RiffTrax Live Kickstarter 2024 - POINT BREAK!

[Pak-Man]

Kickstarters shouldn't be used for established companies like Rifftrax.

They're established, and they're successful, but they're still a small business. About 20-strong last I heard. I've backed bigger, more-established companies for lesser products.

[MrTorso]

The cost to secure the rights for this one is probably the most they have ever needed. Also the first "big" movie they can actually provide a DVD/BD/DIGITAL release for.

[qlopp2]

Point Break

Feature film · 2006

Keanu Reeves goes undercover as a surfer to catch Patrick Swayze's bank-robbing crew while Gary Busey gives a powerhouse performance as his partner.

With Mike Nelson

See it on RiffTrax

Nope.. Gone


Weird, I can see it and re-download it.

I've searched it every which way, as a catalog product and a library product (of which I did buy the mp3 in 2006).  Point Break is not present on the Rifftrax site as of 3/11/24.  It's possible that it is listed in a library of my original account which had a different email address/user name.  I can see other products from that erea, but for giggles I tried Halloween and it doesn't show in my library either.  I have them on NAS but if that dies I'm screwed :-)

I'd be curious to know why Point Break "just the jokes" has disappeared.

[qlopp2]

For anyone to read and take at face value, this is my opinion of Kickstarter campaigns in general, but it applies 100% to Rifftrax.  I can't be alone in this.

I joined Rifftrax on the ground floor in 2006.  I have purchased every unique item (very few compilations of old stuff, but every single unique riff download).  That means I've clicked and added about 1000 items individually on your more-difficult-than-it-needs-to-be website.  That's a lot of clicking and expenditure, so clearly I'm invested in your product.  Rifftrax is wonderful and very worth it to me.

That said and explained, Kickstarters shouldn't be used for established companies like Rifftrax.  You have a given audience that (presumably) keeps growing.  There is no concern you won't make your money back.  Maybe it's a sign of the times and I'm "out of touch" but I sigh a little every time I encounter a Kickstarter from an established company.  I wish you would leave KS to those in need.  I understand the benefits of why you do it but don't agree on an idealized level.

Up until this KS my possibly incomplete memory of events is that you offered an entry level KS which essentially paid the customer back in Rifftrax credits.  As a Rifftrax customer I welcome that as a fair trade.  It seems like that has changed now, unless I am misunderstanding the latest rewards structure.  Admittedly it's peanuts when we're talking about $10 or so, but it appears that the closest level to paying back a KS participant is the Shorts collection, which appears to be $10 cost for the credit of two shorts, which is roughly $4 of value.

I can't abide to paying a for-profit company more than their product is worth, so I will bow out of such KS campaigns.  This post was done in haste as I've been anticipating this situation for a long time.  Therefore I was geared up to reply immediately upon seeing said announcement and backer level details.  If I have misrepresented the specifics I will reply with a correction once I get a chance to go over these KS details more thoroughly.

I generally agree with your point but I really enjoy live shows and I'm willing to contribute if this is what it takes for them to happen. Yeah, I don't get the full amount of my contribution back in rewards but I do get most of it plus some intangibles. To me, it is worth it for the "enhanced" rifftrax entertainment value.

Fair enough.  I'm happy with getting an even retail exchange.  That is the way Kickstarters tended to be in the beginning.  A small company or individual inventor or producer charged what the retail value of his proposed product would be so that there were orders and capital lined up.  Then hopefully he followed through with said product.  I'm not concerned that Rifftrax will fail to produce, or that a refund wouldn't happen in that unimaginable case.  I'm just not one of those who values paying into a business more than the value is worth.  I can wait and get the product and offer them no working capital, or we can do it the way I like Kickstarters done where everyone wins.

Were only talking about a ~$6 differential at the lowest level that includes real, non-thank you message based rewards.  It's not the money but the principal.  They used to offer a quid pro quo level around $10 which I enjoyed paying for.

[Imrahil]

Biggest one in terms of raw dollars raised, but not for inflation (I think the MST reunion adjusted for inflation raised about $800k).

Still, I'm happy they made it to the mini-golf level of awards. I enjoyed the Golden Corral bit and I think mini golf will be less disgusting. 

I wish they'd bring back some of the other offered awards; the one for the just-the-jokes on Beastmaster would be nice.

[torgosPizza]

That said and explained, Kickstarters shouldn't be used for established companies like Rifftrax.  You have a given audience that (presumably) keeps growing.  There is no concern you won't make your money back.

