Too Hollyweird for Hollywood? David Lynch asks fans to help fund his movies.

There used to be a time when a filmmaker had a clever idea, took it to a Hollywood studio executive and, by the end of a long lunch, had secured enough money to make their next movie.

For lesser known film directors, this process involved a few more begging bowls being taken to a few more financiers and subsidising bodies. But still it usually worked.

But now in the credit crunched climate  …