Variety Breakthrough Awards 2014: The star-studded event at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is Variety’s 2014 Breakthrough of the Year Awards, where kickstarter phenom “Veronica Mars” will receive the honor of Breakthrough in Film.

The cult series got a $5.7 million funding via Kickstarter to make the bigscreen leap. According to Variety.com, last spring, writer-producer Rob Thomas posted the quote, “We’re making a ‘Veronica Mars’ movie! Now the only question is, how big can we make it?” on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

The message was accompanied with a short film and Rob had a goal of raising enough money to create a feature film of his cult TV show “Veronica Mars” starring Kristen Bell. Variety.com says that he certainly didn’t think he’d his $2 million goal first day, or not for a film that was canceled in 2007.

He also didn’t think that once the bidding to donate to the film caught fire the media would give him all the press and promotion he could possibly want. He ended up with $5.7 million on Kickstarter.

“In my mind, the Mendoza Line of whether I was satisfied or not was $5 million,” Thomas says. The term Mendoza Line is a baseball expression pertaining to a threshold of incompetent hitting.

“Five was the number I wanted to get to; if we’d land at $2 million it would have been a murder mystery inside a house with 10 speaking roles; instead, we have 60 speaking roles, a high school reunion and car crashes.”

The Kickstarter success of “Veronica Mars” has helped set a template for the way independent productions could be funded in the future.

“Movie in this price range have been dying and hardly get made any more,” Thomas tells Variety.com. “This might be an avenue to see those made, instead of everything being a big tentpole project.”

The writer and producer said that he and Belle were the “perfect guinea pig” to see if a crowdfunded film might work: “We have a built-in audience, we’re a known quanity and we’re one of those cultish shows where the fans are really devoted.”

The film “Veronica Mars” now has a planned March theatrical release date. Actress Bell said that “every penny” from the Kickstarter funding has gone into the film. Several filmmakers like Zach Braff and Spike Lee have used the crowdfunding site with varying success.

Variety.com notes that Bell, now a fan of crowdsourcing, thinks that everyone should give it a shot if they need funding, no matter what their personal net worth is.

“I can understand how people question celebrities using the platform, but clarity comes when you understand it’s not celebrity asking for money - it’s the project,” the “Veronica Mars” star says. “I’m not a little guy, but my project, ‘Veronica Mars,’ is a little guy. There is no possible way this film would have been made without crowdfunding. Trust me, we spent seven years trying.”

More information about the Variety’s 2014 Breakthrough of the Year Award from CES.com:
“Variety’s 2014 Breakthrough of the Year Awards is a unique red carpet event that will celebrate a diverse range of extraordinary talent who have excelled in the fields of film, television, sport, music, comedy, technology and social media. The show will be anchored with a comedic performance by honoree AMY SCHUMER and a 6-song musical performance from honoree JANELLE MONAE. These innovators and pioneers in their fields will be presented with awards live on stage at the only red-carpet event at CES.”