Paypal Button on LG15 website

[milowent]

just appeared tonight: (see main page at lonelygirl15.com, just below the video box)

"Consider donating $5.00 to support future videos."

annoucement at the phorum: www.lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2874

"As requested by many of our fans on the forum, we are now able to receive donations via PayPal. A link is available directly under the video located on the main page. Please consider donating $5.00 dollars to help support the production of future videos.

Thank you for all your support in all its forms."

Thoughts? this was suggested by a few people on the phorum and cove during the Yousef Crisis.

I'm happy to have kicked in $5. Yousef has to eat, you know!
EDIT: Ok, </sarcasm>, the enjoyment i've gotten out of lg15, the real life hunt for bree, the videos, warts and all, and meeting so many new internet friends has been worth way more than $5 for me. If it has for you, or you just have $5 lying around, why not?

[Smashing]

I wonder if the creators would consider using fundable.org
It lets you set a goal amount of money to be raised, and give a description of what the money will be used for. People then pledge money through paypal, but no money is taken out of anyone's account unless the total money goal is met. That way, you know you're betting on a winner. People have used it to raise money for charity, buy gifts for friends, and a few filmmakers have used it to finance short videoblog projects, as can be seen on the site havemoneywillvlog.com

edit: of course, if a lot of people are just going to go ahead and give 5 bucks right now through paypal, that works too.

double edit: If people give without knowing exactly how the money will be used, I can already hear the cries of "I want my $5 back!" any time a video fails to please. So, donators, be warned now that if you give, you should give without expectations about the story.

[Jennifer]

If one was really cynical, you might argue that Yousef posting he was going to get cut, was staged in order to stir up controversy and possible discussions about funding of the show. There's no reason even why they couldn't have used a couple of their own sock puppets in the threads to initiate the paypal button suggestion.

This has the added benefit from their side of judging fan reactions to funding without directly raising the issue and also they can more easily maintain their altruistic stance on the importance of the story over anything else. If commercialism is quoted, they can simply say the paypal button was requested by the fans themselves.

I'm not normally into conspiracy theories but in this case, I saw an interview with their creators in which they promised new levels of interaction and involvement with the fans. This interaction could take a a variety of forms from plot development, cast selection, web facilities, or funding.

Now, I'm not saying one shouldn't donate. The production has costs and if you enjoy it then why not? You've probably got about 2 hours plus of footage so far (not sure what the exact figure is). It's easily the equivalent of a full length movie so why not pay if you enjoyed it, I'd encourage people to do that. But the possibilities of interaction with a web fan base go far beyond saying if you like the show or not.

[milowent]

moviegirl1976 said:

If one was really cynical, you might argue that Yousef posting he was going to get cut, was staged in order to stir up controversy and possible discussions about funding of the show. There's no reason even why they couldn't have used a couple of their own sock puppets in the threads to initiate the paypal button suggestion.

haha. we do like the conspiracy theories here, dont we? the paypal suggestion seemed to come from established fans, including our own lesbrent.

[Jennifer]

There's no reason an "established fan" shouldn't be a sock account under the creator's control. It's an advantage to have that presence in the web discussions surrounding the productions for reasons alluded to above. This IMS medium offers all kinds of possibilities for manipulation from both sides of the screen.

[lesbrent]

Hey Jennifer

You can PM me and I'll give you my phone number and myspace page, and you can see just how real I am. I found LG on the youtube favorites about two weeks before the great reveal and have been a dedicated fan since. I just post on Anchor Cove and not over there because I have some cool friends here who are my age (30's+) or close to it, and we all have similiar interests. We're interested in using this medium and closely watching it develop.

Yes, I sugessted that we have a palpal account at LG. Maybe I was blindsided and this was a ploy, but I don't think I'm that naive. Maybe I am! It just seemed like a logical conclusion to me. I did also suggest that the Creators take it a step further, and offer more priviledged and behind the scenes info for say a donation $10 and above. Maybe even access to a private messageboard where the creators interact more frequently. But hey, I haven't even gone over to the main page to see the paypal account yet, but if they want $5, I'm willing to give them that, plus.

Sincerely,
Leslie

[Jennifer]

I'm not suggesting you in particular aren't a real fan, but there's no way of knowing about all the other people who posted in that thread or the other discussions. Also, there are plenty of people with fake myspace pages. You only have to take the cast of Noho girls for example. They all have myspace pages but are known to be actors with completely different names. It's just another tool which can be used in the web of intrigue that surrounds these IMS's

Yousef is employed by the team and I find it quite strange how he posted he was going to get sacked and then this was later denied. But the outcome of all the fuss over it has worked out favourably for the income stream.

Although I've watched most of the LG15 episodes and looked at some of the website paraphenlia associated with it, I wouldn't class myself as a fan. So naturally, if someone is a fan they may find my suggestions somewhat cynical. Sorry about that, no offense meant I guess you are getting the views of how an outsider may see it which may or may not be useful.

[Jennifer]

I would think as fan you should probably give something if you have got a lot of entertainment from it and if you want to see more episodes. It's only fair.

Even if the Yousef thing was staged to provoke reaction for donations, it still doesn't alter the fact that they probably need some funding to continue it.

I watched some of the Gemmers stuff recently and it didn't seem to make sense. I'd be concerned if I was a fan, that the plot seems to have become very disjointed. I wonder if Gemmers is really helping the thing. If they wanted to introduce more characters then the obvious choice would be Lucy and Bree's parents rather than some remote girl in London who seems to spout conflicting information in a variety of different accents.

It wouldn't encourage me to contribute, but it's difficult for me to put myself in the shoes of a diehard fan.