William Shatner attends the William Shatner handprint ceremony hosted by Legion M during 2022 Comic-Con International: San Diego at Theatre Box on July 21, 2022 in San Diego, California.
Emma Mcintyre | Getty Images
When Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison first dreamed up their production studio, Legion M, they set out to construct not only an organization, but a community.
The movie studio behind buzzy names like “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” “Colossal” and the upcoming William Shatner documentary “You Can Call Me Bill” is an element of a shift in Hollywood during the last decade to a recent crowdfunding model, allowing producers to solicit donations for film and tv projects and reward investors with greater than only a limited edition piece of merchandise.
Now, fans can get an actual return on their investment.
“I feel numerous people take a look at equity crowdfunding as a special way to raise money,” said Annison, cofounder and president of Legion M. “It’s a special way to fund your organization, or a special way to fund your film. And we take a look at it as a fundamentally different way to construct a fundamentally different kind of business.”
Legion M launched in 2016 within the wake of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act, which lowered barriers to entry for raising capital and allowed firms to access funding in ways in which were previously barred due to securities regulations.
While crowdfunding isn’t a recent concept, Legion M is taking it to the subsequent level — giving strange moviegoers a seat at Hollywood’s table.
In lower than a decade, the studio has worked with various Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis on 2016’s “Colossal” and Simon Pegg and Minnie Driver in 2023’s “Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose.”
The corporate has also funded the recently released cryptocurrency documentary “That is Not Financial Advice.”
Risks and rewards
Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe and Indiegogo have long allowed creators to tap into their most ardent fan bases to create content.
Previously, Kickstarter backers generated $3.1 million for Zach Braff’s 2014 film “Wish I Was Here,” $5.7 million for Rob Thomas’ 2014 “Veronica Mars” movie and a record-breaking $11.3 million for Critical Role’s “Legend of Vox Machina” animated series, which was later picked up by Amazon Prime Video.
Nevertheless, Kickstarter doesn’t allow campaign creators to offer those that donate any financial returns.
That is what sets Legion M apart. If a movie or television project performs well on the box office or is bought by a distributor, those that invested get a cut.
“For the William Shatner documentary, we principally replaced the role of a single financier writing that check with 1,200 small financiers that wrote smaller checks,” Annison said.
The minimum investment for the documentary was $100.
Investors can even buy a stake in Legion M itself for as little as $40. The corporate says it has greater than 45,000 investors.
For Legion M’s “My Dead Friend Zoe,” the corporate collected funds from Legion M investors and from larger, more traditional Hollywood financiers, including Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce.
Left to right, Chris Temple, Glauber Contessoto, Zach Ingrasci and Rayz Rayl of “This Is Not Financial Advice” pose for a portrait through the 2023 Tribeca Festival at Spring Studio on June 10, 2023 in Recent York City.
Erik Tanner | Getty Images
Legion M offers creators access to its fanbase, something that independent filmmaker Chris Temple, co-director of “That is Not Financial Advice” found complimented his documentary. His film centers on several retail investors navigating the peaks and valleys of the crypto world.
He said working with Legion M “felt very natural from the primary call.”
“It is a grassroots film about investors who’ve finally gotten access into markets that they haven’t got access into and folks taking control of their very own funds,” he said, noting the parallels with Legion M’s work.
Fans know best
Legion M isn’t alone on this space. Angel Studios made headlines after its crowdfunded “Sound of Freedom” secured around $250 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of just $14.5 million.
While Angel Studios markets itself as a production studio that brings “light” to entertainment, much of its focus is on elevating religious titles to the mainstream. Legion M’s focus is the Comic Con crowd, though it’s diversifying its portfolio to include comedies, thrillers, murder mysteries, dramas, sci-fi motion flicks and documentaries.
Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan attend the world premiere of “You Can Call Me Bill” on the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals at The Paramount Theater on March 16, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Frazer Harrison | Getty Images
“What’s nice about what Legion M is doing is we’re making a built-in audience,” said Scanlan, the corporate’s cofounder and CEO.
The corporate’s logo, an “M” with a bar over top representing the roman numeral for a million, is a nod to Legion M’s goal of drawing in a million fans as shareholders.
“Imagine an entertainment company or a studio that has one million fans which can be literally financially invested within the movies that they’ve coming out, but they’re also emotionally invested within the movies,” Annison said. “Because they have been following around since day one and so they got a probability to go behind the scenes and so they’ve heard the director articulate his story and their vision for what the movie will likely be.”
One in all those fans is Matt Conkling, who made his first investment in the corporate in 2019, drawn to how Legion M offered investors a probability not only to give money, but to be involved in productions, too.
Soon after his first investment, Conkling saw a post from the corporate requesting various props including neon signs and automobiles for its mystery-thriller film “Archenemy,” which starred Joe Manganiello of “True Blood.”
“I raised my hand,” Conkling said, who volunteered his 1975 Chevy El Camino. Two days later, Conkling got a call to help handle the automobile around set.
“So it went from, ‘Here’s my keys,’ to an enormous crash course on the film industry,” he said. “After that, I got hooked.”
Conkling had previously tried to get in on the bottom floor of a movie project from a special production company he preferred not to name, but he wasn’t able to meet the minimum investment amount of $25,000.
“How often do regular on a regular basis people get the possibility to potentially put money into something at a low dollar amount?” he said.
For Conkling, Legion M has turn out to be greater than an off-the-cuff investment, it’s turn out to be a profession, of sorts. While he continues to finance individual film projects the corporate is promoting — and said he ultimately wants to invest enough to own 1% of the corporate — by volunteering his automobile to one production, he’s managed to find his area of interest in Hollywood.
After “Archenemy,” Conkling was tapped to source the titular white van for Legion M’s “The Man within the White Van,” a criminal offense thriller based on actual events that occurred the Nineteen Seventies. That gig fostered one other on Dennis Quaid’s “The Long Game,” which filmed in Texas. And it hasn’t stopped there: Conkling may even be spotted playing dead within the background of the Netflix film “The Grey Man.”
“Legion M is the gift that keeps giving,” Conkling said.