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The Office Star To Return Money From Kickstarter Aimed At Launching A Stanley Spinoff-TGN

Summary

  • Leslie David Baker, known for his role as Stanley on The Office, is returning all $110,000 of fan donations from his failed Kickstarter campaign for an Office spinoff centered on Stanley.

  • The campaign was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and writers’ strikes, leading to delays and putting the project on indefinite hold.

  • Despite the cancellation, Baker expressed gratitude towards fans and promised to fulfill the backer rewards along with the full refund.

The Office star Leslie David Baker is returning all the money from his Kickstarter campaign aimed at launching a Stanley spinoff show. Baker played the role of the lovable grump and disgruntled paper salesman, Stanley Hudson, in all nine seasons of NBC’s popular sitcom. In 2020, the actor went viral for launching a Kickstarter campaign aimed at creating a spinoff of The Office centered on Stanley. The Kickstarter campaign, known as Uncle Stan, was surprisingly successful and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now, Leslie David Baker has announced on Instagram that he will return all $110,000 worth of fan donations from his Kickstarter campaign aimed at creating an Office spinoff show. Though the Uncle Stan Kickstarter campaign page says that $336,450.53 was raised, Baker explains that, for various reasons, the total amount they received was only $110,629.81, which they will be returning. See Baker’s post below:

In the post above, Baker issued the following update regarding the Uncle Stan Kickstarter Campaign:

We apologize about the delay in updates. We have been working behind the scenes to get everything on track and rewards fulfilled. We are just as excited as all of you to get this project out and truly appreciate all of your patience and support.

The project took longer than anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control. Initial delays were caused because of the COVID lockdowns and pushed us back further than expected. As things started returning to normal and we commenced reward fulfillment and preproduction, the WGA strike was announced causing us to put things on hold again. As you are all aware, SAG is now on strike and we will continue to be on hold indefinitely until an agreement is reached. We stand in solidarity with those in the entertainment industry and will do our part in supporting WGA and SAG during these times.

After careful consideration, we have decided to refund our backers. As a token of appreciation for your support and patience, the Backer rewards will still be fulfilled along with a full refund. In light of the current economic situation, we felt that this was the best course of action. You will receive a message notifying you of your refund as soon as it is issued and you can expect to receive it over the following weeks. We will also be contacting Kickstarter to facilitate expediting this matter. We have remained in constant communication with our backers via direct messaging and rewards have continued to be fulfilled during this time.

FYI, although the total funded amount shown on our Kickstarter campaign page was stated as $336,450.53, that was not the actual final amount we received. A large portion of backers’ pledges were lowered, or completely dropped and never collected once the campaign was completed. The final amount that we received from Kickstarter was exactly $110,629.81. The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds, and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account. We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication or inconvenience during this campaign. As mentioned above, we will be providing full refunds to our Backers. Thank your again for all your love and support!

Why The Uncle Stan Spinoff Probably Won’t Happen

The Uncle Stan spinoff stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and remains on hold during the dual WGA and SAG strikes. Recently, some disgruntled fans took to social media and accused Baker of scamming backers since the show still hadn’t been made three years after the Kickstarter campaign goal was reached. In response, Baker swiftly released the statement saying he will be returning all the donated funds as the project remains on indefinite hold. While Baker still intends to make the show once the strikes are resolved, returning the funds means the Uncle Stan spinoff will probably never happen.

Related: The Office: 6 Times Phyllis & Stanley Were BFFs (And 6 Times They Weren’t)

The Uncle Stan spinoff show was said to center around Stanley as he comes out of retirement in Florida to help his nephew run his failing motorcycle/flower shop in Los Angeles. Baker had already scouted locations and written a theme song for the show. While the actor put a great deal of passion into the project, Uncle Stan would probably still suffer from a common spinoff problem. Stanley functioned well as a supporting character – playing off Michael, Dwight, Ryan, Phyllis, and others – and would likely struggle to carry his own show in a compelling way.

Source: Leslie David Baker/Instagram