Joss Whedon's latest sci-fi romance In Your Eyes recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, but true Whedon fans were also given the opportunity to donate $5 to see the film immediately online.
In turn, Whedon and his team have created what Buzzfeed's Adam B. Vary calls a "crazy reverse Kickstarter" by sending appreciation gifts back to those same fans.
Well played, universe! Sneaked an Apple product in my house after all.. Go watch the movie ;-) http://t.co/MfjlFhALPX pic.twitter.com/ykMEJJeqza
— Lydia Pintscher (@nightrose) May 2, 2014The range of gifts is certainly broad. Some are happy to a get a signed poster or a copy of the shooting script in the mail. Others are thrilled to get an Apple TV or an Xbox One. And a few are probably thankful, if slightly confused, to get a Weber Smoky grill.
In Your Eyes producer Michael Roiff told Buzzfeed, "The idea was we’re doing something a little different, and we just want to say thank you." He claims that only a handful of fans — about 1,000 at this point — have received the thank-you gifts, which are paid for by proceeds from the film.
The people who got cacti and grills, however, might wonder if they've been regifted. "[We’ve] got a Google Glass we’re sending to somebody," Roiff told Buzzfeed. "That one showed up at the office, and I was like, 'Come on, do we have to send that to someone else?'"
Not that anyone's complaining. No one should ever bemoan a good grill. (Buzzfeed)