"You Can Call Me Bill" Doc About William Shatner Has Been Fully Funded

William Shatner.

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 -  Fans of the (thankfully not late), great, William Shatner bought up all the shares in the actor’s forthcoming feature-length documentary You Can Call Me Bill in less than a week, contributing nearly $790,000 and topping the film’s funding goal.

The documentary is being produced by Exhibit A Pictures and utilizing Legion M for its equity crowdfunding for the documentary, exploring the life and career of the dearly beloved 91-year-old actor.  It was sold out to reservation holders before the company opened the offering to the public. Within four days, the project raised $789,655 from 1,338 investors.

What sets Legion M apart from other crowdfunding platforms is that it lets investors own an equity stake in the entertainment projects they’re backing. With this project, fans were able to invest directly in the documentary for a minimum of $100, subject to certain SEC restrictions, and they will recoup their money before any profits are shared with Shatner, Legion M, or the film’s producer. 

The documentary is being pitched as “an intimate portrait of William Shatner’s personal journey across nine decades of a boldly lived and fully realized life.” The documentary “strips away all the masks he has worn during his storied career” — from Captain James T. Kirk to T.J. Hooker and from Alexander the Great to the Priceline Negotiator — “to reveal the man behind it all.”

Legion M co-founders Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison made the following comment, “Our signature fan-first financing model puts audience investors at the front of the line and we’re excited for the success of this to serve as a prototype to build towards future projects with higher budgets.”

Shatner promoted the project at San Diego Comic-Con last summer and shared why he decided to participate. “For years I’ve had people approaching me to do a documentary about my life, but I turned them all down because it didn’t feel like the right fit. When I heard how Legion M wanted to incorporate audiences to be a part of it, it was perfect. Fans have been responsible for my career — it only seems right that they should own this doc.”

Once the film is complete, Legion M plans to sell distribution rights to “one or more partners around the world… Our hope is that the film will be available for wide release in 2023, though the final release plan and date(s) won’t be known until we’ve secured distribution.”

You Can Call Me Bill is directed by Alexandre O Philippe, produced by Kerry Deignan Roy and Jeff Annison, and executive produced by Shatner, Paul Scanlan, Terri Lubaroff, David Baxter, and Matt Kemner. Other films in Legion M’s portfolio include Archenemy and Mandy.\

In 2021, at the age of 90, Shatner became the oldest person to travel into space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin shuttle. In his autobiography Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder published last year, the actor said, “The experience left me with the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

Wise words indeed from a long and meaningful life. We’re sure that George Takei will be talking about this soon! For more on this, head over to Variety.com.