Zach Braff Is Fast Approaching His Kickstarter Goal

Kara Warner
·Senior Reporter
Zach Braff
Zach Braff

For those of you who've been hoping that writer/director/actor Zach Braff would make another movie in the vein of his 2004 unexpected indie hit "Garden State," there is potentially some great news on that front. Braff has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his movie "Wish I Was Here."

4:30 p.m. PT update: Braff has now raised more than $1 million, more than half of his goal.

After several years of trying to get the project off the ground via the traditional studio-backed support and development, the longtime "Scrubs" actor was inspired by "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell's highly-publicized efforts to fund their movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which earned around $5.7 million by the end of its campaign. Braff's fundraising goal is set at $2 million.

"I tried to make a couple of films within the studio system and also with traditional independent financing," he told THR. "I always hit roadblocks, whether it was having to cast a certain person or having to retain final cut with the success of 'Garden State.' With this movie, I'm so passionate about this movie I was really about to sign on the dotted line with a traditional financing arrangement, and it's been ten years, God I want to make a movie more than anything. I'll do whatever you want, I'll give away final cut, I'll put your brother in it, whatever."

"Wish I Was Here" is about a struggling actor who agrees to homeschool his young son. It was written by Braff and his brother Adam and will co-star "Big Bang Theory" fan favorite Jim Parsons. News of Braff's campaign has spread fast and already has a few celebrity fans, who took to Twitter to help promote it:

Original Kickstarter campaign king/”Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas even gave the project some Twitter love.

As of the publication of this post, Braff's 30-day Kickstarter campaign "Wish I Was Here" exceeded $700 thousand in pledges from close to 10 thousand backers.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah. What does this mean for the Palestinians sheltering there?

    The Israeli tanks that entered the periphery of Rafah early Tuesday stoked global fears that an offensive on Gaza's southernmost city could endanger the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there. The ground assault dimmed hopes of an immediate cease-fire deal that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent months pushing for. In the hours before the attack began, Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal that the Israeli government swiftly rejected.

  • One Tech Tip: How to spot AI-generated deepfake images

    Deceptive pictures, videos and audio are proliferating as a result of the rise and misuse of generative artificial intelligence tools. With AI deepfakes cropping up almost every day, depicting everyone from Taylor Swift to Donald Trump, it's getting harder to tell what's real from what's not. Video and image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney and OpenAI’s Sora make it easy for people without any technical skills to create deepfakes — just type a request and the system spits it out.

  • Rep. Greene and Speaker Johnson meet for a second day as possible vote on his ouster simmers

    Embattled Speaker Mike Johnson worked to position himself as in control Tuesday, insisting he's not negotiating with far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as they prepared to meet again at the Capitol and she weighed whether to proceed with a vote on his ouster. It was the second day Johnson was meeting privately with Greene, a top ally of Donald Trump, and she outlined four demands — including no more funding for Ukraine as it fights Russia and an end to the Justice Department special counsel's legal cases against the indicted former president. Greene is threatening to call a vote on her motion to vacate the speaker from office, despite objections from Trump himself and fellow Republicans who want to end the chaos on Capitol Hill.

  • Fed-up residents complain newbuild homes keep flooding when it rains

    Some people have been living at the newbuild development in Cheshire for less than a year and have been experiencing flooding problems.

  • Fernandez makes early exit at Italian Open with 6-4, 6-1 loss to Bogdan

    ROME — Canada's Leylah Fernandez made an early exit from the Italian Open on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-1 first-round loss to Romanian veteran Ana Bogdan. The 21-year-old from Laval, Que., struggled with her serve. She won 56.1 per cent of first serve points and was broken five times on eight changes. Bogdan saved five of six breaks and won 56.1 per cent of total points to wrap up the match in one hour 42 minutes. Fernandez's career record in the main draw of the WTA 1000 clay court event fell to 1-3

  • Cochrane looking at other ways of creating affordable housing

    COCHRANE - A Northern Ontario town is considering other avenues for creating more affordable housing. While it’s uncertain at this point whether a 30-storey building offering one-bedroom apartments or a village of micro homes for seniors is needed, the Town of Cochrane is considering a partnership with Habitat for Humanity Ontario Getaway North. Michael Cullen, the organization’s director of community partnerships, presented some solutions to council on May 2. He said they’ve also been in talks

  • Whooping cough cases ‘could reach 40-year high’ in 2024, experts warn

    Some people call it the ‘100-day cough’ because of the length of time it can take to recover.

