‘Girls’ star Zosia Mamet’s Kickstarter campaign flopped — and here’s why

Ever since Veronica Mars and Zack Braff’s follow-up to Garden State were successfully funded on Kickstarter, there’s been a good bit of backlash to celebrity-driven projects on what is intended to be a grassroots-supporting site. However, until this point, few celebrities have really failed with their fundraising efforts.

Then along came Girls star Zosia Mamet and her younger sister, Clara. The Cabin Sisters, as they called themselves, appealed to the good people of the world to fund their first music video.

“This music video for ‘Bleak Love’ is our chance to realize through the visual artistry of some very talented people the universal feeling of un-requited love,” the sisters wrote on their Kickstarter.

After their two-week fundraising deadline, the girls fell considerably short of their $32,000 goal. In fact, they earned less than 10 percent.

Although they aren’t the first celebrities to fail at a Kickstarter goal — Melissa Joan Hart was unsuccessful in her bid to earn $2 million — it was probably the biggest public flop.

There are a few reasons why this might have occurred. For one, Zosia and Clara did a really poor job at selling themselves and their music. In the promotional video, Clara even seemed to admit she was really bad at playing the banjo and Zosia said it was really just an excuse for the sisters to spend time together.

Even with supportive tweets from the Girls mastermind Lena Dunham, the Cabin Sisters never really received much buzz.

Another potential reason is that people are feeling less and less inclined to sponsor independently wealthy celebrity projects. In an article last month, one Entertainment Weekly writer wondered if there’s ever a good reason for celebrities to use Kickstarter.

“The true purpose of crowdfunding, some say, is to offer creative types with no Hollywood connections a chance to pursue their dreams through small donations. Should stars really get to take advantage of that model?”

Indeed, the Cabin Sisters both have extensive Hollywood connections — and that’s not even to mention their father, who is a well-known playwright. It’s hard to imagine that Kickstarter is really their only way to raise $32,000…

For that reason, the Cabin Sisters’ Kickstarter failure isn’t so notable in terms of the unmounted financial barrier. Instead, its real significance is will be revealed if other celebrities think twice before signing up. After all, there are few things Hollywood types like less than public embarrassment!