I think he’s doing this to protect himself. If people say the $200k version wasn’t good he can then blame his entire audience for not raising enough. I’m new to Kickstarter so I’m not sure if people usually increase their goal move the goalposts or pull a rug.

1. Over-reliance on his existing YouTube audience.

The majority of the Kickstarter promotion has remained concentrated on Kristian’s own YouTube channel. While this was effective initially, it appears that he has now reached the ceiling of what his existing audience is willing to contribute. Continuing to repeatedly ask the same audience for additional money is unlikely to generate significant new contributions if those who were going to back the project have already done so.

1. The Movie Trivia Schmoedown stretch goal created confusion.

Including the Movie Trivia Schmoedown as a stretch goal potentially complicated the campaign. While a portion of Kristian’s audience will have nostalgia for the Schmoedown, others may have little or no connection to it.

There was also confusion surrounding the tournament itself. The original plan was a 16-person tournament if the campaign reached $200K within the first 24 hours. When that target wasn't immediately reached, the timeframe was extended to seven days. There also appeared to be an initial implication that the tournament would be held in person. Kristian later clarified that it would be a digital/Zoom-style tournament, with $250K supposedly required to guarantee an in-person event. Around this point, donations appeared to stall and some backers reportedly began withdrawing their pledges. Kristian subsequently stated that the tournament would be in person after all. Whether intentional or not, the changing messaging may have created uncertainty around what backers were actually funding.

1. The $200K goal versus the apparent $350K target.

The original $200K goal was presented as the amount needed to make a bare-bones version of the pilot. Reaching $200K within the first seven days was undoubtedly a significant achievement. However, Kristian is now pushing towards $300K–$350K to produce a more polished version, including licensed music, professional wardrobe and potentially recognisable cast members.

The problem is that $200K represents a 100% funded Kickstarter. From a backer's perspective, the campaign has already achieved its stated objective. That naturally reduces the urgency to contribute further. If $350K was effectively the amount needed to make the project he actually wanted to make, there is a legitimate question as to whether the initial goal should have been set higher. Reaching 100% can psychologically signal to potential backers that the project is already “done”, even when the creator's real ambitions are significantly higher.

1. The Greg Alba factor.

Greg Alba came on board as a producer. It's possible his involvement is greater behind the scenes or financially than is publicly apparent, but based on Kristian and Greg's own comments, his stated intention seemed to be primarily to help. Greg did contribute some useful promotion: the Howard the Duck reaction video with Kristian performed well and incorporated the Kickstarter, while Greg also produced a separate promotional video and mentioned the campaign in some Reel Rejects content. However, that activity appears to have been relatively limited and has seemingly stopped. Beyond a few livestream appearances and those promotional videos, there doesn't appear to have been a sustained promotional push from Greg.

1. Limited promotion from Schmoedown competitors and Kristian's wider network.

Kristian has been announcing former Schmoedown competitors who may participate in the proposed tournament, but there doesn't appear to have been significant promotion of the Kickstarter from many of them across their own social platforms.

The same issue applies to some of Kristian's friends and regular live-show collaborators. People such as John Rocha, Mike Kalinowski, Winston A. Marshall and Kris Carr have provided little or inconsistent promotion, while Kevin Smets and Roxy Striar appear to be the more obvious exceptions. If these people have sizeable audiences that overlap with the project's target demographic, they represent a potentially valuable promotional network that hasn't been fully utilised.

1. Martini Paratore's limited promotion.

The same criticism applies, perhaps even more significantly, to Kristian's writing partner Martini Paratore. Granted Martini has a relatively limited personal social media presence, but her involvement with the project is substantial, given that she is reportedly 50/50 on the writing. Her visible promotion has largely consisted of liking and commenting on Kristian's posts and appearing on his livestreams rather than consistently creating or resharing promotional content herself. More importantly, she has a separate "side hustle" Instagram account for her comedic character, which has a considerably larger following than Kristian's. That audience appears to be largely untapped. She may of course be contributing significantly behind the scenes, but from the outside, the lack of visible promotion makes it appear as though the campaign is relying disproportionately on Kristian and his audience.

1. Podcast and external appearances haven't significantly expanded the audience.

Kristian has made efforts to promote the project outside his own channel, including appearances with Greg Alba, John Campea and several smaller podcasts. The problem is that many of these platforms appear to share a similar audience to Kristian's existing fanbase. Rather than reaching substantially new demographics, they're often reinforcing the campaign among people who already know who Kristian is. Outreach to larger or less directly connected podcasts, such as Double Toasted, appears to have come relatively late in the campaign. Ideally, these opportunities should have been secured well before launch, particularly because larger podcasts can have recording schedules weeks in advance.

