Zach Braff’s Kickstarter, Wish I Was Here has reached its goal of $2 million! He has also outlined why he’s using Kickstarter and investing his own money in the project.

Zach Braff’s Kickstarter Wish I Was Here, has reached its goal after just 3 days, much to the delight of Braff and his army of fans. Braff has been a television hero over the past decade, with his performances of JD in Scrubs being the highlight of his career. Some onlookers may have overlooked his work during 2004, when Braff released the cult indie film Garden State.

Garden State, one of the best indie films to have appeared in the past decade, was far more than a personal note to Braff than to most indie film makers, with the movie being funded primarily from a Scrubs fan who believed in him. Garden State went on make serious noise at the Sundance Film Festival, where Braff first had a sense of how well the movie would do. But, what Braff didn’t realise was just how much of a cult-hit it would become. And for those who haven’t seen it, please do, it’s just fantastic.

Zach Braff, “Garden State” (2004)

But now, nine years on from Garden State, and obviously into his post-Scrubs career, Braff is after another shot at indie filmmaking with Wish I Was Here. Braff made huge waves across the Internet when he took to Kickstarter.com, a crowd-funding website, to help fund his latest project. And after just 3 days, Braff’s realisation of his new movie is finally coming true.

He gave us this hilarious video to help the crowd-surfers to donate, and that $2 million goal was raised pretty quickly.

Braff had taken note of the success of the Veronica Mars funding that occured earlier this year, and thought he’d give it a shot to help get his latest project underway. But it is surprising to think that Braff has taken this route to help fund Wish I Was Here, when surely the movie networks would have backed him after the success Garden State received? In an interview with Buzzfeed.com, Braff explains why he wanted to use Kickstarter.com.

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Braff says:

Well, it was a long time ago, and I hadn’t made a film since. I had some that almost happened and then fell apart, but in my defense, I was trying to pull it off whilst being a lead on a TV show for nine years. So it was a tricky thing to juggle.

When Scrubs finally ended, I was fully ready to [make a movie] and excited to do it, but the model had changed a bit. Not only was there less money, but it was completely based on “how many stars can you cram into the roles?” I mean, literally, conversations start with “who are your famous friends?

And this clearly isn’t the spirit for making a movie, especially when Garden State is part of your résumé. Braff continued, “But the movie my brother and I had written, with some money, could be executed at a really cool, awesome way in the spirit of Garden State.”

But it’s important to note that Braff has been trying to get a project going, and even whilst Scrubs reached its highest point, Braff still had his eyes on other projects. Braff tried on several occasions, but for many reasons, the dream for him wasn’t quite realised.

Braff comments:

There are several films since Garden State that I’ve tried to put together, and they’ve fallen apart for one reason or another. I was once on a location scout in Atlanta and lost my A-list actress whilst taking pictures of locations where I was going to shoot her.

I’ve had executives that hired me at big studios, then get fired and the project’s fallen apart. It’s classic Hollywood, it’s-really-hard-to-get-a-movie-made stuff. This is the first project since Garden State that I’ve been as excited and passionate about. It was the one I wasn’t going to compromise on.

And that’s what makes these crowd-funded films so unique. The Hollywood Studios take control away from the auteur, and this was a direction that Braff was not comfortable with. Braff wants control of all areas of the film, and if there’s one area we’re certain that will be very personal, it will be the soundtrack. Rolling Stone have a fantastic article about what they’d pick for the soundtrack, and we’d like to hear your thoughts too.

But, in an interview with Empire, Braff warns that using crowd-funding is risky, but does appeal to certain audiences, and certain movies.

“It’s a new way to look at movies…it’s not for giant blockbusters.”

Braff comments:

It’s a new way to look at movies! It’s not going to work for everything – it’s not for giant blockbusters, but if you’re making these art films, labours of love and passion, personal endeavours, and there’s a built-in audience for them.

Honestly, everywhere I go, whether I’m doing press for other movies or if I run into my fans on the street or if I’m on Twitter, the most common question is, “Why haven’t you made another movie?” So I know there’s demand for it, I know there’s interest, but I don’t want to put my name on something and have to deal with the whims of someone who isn’t the director of the movie.

But it appears as though Wish I Was Here is here to stay, and if Garden State is anything to go by, this film is due to be fantastic. The project still has 26 days to go on the funding, and you can still be part of what could be a very memorable film.

Wish I Was Here is due to start filming in August 2013.