Veteran television writer/director/producer Ken Levine suggested on his blog last week that Big Hollywood has no business financing projects via Kickstarter, an approach he believes should be reserved for the little guy. He references actor/filmmaker Zach Braff, who has raised nearly $2.6 million through the crowdfunding site to finance “Wish I Was Here,” his follow-up to “Garden State.” Levine believes offering Braff money “defeats the whole purpose of Kickstarter.”

“The idea — and it’s a great one — is that Kickstarter allows filmmakers who otherwise would have NO access to Hollywood and NO access to serious investors to scrounge up enough money to make their movies,” writes Levine. “Zach Braff has contacts. Zach Braff has a name. Zach Braff has a track record. Zach Braff has residuals. He can get in a room with money people. He is represented by a major talent agency. But the poor schmoe in Mobile, Alabama or Walla Walla, Washington has none of those advantages.”

“Recently, Kickstarter was used to fund a new ‘Veronica Mars’ movie,” he adds. “This is obscene to me. It’s a known television series distributed by a major studio. Are you a big fan of ‘Veronica Mars?’ Want to support it? Great. Buy ten tickets and see the movie ten times.”

Levine also points out that notable film festivals (he references Sundance) have gone through the same experience of Hollywood exploitation. He cites the discovery of Kevin Smith when “Clerks” arrived on the scene, a film that today might lose its spot in the festival to projects with recognizable names.

“Now look at the festival,” he writes. “Every entry features major Hollywood stars. During the festival they all descend upon Park City, along with Harvey Weinstein, reps from every major studio, and a thousand CAA and William Morris agents. Any hint of the original purpose of the film festival has long since vanished.”

Janko Roettgers responded to Levine’s post in paidContent. “Of course, there’s a flip side to this, as our own Liz Miller argued earlier this year: At this point in time, Kickstarter is still growing — and big projects with big names attached can help to bring new audiences to the crowdfunding site.”

“But the controversy also points towards a bigger issue for Kickstarter and the types of projects it accepts,” he adds. “If patrons feel as if they’re being asked to pay for projects that have no trouble getting funding elsewhere, then they might start to question the entire idea behind crowdfunding.”

One of Levine’s readers also offers an opposing view:
From the Kickstarter site: “Kickstarter’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life.”

Kickstarter’s (main two) guidelines:
1. Everything on Kickstarter must be a project.
2. Every project on Kickstarter must fit into one of our categories.

Seems like Mr. Braff’s film fits these criteria.

Furthermore, I can find nothing on the Kickstarter site about being only for the “little guy.” But, I can also not find the part about Ken Levine being the one who decides what Kickstarter can and cannot be used for.