  • Climate forum highlights Cree solutions for a warming planet

    by Patrick Quinn The Cree Regional Climate Forum brought together a diversity of voices April 9-11 in Ouje-Bougoumou to understand and plan for the repercussions of a rapidly warming planet. The forum recognized the urgency of action in the wake of unprecedented forest fires and the warmest year on record. The Cree Nation Government’s Climate Change unit hopes to make this an annual event to develop Cree-led climate strategies. “There’s no boundaries to climate change,” said CNG climate change m

  • Woman Refuses to Go on Girls' Trip, Says She Doesn't 'Want to Talk About Marriage / Babies for 3 Days'

    "I have a lot going on, but I feel a lot of my friends do not show an interest unless I talk about someone I’m dating," the woman writes on Reddit

  • In bid to oust Speaker Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene reveals her demands

    Ahead of her meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared her list of demands for the speaker amid her push to oust him from the House's top job. Greene's four requests -- which she said were "simple and easy for Mike Johnson to follow" in a post on X -- include a return to the "Hastert Rule," which means no legislation is brought to a vote without the support of the majority of the majority party; no more funding for Ukraine; defund the special counsel's probe into former President Donald Trump; and avoid a government shutdown before the election by passing a continuing resolution to automatically enact a 1% spending cut. "These are not unreasonable requests," Greene said of her demands as she headed in to her Tuesday meeting with Johnson.

  • Poland's Tusk calls secret services meeting after defection of judge to Belarus

    Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk called Tuesday for a special meeting of the secret services to discuss alleged Russian and Belarusian infiltration after a Polish judge who had access to sensitive state information defected to Belarus. Authorities in NATO and European Union member Poland are investigating the judge, Tomasz Szmydt, on suspicions that he was acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.

  • “The Mummy” Turns 25: A Look Back at Brendan Fraser's Triumphant Hollywood Journey

    Years after ‘The Mummy’ made Brendan Fraser a blockbuster star, he also became an Oscar winner

  • Shapps orders ‘specialist review’ of hacked MoD contractor

    Grant Shapps has ordered a “specialist” review of the Ministry of Defence payroll contractor that was hacked by China.

  • Oscar Mayer Is Dropping 3 Flavors of Stuffed Hot Dogs Just in Time for Summer

    Tastes like summer!

  • US believes Israel, Hamas can close gaps on hostage deal

    Israel and Hamas militants should be able to close the remaining gaps in their positions in order to reach a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, the White House said on Tuesday. "We believe that these gaps can be closed," John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters as negotiators began gathering in Cairo for a fresh round of discussions. Kirby said the Palestinian militant group Hamas had offered amendments on Monday to an original Israeli proposal aimed at ending the impasse.

  • US soldier jailed in Russia ‘was not authorized’ to be there, but went anyway to meet a woman

    Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was supposed to be heading back to Texas from posting in South Korea when he showed up in Vladivostock

  • Rain chances return later this week

    Rain chances return later this week

  • Emma Heming Willis Recalls 'Desperately' Needing Support After Bruce Willis’ Dementia Diagnosis

    “I could really exhale and sort of just feel this weight lift from my shoulders,” she said of sharing the actor’s diagnosis

  • Stormy Daniels testifies that Trump said she reminded him of his daughter: ‘Smart, blonde and beautiful’

    She recalled his hotel suite being ‘three times the size of my apartment’

  • TikTok sues to block US law which could ban app

    TikTok said the measure was an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights".