Help Fund the Frank Zappa Documentary by Buying His $9 Million House

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Mar 8, 2016

Last year we learned that actor/director Alex Winter (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Freaked) was making a documentary on legendary outsider rock figure Frank Zappa. The filmmaker is now reaching out to the public for a bit of help with the funding of the project. While plenty of incentives are being offered, the most interesting of all is the option to purchase Zappa's family home.

Winters announced the Kickstarter campaign with a video, wherein he explains that the documentary attempts to answer the question: "who the fuck was Frank Zappa?" At present time, it appears as if this could be the title of the film as well. Throughout the picture, he'll attempt to explain the life and times of Zappa using thousands of hours of film footage, recordings, travel journals, family photos and other assorted ephemera currently collected in Zappa's vaults.

"Frank kept pretty much everything, but no one outside the family's ever had permission to use it, until now," Winters says. The battle, he adds, is attempting to digitize countless "eroding" tape reels, as well as getting enough funds to start the task immediately. If they raise enough money, they're looking to release the film, as well as various unheard recordings, and a book compiling some rare artwork.

The campaign is currently seeking $500,000, with various incentives offered through Kickstarter including exclusive film strips from the archives, producer credits on the film, recording time at Zappa's personal Joe's Garage recording studio, and more.

As for the house, it's currently up for grabs on eBay with a hefty $9 million USD pricetag. (You can't offer anything on Kickstarter for more than $10,000.) It should be noted that the listing for the 8,000 square foot property, nestled in L.A. Hollywood Hills, describes the home as being "in absurd condition."

You can find out more info about the crowdsourcing campaign over here. While the film had initially been given a rough ETA of 2017, Winters now says the timing of its release is "up to you."

Zappa passed away in 1993 after a battle with prostate cancer. His widow, Gail, passed away last year.

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