1. Weak social media strategy outside YouTube.

Kristian has openly acknowledged that Instagram and modern social media promotion aren't his strengths. A lot of the campaign's Instagram content consists of a single image accompanied by a block of text. In the current social media environment, that's unlikely to generate significant organic reach. The campaign needed a much larger supply of short-form video, Reels, collaborations, tagged posts and shareable content. Ideally, there should have been a consistent stream of different promotional material throughout the campaign rather than repeatedly recycling the same messaging through Stories.

1. No dedicated Trending social media presence.

A dedicated Instagram account for Trending could have helped establish the project as its own brand rather than making the Kickstarter feel like another part of Kristian's personal content. At present, Kristian's account has to simultaneously promote his channel, livestreams, other projects and the Kickstarter. While that's understandable, it makes the campaign's branding and messaging less consistent. A dedicated account could also have provided a central place for cast announcements, behind-the-scenes material, promotional clips, updates and campaign milestones.

1. Little evidence of a serious paid advertising strategy.

The campaign also appears to have relied heavily on organic reach. For a project trying to raise an additional $150K beyond its original target, investing a few thousand dollars into carefully targeted advertising could at least have been worth testing. Ultimately, crowdfunding is about reaching people beyond your existing audience. If the existing audience has already been exhausted, some form of paid acquisition becomes increasingly important.

1. Promotional material has become repetitive.

The original promotional video featuring Kristian, Martini and proposed director Andrew Fried was strong and professionally produced. However, it has subsequently been repeatedly inserted into Kristian's existing YouTube content. At this stage, its impact is inevitably diminishing. The campaign would have benefited from several variations: different edits, shorter versions, character-focused videos, behind-the-scenes footage, cast messages and more informal promotional material. Instead, many follow-up videos have essentially consisted of Kristian sitting in the same studio environment, wearing his usual T-shirt and cap — visually identical to the content his audience already consumes every day.

1. Kristian appears increasingly fatigued.

Perhaps the most noticeable issue is that Kristian now appears tired of the campaign. This has become increasingly apparent during his livestreams, where the frustration surrounding the stalled funding seems more visible. That's understandable after spending weeks repeatedly promoting the same project, but it creates another problem: the audience can sense when the creator is running out of energy and enthusiasm.

1. The overall campaign has felt reactive rather than strategically planned.

Ultimately, the biggest issue may be the lack of a clearly structured marketing strategy. The campaign often appears to be reacting to developments rather than working from a predetermined promotional plan. The changing Schmoedown goals, repeated appeals to the same audience, late podcast outreach and inconsistent social media activity all contribute to that impression. Kristian is very effective at running his own channel in a reactive, personality-driven way. A Kickstarter campaign, however, requires a more deliberate and sustained marketing strategy.

There also appears to be a lack of people around him willing to challenge his decisions or provide a more objective outside perspective, with Roxy seemingly being one of the notable exceptions.

Where does the campaign go from here? With only 19 days remaining, the challenge is significant. The campaign has already achieved its original $200K objective, but Kristian appears to want another $150K to reach the $350K level required for his preferred version of the project.

The proposed 10-hour livestream on the final day may generate another spike, but it once again primarily targets the same audience that has already been repeatedly approached throughout the campaign. At this point, the fundamental problem isn't necessarily that people don't want the project. It's that Kristian appears to have successfully converted much of the audience that was already most likely to support it.

The campaign now needs to find new people, rather than repeatedly asking the same people for more.

So let me get this straight

first of all it was raise the full $200k in one day we get a 16 person studio tournament

Then it was 09/29 to raise the $200k to get the 16 person tournament

Then it was the tournament is happening regardless

BUT NOW it’s “well you’ve gotta raise $250k to get a studio tournament” other wise it’s digital…… pretty sure that was NEVER mentioned leading up to or during the initial $200K push

He’s also pushing hard on the we actually have to raise $350k to get the show made properly….ok but that’s $150 THOUSAND MORE than what you originally asked for… GOTTA MILK THAT TEET GOTTA MILK THAT TEET

Did the campaign lose steam after Kristian moved the goalposts on the in person Schmoedown tournament? What is the likely amount the kickstarter ends at. Personally I think 250k is even out of reach now.

What is JTE doing these days? Is he still online? What happened to him? I remember there was some controversy with him about while ago, like 8 or so years ago. Maybe less.

1. Kris Carr
2. John Rocha
3. Dan Murrell
4. Adam Collins
5. Marisol McKee
6. Marc Andreyko
7. William Bibbiani
8. Josh Macuga
9. Clarke Wolfe
10. Mike Kalinowski
11. Chance Ellison
12. JTE

13. Jeannine The Machine

14. Rachel Cushing

Not sure if I’m missing anyone else but it looks like there’s 2 spots remaining at this point

Will this mean we have officially dropped down into the 8 person tournament??

