Legion M exploits fans and investors to make movies

When Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison first dreamed up their production studio, Legion M, they set out to build not just a company, but a community.

The movie studio behind sensational names like “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” “Colossal” and the upcoming William Shatner documentary “You Can Call Me Bill” is part of a shift in Hollywood over the past decade to a new model of crowdfunding, allowing producers to raise… Donations to film and television projects reward investors with more than just a limited piece of merchandise.

Now, fans can get an actual return on their investment.

“I think a lot of people look at equity crowdfunding as a different way to raise money,” said Anison, co-founder and president of Legion M. “It's a different way to fund your company, or a different way to fund your film. We look at it as a completely different way to build a genre.” Completely different business.”

Legion M was launched in 2016 in the wake of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act, which lowered barriers to entry for raising capital and allowed companies to obtain financing in ways previously prohibited by securities regulations.

While crowdfunding is not a new concept, Legion M takes it to the next level – giving everyday moviegoers a seat at the Hollywood table.

In less than a decade, the studio has worked with a number of Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis in 2016's “Colossal” and Simon Pegg and Minnie Driver in 2023's “Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose.”

The company also funded the recently released cryptocurrency documentary “This Is Not Financial Advice.”

Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo have long allowed content creators to tap into the most passionate fan bases for content creation.

In the past, Kickstarter backers have raised $3.1 million for Zach Braff's 2014 film “Wish I Was Here,” $5.7 million for Rob Thomas' 2014 film “Veronica Mars,” and a record $11.3 million for the animated film “Legend of Vox Machina Produced by Critical Role. The series I picked up later Amazon Prime Video.

However, Kickstarter does not allow campaign creators to offer any financial returns to those who donate.

That's what sets Legion M apart. If a movie or TV project does well at the box office or is bought by a distributor, those who invested get a share.

“For the William Shatner documentary, we essentially replaced the role of one financier writing checks with 1,200 small financiers writing smaller checks,” Anison said.

The minimum investment into the documentary was $100.

Investors can also buy a stake in Legion M itself for as little as $40. The company says it has more than 45,000 investors.

For Legion M's “My Dead Friend Zoe,” the company raised money from Legion M investors and from larger, more traditional Hollywood financiers, including Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce.

Legion M provides creators with access to its fan base, something that independent filmmaker Chris Temple, co-director of “This is Not Financial Advice,” found complementary to his documentary. His film focuses on several retail investors who navigate the peaks and valleys of the cryptocurrency world.

He said working with Legion M “seemed very natural from the first call.”

“This is a popular film about investors who finally gain access to markets they otherwise couldn't access and people who take control of their finances,” he said, noting similarities to Legion M's work.

Legion M is not alone in this regard. Angel Studios made headlines after their crowdfunded film “Sound of Freedom” earned nearly $250 million at the global box office on a budget of just $14.5 million.

While Angel Studios markets itself as a production studio that brings “light” to entertainment, much of its focus is on elevating cult titles into the mainstream. Legion M is focused on the Comic Con audience, although it is diversifying its portfolio to include comedies, thrillers, murder mysteries, dramas, action films, sci-fi and documentaries.

“The nice thing about what Legion M does is we create a built-in audience,” said Scanlan, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

The company's logo, which is the letter “M” with a bar at the top representing the Roman numeral for million, is a nod to Legion M's goal of attracting one million fans as shareholders.

“Imagine an entertainment company or studio that has a million fans who are literally financially invested in the movies they release, but they're also emotionally invested in the movies,” Annison said. “Because they had been following the movie since day one and they got a chance to go behind the scenes and hear the director explain his story and their vision of what the movie would be like.”

One such fan is Matt Conkling, who made his first investment in the company in 2019, drawn to the way Legion M offered investors the chance to not only donate money, but to participate in the production as well.

Shortly after his first investment, Conkling saw a flyer from the company requesting a number of props including neon signs and cars for the mystery thriller “Archenemy,” which starred Joe Manganiello of “True Blood.”

“I raised my hand,” said Conkling, who volunteered his 1975 Chevy El Camino. Two days later, Conkling received a phone call to help handle the car on set.

“So it went from ‘here are my keys’ to a huge crash course in filmmaking,” he said. “After that, I was hooked.”

Conkling previously tried to get in on the ground floor of a film project from a different production company that he preferred to remain anonymous, but was unable to meet the minimum investment amount of $25,000.

“How often do ordinary people get the opportunity to invest in something for a low dollar amount?” He said.

For Conkling, Legion M became more than just an ordinary investment, it became a career of sorts. While he continues to finance individual film projects promoted by the company — and he said he eventually wants to invest enough to own 1% of the company — by volunteering his car to one production, he has been able to find his niche in Hollywood.

Following “Archenemy,” Conkling was tapped to be the source of the titular white van for Legion M's “The Man in the White Van,” a crime thriller based on true events that occurred in the 1970s. This gig promoted another film for Dennis Quaid's The Long Game, which was filmed in Texas. And it doesn't stop there: Conkling can also be seen dead in the background of the photo Netflix The movie “The Gray Man”.

“Legion M is the gift that keeps on giving,” Conkling said.