The Bucket List family’s crowdfunding success creates a blueprint for creators

Wearing a blue sun-patterned headscarf and a gray t-shirt, Garrett Gee sat in front of a camera to tell his fans why they shouldn’t invest in his company. The unusual pitch was about a new company based on The Bucket List Family, a travel and lifestyle Instagram account and YouTube channel documenting the nomadic life of Gee, a creator and entrepreneur who founded his company Scan in 2014 sold to Snapchat for $54 million; his wife and Bucket List CEO, Jessica; and their young children Dorothy, Manilla and Calihan have been living since 2015.

In the video, titled 3 Reasons Why You Should NOT Invest in Bucket List Studios, Gee shared how he took his idea for an animated series based on his family and their travels to some of the top studios and streamers in 2020 , including Netflix and Disney. The meetings went well, Gee says, and he ended up receiving an offer of $10 million for the show. But after discussing the deal with Jessica, which would mean losing intellectual property ownership, Gee said the two decided to take a risk and walk away from the offer. Instead, they would embark on something bolder: establishing an entire entertainment studio to create content, products, and experiences that embody the Bucket List Family ethos, which encourages others to travel and explore the world together.

To achieve that, Gee says, the family wanted to raise $7 million — and they wanted their fans to become investors instead of just relying on traditional VC buyers. But before urging viewers to open their wallets, in the spirit of full transparency, Gee warned that Bucket List Studios would operate like a startup, that Garrett and Jessica would put the well-being of their family ahead of the company’s success, and that growth of the company would be slow – and with it the risk of failure and of investors losing their money. Gee also noted that making money wasn’t her main motivation. Instead, Gee relied on the company’s “do good” impact and the ability to share the rewards — in the form of company shares — with her most devoted fans.

“When you experience something special, really special, the first thing you want to do is share that with others,” says Gee in the video. “We as a family had this special opportunity to travel the world together, explore, create memories – that’s the real treasure in our lives. And if all this work, all this effort, working with you, if we can take it upon ourselves and share it with other families and other cultures in different countries, it will all be worth it.”

After the video went live at 7:00 a.m. on March 21, 2021, fans and other potential investors were able to submit a Google form specifying how much money they wanted to invest in exchange for shares in the company, with the lowest option being 100 US dollar was fixed. Garrett and Jessica sat at their computer and opened an accompanying spreadsheet to monitor the submissions in real time. The Gees were hoping to reach around $3 million in commitments. They hit that mark just 12 minutes after the video went live.

An hour later? 10 million dollars. Twenty-four hours later? $40.2 million.

“It was absolutely crazy,” says Gee THR. Ultimately, Gee said he decided to limit crowdsourcing investments to a total of $10 million so that he and his family could retain a controlling stake in the company, which a pitch deck from investors said they owned $30 million rated THR. So they asked some of those who expressed interest to reduce their investment and refused others outright.

Overall, according to Gee, Bucket List Studios received $7 million from 34 investors who provided funding ranging from $100,000 to $3 million — and $3 million from around 30,000 investors at the $100 level. The Company’s authorized share capital is 20 million common shares and 10 million preferred shares, of which approximately 2.5 million are designated as series preferred shares, according to audited financial documents THR. Gee holds approximately 5.1 million common shares, representing approximately 50.4 percent ownership of the company.

Although the company received overwhelming support from those $100 investors, Bucket List Studios still has the backing of VC and private investors, including Ludlow Ventures’ Jonathan Triest, Transmedia Capital’s Chris Redlitz, and Sam Hinkie, former GM of the Philadelphia 76ers the NBA .

Redlitz, who has invested in Gee’s tech company, said he was compelled to continue supporting the Bucket List Family both because of their good faith as a company and their ethos. The 30,000 other investors at the $100 level still have shares in the company but no voting rights; Instead, an external main custodian, Prime Trust, represents the group and holds voting rights.

“It’s really smart that you’re targeting people to a greater degree than just subscribers or followers,” says Redlitz. “When they actually pay some money up front, even if it’s $100, they feel like they’re part of that mission.”

Bucket List Studios could also serve as a case study for other creators who want to raise money and stay in control of their work at the same level. Because for Gee, the prospect of losing so much ownership to a studio was the deal-breaker that “put him off” the $10 million offer.

“When I had conversations with their creative teams or their business teams, they were very open to my involvement and my thoughts and everything. But when the deals came in… it was a lot more aggressive,” he says. “You had the last word. They had full creative control. They have had full responsibility for all of our creative endeavors that go forward. They owned our YouTube channel, in the past and in the future. They own our naming rights, even my children’s naming rights.”

Ellie Heisler, a partner at Nixon Peabody who specializes in entertainment and IP law, says she could see more creators taking a similar crowdfunding route for larger projects to gain ownership and control of their work to keep.

“The moment you start going down the traditional route and selling a show to a studio or a broadcaster, you lose ownership, you lose control, you lose the ability to integrate the brands you’re with might have a relationship and work with them because now they’re competing interests,” says Heisler. “For a content creator used to being in sole control [their] creative, sole control of all brand integrations, sole control of editing and final product, it’s such a departure.”

Now, with millions of fans behind them, the Gees are pushing ahead with the animated series that sparked the founding of Bucket List Studios. And Garrett is reuniting with the big studios and streamers. But this time, he and his family are in control.

This story first appeared in the October 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to login.