I saw them as soon as the rounded the corner to the cafe area at the AMC Century City. A group of eleven or so, ranging in age from about 10 years old, to a couple in their 50s. They all dropped their things and began pulling “Neptune High Reunion” t-shirts and lanyards over their heads. Their laughter and easy excitement about being here at the Veronica Mars movie fan event made me smile. Again. The same smile I’d been smiling every time my friends and I spotted a fellow Marshmallow wandering around the mall, killing time in the hours leading up to our screening.
One of the women in the group approached our trio, asking if one of us could take a group photo for them. They crowded into the frame, their excitement creating the kind of image I love best — one where the joy of the moment radiates out of every pixel. We all laughed together when I gave them my answer to Team Piz or Team Logan (in case you are also curious, I waffle between the two).
Almost every early screening is filled with a buzz of excitement. This screening had the buzz with an undercurrent of I can’t believe we are actually about to sit down and watch a Veronica Mars movie in a real theater, is this real life? Pinch me! Fandom is awesome. This fandom in particular makes me really proud to count myself as one of them.
I’m not a spendthrift, I have a long history of agonizing over frivolous purchases. Putting down $50 to back the Veronica Mars movie last year was the quickest, easiest decision I’ve ever made regarding fifty bucks. It was more of an automatic reaction than an actual decision. I just knew it was going to be worthwhile. When credits finished rolling Thursday night, and the lights in the theater went up, I wished I had been able to put down more money during the campaign. Maybe that would have served as a sufficient thank you for the whole experience.
Thank you Rob Thomas & Co. for being crazy enough to believe a Kickstarter campaign might work. For creating characters we could love enough to rally around. Thank you for running the campaign and follow up with the honesty and integrity that proves you understand and care about the fan community. I’ve started referring to this as the “Veronica Mars Model,” it’s one that I’ll be using as I work on a film of my own, and I hope that it’s a model other creators will follow.
Hey Marshmallows, we made a freakin’ movie! …Wanna go watch it again?