Wong Fu Productions Crowdfunds Their First Movie

Fans of Wong Fu Productions will soon see Phil, Wes, and Chris with blue, yellow, purple or red hair.

The new ‘dos are just one of many promised perks from their indiegogo.com crowdfunding campaign for their first movie. The perk was partially to support Ted, who’s had to answer questions on why his hair is white (it’s genetic, he’s had that hair since he was 14) but mostly to add another fun perk in the last few days of their highly successful online campaign.

It began on Feb. 6, setting the goal at $200,000, and ended on March 19 with $358,278. They offered 26 different donation perks ranging from a $1 High-Five of Awesome all the way up to a $10,000 Executive Producer credit and VIP treatment. Several of their perks sold out quite fast, so as the limited perks began to sell out and donations kept coming in, Wong Fu added more along the way. In the end, Wong Fu raised nearly double their intended goal in only 40 days.

In Wong Fu Production’s latest indiegogo announcement, they said, “Whether you came in on the first day, or the last hour, you and us are now in this together! The funding has ended, but the real journey is just beginning.”

Always humble, Wong Fu said a number of times throughout the campaign how blown away and thankful they were for the fans’ support. From the beginning, Wong Fu said on their indiegogo page that they were nervous about turning to the fans to help fund the movie. In the past, they found sponsorships or used the profits made from the Nice Guy store to fund their bigger projects, but they knew that for such a huge undertaking they would need all the fan support they could get. Fans from all over the world poured in to help fund their endeavor, giving them even more than they had hoped for.

In Wong Fu Production’s indiegogo March 3 update, they said, “We did it! YOU did it! We hit our goal of 200k this morning! Thank you so much. We are so amazed by the support of our fans/friends/viewers. Thank you for believing in us and this project. We’re so excited that this movie is really going to happen, and it’s all because of you!”

The extra money raised still goes towards the movie production. They introduced “stretch goals” to mark the extra money raised. Their first “stretch goal” is to make a special short based off a plot point they originally cut from the movie and release that short online before the movie comes out. F’or their second “stretch goal” of $300,000, they will bring back Wong Fu Weekends (my favorite Wong Fu series) for a new season in the middle of the movie process (so I’m thinking a lot of behind the scenes). Finally, with the $310,000 mark, Wong Fu is taking the movie on the road for public screenings in Boston, NYC, DC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, LA  and possibly even more cities since extra money was raised beyond this goal.

From their last indiegogo update, they said, “Anyway, for now, this update is just to say thank you, this is where the fun really starts, and we’ll talk to you later!”

Wong Fu has finished the script, and they are currently in pre-production and will begin the casting process soon until filming begins in May. Wong Fu can explain the movie’s plot the best, so to stay up to date on the movie’s progress, subscribe to their YouTube channel, follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook, or keep track of their indiegogo page and website.

Congratulations to everyone at Wong Fu on a successful campaign and a soon-to-be successful movie! As a devoted fan, I’m so proud of what this means for them as artists and filmmakers. Best $50 spent ever, and I can’t wait to see the film on the tour. Until then, it’s time to make a movie!

(Photo source: Wong Fu Productions Twitter)