Felicia Day's 'The Guild' Movie Breaks the All-Time Crowdfunding Record for a Film
Felicia Day's Kickstarter for The Guild: Ren Faire'd has surpassed $5.7 million with 38 hours left on the clock, breaking the record for the highest-crowdfunded movie in history. As of Thursday at 8:30 am ET, the campaign had raised $5,704,000 from 37,455 backers, according to Variety.
The previous record-holder was the Veronica Mars film, which raised $5,702,153 on Kickstarter in 2013. Day's project edged past that figure by fewer than $2,000 and kept climbing.
The Guild: Ren Faire'd reunites the original cast of the web series The Guild, which ran from 2007 to 2013. Day created, wrote, and stars in the film, bringing back Codex (Day), Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), Vork (Jeff Lewis), Tink (Amy Okuda), Clara (Robin Thorsen), and Bladezz (Vincent Caso). The cast also includes Nathan Fillion, Misha Collins, and Wil Wheaton. The Kickstarter page describes the project as a celebration of the series' upcoming 20th anniversary, aiming to make "the most epic renfaire movie of all time."
For context on the crowdfunding landscape: the biggest TV show Kickstarter remains Critical Role's The Legend of Vox Machina, which raised $11.39 million from 88,887 backers in 2019 and was later picked up by Amazon's Prime Video. Day's campaign now holds the film-specific record, not the overall entertainment record.
The road to this total was not smooth. Day disclosed that the production applied for and was denied a California tax credit, a state incentive programme that helps offset production costs for qualifying films and television shows. The California Film Commission earmarks 5% (about $37.5 million) of its allotted tax credit funds for independent projects budgeted under $10 million, and another 5% for independents above that threshold. Day argued that the credit should be automatic for any project under $10 million, rather than subject to a competitive allocation process.
The campaign built momentum steadily. Day announced on her Facebook page on 13 August that the project had crossed $4.5 million. Backers also unlocked a board game series called Conludo as a stretch goal reward. By 18 August, IndieWire was already drawing the comparison to Veronica Mars.
For fans of The Guild, this record means a beloved web series that began as a low-budget passion project is heading to the screen as a feature film, funded entirely by the audience that has supported it for nearly two decades. For Day, it means the money to make the film on her own terms, without a studio greenlight or a tax credit to close the gap.
