'Wish I Was Here.' Zach Braff Turns To Kickstarter To Seek Funding For 'Garden State' Follow Up

Zach Braff, most famously known for his role as JD from Scrubs, has launched a Kickstarter project to seek funding for his next movie, titled Wish I Was Here. After writing, directing and starring in cult classic Garden State, Braff is looking to follow-up the success and creative freedom of this by turning to the crowdfunding platform.

Using a rather hilarious pledge video, starring the likes of his best friend Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory), he explains the full story behind the inception of this movie and his reasons for using Kickstarter.

"I was about to sign a typical financing deal in order to get the money to make Wish I Was Here, my follow up to Garden State," Zach writes on his Kickstarter page.  "It would have involved making a lot of sacrifices I think would have ultimately hurt the film. I’ve been a backer for several projects on Kickstarter and thought the concept was fascinating and revolutionary for artists and innovators of all kinds."

He wishes to have greater control over the film's creative choices, such as how the "Final Cut" is edited of casting choices, that would usually be relinquished into the hands of the company who have invested in the film's production.

He also continues to detail the plot of the film.  "This [Wish I Was Here] is the story of Aidan Bloom (played by me), a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He and his wife are barely getting by financially and Aidan passes his time by fantasizing about being the great futuristic Space-Knight he'd always dreamed he'd be as a little kid.

When his ailing father can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids (ages 5 and 12) and the only available public school is on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them.

The result is some funny chaos, until Aidan decides to scrap the traditional academic curriculum and come up with his own. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn't find."

Written by Zach and his brother in Summer 2012, it's clear to see the similarities in writing personality and story quirks to Garden State, and it's also apparent that interest is massive.  Within the first few hours of the project launching (at the time of writing this), it has already gained $28,000 of pledges towards the $2,000,000 goal.

Are you excited for Wish I Was Here?

Source: Kickstarter