Lake Bell, star of Children's Hospital on Adult Swim, and writer/director of In a World, currently in theaters, was barely a celeb when she hit Kickstarter back in 2010 to fund the short film Worst Enemy. Bell managed to land pledges from Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives and comedian Jeff Garlin. The $8,000 Bell asked for pales in comparison to the big numbers stars try to float today. (If you're confused by the project video, it's supposedly part of the final film.)

This film written and directed by John Herzfeld, director of 2 Days in the Valley just wrapped its Kickstarter campaign. While filming with an all-star cast (including Stallone, Jane, Tom Berenger, Kyra Sedgwick, and Kelsey Grammer, to name just a few), Herzfeld lost an investor. To film the remaining scenes and do all the post-production, the project needed more money. You're probably thinking Stallone—who claims to be best pals with Herzfeld—could fund Reach Me with just an hour of his time spent at craft services on The Expendables 14 or whatever. Don't be such a cynic. The Kickstarter succeeded so Herzfeld can finish the picture.

You know Zosia Mamet—she's the fast-talking but innocent Shoshanna on HBO's Girls and the daughter of playwright David Mamet. She also sings and wanted to make a music video for a song called "Bleak Love" with her sister, Clara. Well, you can file this one away in the "backlash" column. The so-called Cabin Sisters never came close to getting the $32,000 they wanted.

Some question why writer/director Spike Lee needs Kickstarter, but he said before crowdfunding even existed he needed to raise funds to do She's Gotta Have It and even Malcolm X. All he's revealed about the new picture is that it'll be a thriller starring Stephen Tyrone Williams, Zaraah Abrahams, and Michael K. Williams (from The Wire and Boardwalk Empire). For all we know, it might actually be about vampires. We'll find out eventually because Lee raised $1.4 million, exceeding his $1.25 million goal.

In May 2012 musician Amanda Palmer became one of the first big names to find smashing success on Kickstarter with her campaign, receiving almost 12 times more than her $100,000 goal. (She probably owes a chunk of that to her famous husband, author Neil Gaiman, who tweeted about it to his millions of followers.) Since then she's become an evangelist for crowdfunding—even giving an inspiring TED talk called The Art of Asking. She got her own backlash when, on her eventual tour, she tried to get musicians to work with her in exchange for free beer, despite the $1.2 million she raised from 24,883 backers. Wired consequently wrote an article titled "The Art of Asking Why We Hate Amanda Palmer."

Moms Mabley was a groundbreaking black female comedian that almost no one had heard of. In the summer of 2012, Whoopi decided to change that by raising $73,764 to make a documentary about Mabley that she would produce and direct. This April HBO acquired the rights to the movie, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Movies and albums are interesting, but graphic novels are where it's at. Grammy-nominated Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC tried to capitalize on his celebrity this summer to raise the money to make his own, starring himself as a 1980s hip-hop superhero in an alternate universe. Unfortunately, he came nowhere close to raising his $100,000 goal.

Thinking her fan base was as rabid as that of Veronica Mars, Melissa Joan Hart of Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch tried to raise $2 million to make a less wholesome movie. It didn't work. After a month, the project only had 315 backers and raised a paltry $51,605. Hart herself cancelled the Kickstarter with 13 days to go.

Actor Shemar Moore of The Young and the Restless and Criminal Minds also jumped ship early. He gave his Kickstarter for romcom The Bounce Back just three weeks to work, even though he already had a director and a sexy co-star (Nadine Velasquez from Flight and My Name is Earl) in place. The $249,459 raised was well short of his $1.5 million goal but Moore had a strategy. The day before he killed his Kickstarter campaign, he took another stab at crowdfunding his flick via Indiegogo. This time the goal was only $500,000 and he managed to pull in $638,483 in 60 days.

Ed Begley, Jr. is as famous for being green as he is for acting. So it's no surprise his Kickstarter campaign sought to raise funds for a Web series about "how you can make the world's greenest home." It's all about sustainable building in the guise of a reality show. Begley asked for a modest $25,000 and earned almost $30,000 in a 35-day campaign. Almost a year and a half later, the first episode premiered on September 15.

You don't know John K.? Well, you know of his most famous creation: Ren and Stimpy. He's even had a turn animating Mighty Mouse and Yogi Bear. Last year when the legendary animator exhorted backers to fund a cartoon about another of his creations, the crazed George Liquor, he asked for $110,000 and got in $136,723. Not bad. Depending on the level of funding, backers got free digital copies of the (as yet unfinished) cartoon, plus original storyboards drawn by John K. himself.

The original goal of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival was to celebrate comedy—and make fun of comedy festivals and the industry. That's from the mouth of stand-up comedian Eugene Mirman himself. In 2011, he and his friends took to Kickstarter in its nascent days to raise a meager $18,000 to keep the fest going in Brooklyn. It worked so well they returned to Kickstarter this year to raise another $5,000 to run the festival in Boston and Cambridge. If you supported it you could have gone to see Mirman plus Bobcat Goldthwait, Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, and Wyatt Cenac! (Warning: Mirman's Kickstarter videos contain NSFW language, kids.)