Getting a TV show made can be tough, since there are so many different outlets that are all better suited to very specific kinds of programming, but Kevin Smith has apparently decided to make it even tougher on himself by embracing a crowdfunding platform called Rivit TV. According to Variety, Smith shot a pilot two years ago for a show called Hollyweed, and he’s going to use Rivit TV to see if audiences believe it deserve another shot at life.
The way that will happen is by using Rivit’s weird crowdfunding system, which works like this: Everyone can watch pilot episodes for free, and once they’ve done that, they enter a price they’d be willing pay per episode in order to get a full season—anywhere between $2 and $6. There will be a set total price that a prospective show needs to achieve within 45 days, and once enough users bid enough money to reach that price, the episodes will be released at whatever the lowest price would be based on how many users made bids and how much they said they were willing to pay.
It’s like if Kickstarter only charged everyone the amount that the thing costs, whether or not you wanted to pay more (which seems appropriate here, since Rivit doesn’t have tiered bonuses). Except that also doesn’t really work, because if everyone says they want to pay $6 per episode, then they all have to pay $6 per episode. You’ll only pay less if enough people say they want to pay less. It’s all a little confusing, as the disruptive technologies so often are.
As for Hollyweed, it stars Smith and Chappelle’s Show’s Donnell Rawlings as the owners of a “small pot shop” who are looking for “profits and the perfect bud.” It’ll also have Adam Brody, Ralph Garman, and—get this—Jason Mewes.