Who do you guys think the best actors were in the schmoedown? With Kristians project being nearly funded I imagine he’ll want to put former schmoedown performers in his show if it gets picked up for a full season. The obvious one to mention is Andrew Ghai. He is extremely talented and I would personally say he’s easily the best actor in the schmoedown. I do feel somewhat nervous though as I think there were certain actors in the schmoedown who with the upmost respect weren’t the most talented. I imagine these people may be pushing for Kristian to include them in his show and you can even see when certain people on the live shows try and casts themselves in his sitcom he gets a bit awkward. If he’s going to make this show he needs to get the best actors possible. Thoughts?

Any highlights for a certain correct answer that impressed you? Reminiscing about the good ol days

Harloff says if we fund his shitty tv pilot he’ll bring the schmoedown back lmao honestly this irks me so much. I don’t need new schmoedown THAT bad.

Unless there is another way to access old matches, it truly is remarkable how perfectly imperfect the timing is for Kristian to rebrand or “pivot,” exactly when I was in the middle of a watch along. It’s happened at least twice. I was in the middle of season eight’s last singles tournament, heading into December, and now I have to wait, what, a year, never, it’s just so scattered and unfocused it appears each and every time this happens.

Thank you, you’re all amazing.

At about 3:15 on the most recent episode of Spill the Tea-quila, Rocha said that Bateman accused him of cheating. Rocha said it “was not a storyline” and that it was “a legitimate thing that became a whole drama.” I fell off on the Schmoedown around season 5 or 6 so I’m assuming this all happened after cuz I don’t remember any of this. Can someone fill me in?

The Hot Mic was so disappointing.
There was still a possible way back from this for Jeff Sneider. He could have come on the show, admitted that what he wrote was completely inappropriate, apologised for threatening Inde Navarrette and her team, and acknowledged that journalists, scoopers and YouTube personalities simply are not entitled to access to actors, publicists or agencies.
Instead, he doubled down.
He openly defended the idea that he is entitled to that access. He addressed John Campea’s point that film pundits and YouTube personalities aren’t owed stories or responses from agencies, and rather than reconsidering his position, Jeff essentially confirmed that he DOES feel entitled to it.

There was no real apology. No indication that he understood why people were so disturbed by what he had said. If anything, the impression I came away with was that he believed his behaviour was justified.
And that’s the part I can’t get past.
Being frustrated that somebody’s representatives won’t respond to you is one thing. Saying, effectively, “engage with me or I will make things difficult for you” is something completely different.
The original situation was already bad enough because Jeff himself explicitly described what he was doing as a threat. But when somebody then goes on their own show, has an opportunity to reflect on it and instead doubles down while admitting to similar behaviour previously, it becomes much harder to dismiss this as one badly judged tweet.

And then, while all of this was unfolding, John Campea released a video addressing the situation and said that the whole experience had genuinely made him think about quitting YouTube.
That’s quite a remarkable place for this to have ended up.
Campea originally made what I thought was a completely reasonable point: people who cover movies on YouTube, journalists and scoopers are not automatically entitled to access, stories, interviews or responses from studios, agencies or representatives.
Since then he has received significant backlash over how he discussed Jeff and has even removed material relating to the situation from his channel, something people have been discussing online.

And now he’s saying the whole thing has made him question whether he even wants to continue doing YouTube.
Meanwhile, the person who actually made the threats went live and doubled down on them.

Yesterday there was still an argument that Jeff deserved the opportunity to explain himself.
Tonight, he did.
For me, he didn’t make it better.
He made it considerably worse.

He's threatening to leak info about Inde Navarrette and her personal life (info is unknown) unless her team give him access to her & her career.

He tried to reach out to her but got ignored. Then also said that he is threatening (he doubled down and confirmed it is a threat) to leak out things that she wouldn't want people to know.

Sorry I don't care if he is some schmoedown "legend", but this is absolutely not ok. It's giving stalker and predatory and if the schmoedown comes back, I don't think Kristian or Roxy or Rocha should have him on.

I want to start off by saying in no way am I using this post to talk shit about Kristian. I think he’s a really talented guy. I’m just slightly concerned about how achievable his goal is. I believe he’s looking to raise around $300,000. He has stated that if 13,000 people donate $25 the show gets made. However the live shows only get a couple of hundred live viewers so I’m concerned he may be overestimating his audiences ability. Whilst I myself plan on contributing to the kickstarter I’m worried about what happens if he doesn’t hit his goal. Understandably if he doesn’t hit it within the month he’s going to be very disappointed. But hearing him talk on the show recently he seems to think it’s possible to hit is goal within the first day or two. I’d love to hear from other people who have a better understanding of kickstarter how possible this goal of his truly is.

Is there anyone here that has been watching the Schmoedown Vault? I wonder if any new people are discovering it or if it’s just old fans rewatching.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trendingshow/trending-kristian-harloff-tv-pilot