I think this is part of where the confusion is coming from.

In order to make one of these live shows happen, there are many logistics and up-front costs involved. Theatrical event organizers have to pay for everything in advance for something like this. Every cost, from securing the venue, getting the rights to a movie, and producing the show itself (building the sets, setting up lights and cameras, on top of the entire satellite and production setup that goes into it) requires a huge amount of money as part of the initial cost.

Look at it this way: we've basically never made a profit on a live show itself (we split the ticket sales with Fathom, too); a good portion of the money we do make comes from the sales of the live show after the fact. That's why we decided a few years ago to make sure we only do movies we can get the rights to show later (with only a few exceptions). And this year's live show is extra expensive, due to the movie itself AND the cost of production. Simply having the show in a different city than Nashville adds quite a lot to the already-expensive production.

"Then why do it in the first place?" I can hear you asking.

Good question! We've mentioned this in the past, I think, but if we didn't use Kickstarter for these events, we just wouldn't have them. We'd be fine as a business, given our normal revenue stream does allow us to stay afloat for the most part. So if we didn't have the funds to produce the live show from Kickstarter, we would just no longer try to make them happen.

Maybe it's a sign of the times and I'm "out of touch" but I sigh a little every time I encounter a Kickstarter from an established company.  I wish you would leave KS to those in need.  I understand the benefits of why you do it but don't agree on an idealized level.

I think "leave KS to those in need" is a bit of a questionable statement. Kickstarter creators run the gamut, everyone from entrepreneurs just starting out, to yes, established companies like ours. But as others have said in the comments here, just because we're "established" doesn't mean we're flush with cash. Having the Kickstarters fund the live shows means that we get to put them on, without us having to risk too much of our core business. We'd still do OK not putting on a live show for a year, but we'd certainly feel its absence as it's something we know many people look forward to.

Up until this KS my possibly incomplete memory of events is that you offered an entry level KS which essentially paid the customer back in Rifftrax credits.  As a Rifftrax customer I welcome that as a fair trade.  It seems like that has changed now, unless I am misunderstanding the latest rewards structure.... it appears that the closest level to paying back a KS participant is the Shorts collection, which appears to be $10 cost for the credit of two shorts, which is roughly $4 of value.

We haven't really changed the strategy of our campaigns for many years now. We do offer 10 free shorts at the $1 level mainly as a way of incentivizing brand-new backers who we hope will then stick around as customers.

I think there are various ways to use Kickstarter to fund creative projects. That includes companies that want to use Kickstarter to help prototype and then mass-produce a product. That's a perfectly valid way to use the platform, but it's not the only way.

It should also be noted, though, that "Kickstarter is not a store" (they mention this in several places throughout the site) and so it shouldn't be thought of as such, wherein a 1:1 dollar-to-reward relationship exists. If every reward we offer was only worth the amount of the "product" we were "selling," then the entirety of Kickstarter funds would be devoted to fulfilling those rewards.

But our Kickstarter's primary goal is funding a live event; the rewards are what we give back to say thanks. We try to ensure the value of the reward IS on par with the price of the reward level, and we make sure to include things like Thanks Pages and Your Name in the Credits at different levels because 1) Some rewards do have a different, premium "value" even if putting your Name in the Credits isn't really a "product," and 2) We want to make sure people who contribute feel like they are part of something that's NOT just "buying a thing."

I can't abide to paying a for-profit company more than their product is worth, so I will bow out of such KS campaigns.  This post was done in haste as I've been anticipating this situation for a long time.  Therefore I was geared up to reply immediately upon seeing said announcement and backer level details.  If I have misrepresented the specifics I will reply with a correction once I get a chance to go over these KS details more thoroughly.

That's fine! It is certainly your right, and we won't think any less of you for not pledging to the campaign. Obviously you're free to spend your money where you see fit! Hopefully I've helped clarify any misgivings and confusion you may have had. I think if anything I would like for you to take away, is that Kickstarter is an amazing tool, and it's possible for any business to take advantage of its community, even "established ones" - because a business being established doesn't also mean that what they're asking for on Kickstarter would be possible without the help of backers.

[Bickle]

people have no idea how expensive life production is, just to get the keys to a major venue. Before a single other expense can easily be a quarter million.

When you go to a concert in an arena, the cost of producing that show was like
y close to a million dollars. Just your date, all in

[Thrashalla]

Download is now available to purchase! https://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax-live-point-break