The success Zach Braff and the Veronica Mars movie found on Kickstarter seemed to presage a trend of celebrities using the crowdfunding site to raise money for projects. But, as Melissa Joan Hart learned the hard way, that tactic apparently only works for celebrities people still care about. The 1990s star of such teen fare as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Clarissa Explains It All wanted to snag her first leading role since the 1999 movie Drive Me Crazy, so she went on Kickstarter looking for $2 million with which to make a movie, Darci's Walk of Shame, starring herself. It did not end well for her, the Huffington Post reports. A month into the campaign, it had only raised $51,605 from the 315 people who want to see Hart back on the big screen, so it was canceled Monday.
Why did it fail?
- Writing for the Daily Dot, Fidel Martinez speculates that her attitude could have been a problem: Hart seemed to be more passionate about re-making herself a star than she did about the actual movie.
- What we're also guessing didn't help: Her Kickstarter video, in which she says she doesn't know what a "walk of shame" is ... so her mom explains it to her.
- And then there's the bold description of the film ... you're not reading this wrong, it doesn't really make sense: "An impulsive act has Darci face enormous hurdles to get back to her sister’s wedding & avoid her family witness her first walk of shame."
- And we just have to point out what fans would have gotten for their money. At the $100 pledge level, which had three backers: "Two of our main cast members (not Melissa Joan Hart) will follow you on Twitter for a full year. We don't know who they are yet, but we know you'll want them following you!"
Fortunately, she still has her TV show
Melissa & Joey, which co-stars fellow '90s star Joey Lawrence. (More
Melissa Joan Hart stories.)
,
uBlock 
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and
Ghostery 
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