The Office Star Refunding Kickstarter Backers Over Stalled Stanley Spinoff

Uncle Stan, the planned series that would have seen Leslie David Baker (kinda/sorta) return to the role of The Office's Stanley Hudson, appears to be functionally dead. Baker told Variety this week that while he still hopes to complete the project, he plans to refund money to backers who supported the project on Kickstarter in 2020, when the project made more than $300,000. In the time since, there have been virtually no updates as to the status of the project, which got off to a sluggish start due to COVID-19 lockdowns. According to a statement, Baker has been working on the project all along, and just not sharing progress updates with the public.

The refunds, then, are more a gesture of good faith -- after all, $300,000 is a lot, but it was likely never enough to make a series, especially one starring a bunch of known actors -- than an admission that the project is dead. Still, for some the lack of updates had long since given the impression the project would never materialize.

"We apologize about the delay in updates," Baker wrote in a statement. "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."

Baker also claims that, while the project earned $336,450.53, he actually only received a hair over $110,000, after Kickstarter platform fees and failed or uncollected pledges. That would represent an astonishing 2/3 of the budget that was never actually collected, signaling a huge number of failed transactions. Broadly speaking, the platform's commission and payment processing fees should cost less than 10% (in this case, around $34,000). There are less reliable numbers on how frequently consumer payments fail, but anecdotally, this writer has run two successful campaigns in the last 3 years, raising a total of around $14,000, and only about $400 worth of payments (significantly less than 10%) failed.

"Initial delays were caused because of the COVID lockdowns and pushed us back further than expected," Baker added. "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."

Created by Sardar Khan, Uncle Stan was not an officially-licensed The Office spinoff, which some critics thought at the time could cause Baker problems. Instead, it centered on a retired "Uncle Stan," living in a tropical paradise that's interrupted by the sudden arrival of his nephew. 

You can check out the official synopsis for Uncle Stan here: "When Lucky picks up his uncle at LAX in a motorcycle with a sidecar laden with flowers and no room for his luggage, Uncle Stan knows that he will be in for quite the adventure and challenge. With his unique personality and business acumen that he has acquired over decades, Stan is sure to clash once or twice with the wild personalities that Lucky has working in the shop. With his lady friend and soon-to-be fiancée completely in the dark, Uncle Stan must take swift action to make sure that not only his nephew comes out on top, but that he is able to maintain some semblance of his previously comfortable lifestyle moving forward."