raised even if it does not reach it's goal. Translation: If you give this campaign your money, even if we don't reach $1,000,000, we still keep your money. I tweeted the producer associated with the film, Cody Hackman, asking him if those who donated would receive the prize perks associated with their donation amount. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a response. The least they can do is give those who funding, I'm assuming Cody's pockets, some fake swag.
I don't have any hard feelings on this process, I just think the way it's been handled has been shady as hell. And this isn't the first time. This happened to Sempre author J.M. Darhower as well. She had been in contact with Giovanni Agnelli who promised her that her book would be made into a movie. Agnelli posted Tweets about it even going as far as showing his office with his staff hard at work turning her beloved book into a screenplay.
All of that turned out to be a big fat lie. Agnelli, who touted himself as a member of the famed Fiat family, was a producer on three films, including Kristen Stewart's "Welcome to the Riley's". He was a big defender of the star during her Rupert Sanders scandal. Soon after is when he optioned Darhower's book for a film.
Later he was found out to be a fraud. If you follow Darhower on Twitter, she expressed her disappointment at being lied to by someone she counted as a friend as well as her need to protect her story. It was soon after this that he changed his Twitter profile to deleted the association with the Fiat family and to brag about taking care of his nephew. Now he rarely tweets and "Welcome to the Riley's" was the last film he produced.
After people saw the amazing success of E.L. James and "Fifty Shades of Grey" everyone wanted a piece of the pie. In a time where Hollywood seems to just be remaking movies and not having an original thought, the book to movie market was hot again. Even hotter if your book had sold well and right now books that were pulled as fan fiction and published are selling well.
I have not read Ugly Love by Hoover, and have no plans to. Hoover is a good author. "Someday Maybe" and "Hopeless" are fantastic reads. I have my own issues for not reading anymore of her work and they are personal. Perhaps I'm wrong and don't have all the facts, but as of right now, I'm not reading her. I think this campaign was a shame and full of shade from the start. The producer, while having a decent filmography under his belt, hasn't done anything A list. They throw together a make shift trailer that seemed very closely related to Fifty Shades. Cast a handsome lead male for the role. And voila, a fandom is baited.
