How powerful is Nathan Fillion, the actor who portrayed Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the short-lived sci-fi television show Firefly?
Powerful enough so that fans take any suggestion to resurrect the show literally despite a highly unlikely success rate. For instance, Fillion’s recent interview with Entertainment Weekly [READ: Attention Browncoats: “˜Firefly’ To Return To Cable; Is This Our Last Chance To Save It?].
To most people mourning the death of a favorite creative project, saying something like “If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet” wouldn’t imply that this could ever reasonably be done.
However, the internet has responded with the launch of HelpNathanBuyFirefly.com, which offers the following plan of action…
Phase 1) Generate momentum. We’re going to setup a way people can pledge funding towards the mission of putting the rights to Firefly back into the hands of people who care about it. Since Nathan said he’d be game to be those hands, we’re going to watch for “¦
Phase 2) Nathan chimes in towards us and approves the effort. At that point, it’s a real mission and we’ll switch into”¦
Phase 3) We’ll setup a way for the funding to be collected into a Non-Profit Organization. We’ll then want everyone to make good on their pledge and contribute.
So how likely is it that this going to happen? Probably not very, and I say that with a heavy heart. First of all the paperwork for any organization to gain status as a Non-profit is horrendous and would require some legal minds to maneuver through all of it. This is something that our hero (Cap’n Mal) could easily front the cost of. The second hurdle is going to be that FOX’s asking price will be much higher now that the internet movement is behind it.
Still, stranger things have happened and it never hurts to show support. The website already has a Facebook Fan page up and running.
How powerful is Nathan Fillion, the actor who portrayed Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the short-lived sci-fi television show Firefly?
I’m a Browncoat through and through, but this just isn’t something that’s going to work. First, as mentioned in the article, non-profit status is very hard to come by.
Second, given the current economy, I don’t think it’d be possible to raise enough donations. Not only do you have to raise the money to buy the rights back, but then you need money to produce a new Firefly project. And to do that right, you’re talking double-digit millions.
Third, most of the cast and main staff are already working on different projects. Heck, Castle has a season 4 to come, so that puts Nathan off the market unless it’s a film.
And then when it comes out, we’d still have to pay money to see it if it is a movie. If it’s a series, you’d have to shop it and hope a network will bite. Then there’s distribution and marketing costs.
I’m not trying to be a negative Nancy here, but I love Firefly/Serenity so much that if it can’t be done properly, I’d rather it not be done at all. I don’t want a watered down version of the ‘Verse.
Comment by Anonymous — February 18, 2011 @ 9:50 pm
Yeah, $300 Mil is sort of an unattainable number. But if even a small portion of that money was raised it might spark interest of others who could easily buy the property and then make new Firefly material the right way. However, that would me it wouldn’t be owned by Nathan.
Comment by Tom Cheredar — February 18, 2011 @ 10:36 pm
Non profit paperwork isn’t that bad! I started mine when I was 24 with little legal help! It can be done!
Comment by Luella — February 19, 2011 @ 9:56 am
The closest they’ll ever get are those sad little fan-made movies that you see on YouTube.
Stick a fork in it — the show is done. It’s been done for a while. “Shiny.”
Comment by Steve — February 20, 2011 @ 1:41 am
A couple days ago my wife informed me she would leave me for Nathan Fillion in a heart beat if she had the chance. So my life goal is now to make sure they never meet. I mean what if he had a thing for the real life version of the cartoon Daria too!? Darn you Nathan Fillion! Darn you to heck I say!
Comment by Mark Carras — February 22, 2011 @ 5:14 am
A couple days ago my wife informed me she would leave me for Nathan Fillion in a heart beat if she had the chance. So my life goal is now to make sure they never meet. I mean what if he had a thing for the real life version of the cartoon Daria too!? Darn you Nathan Fillion! Darn you to heck I say!
Comment by Mark Carras — February 22, 2011 @ 5:14 am
Browncoats. We’ll do the impossible, and that makes us mighty.
Comment by Arggie — February 24, 2011 @ 1:32 am