Because there is apparently no more money in the banana stand, Arrested Development is asking fans to create the box art for its season four DVD. However, this has nothing to do with the actual advertising budget for the show (which must be quite extensive), but with the increasingly common Hollywood practice of getting people to make stuff for free, because why not? Fans are going to make stuff either way.
In fact, Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz basically said as much on the Arrested Fan Art page, with usual wit:
Hey Arrested Development fans – the Season 4 DVD is coming out soon and they’re designing the DVD cover art and you know what? The fan art that people have made for the show is so much more interesting. And while Twentieth Century Fox didn’t like my first suggestion, “Let’s just steal it”, they have come around to my second suggestion, “Let’s have a contest for best fan art! And then steal it!”
So what do you say? Share the art you’ve made over the years or create new pieces just for Season 4 and I’ll help select one for the new DVD cover. And you’ll probably get paid something. Right? They’d probably have to just legally. I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. But I do have lawyers. And they suggest I retract everything I’ve just written.
Submissions will be accepted through September 16, 2014 and will be judged by the following four criteria: Skill/Technique, Design/Style, Connection To The Show, and Originality/Humor. As promised, Hurwitz will participate in the judging and award the winner a princely, $1,000 sum for his or her work. Submissions will be taken through the official contest website, and come with a whole bunch of rules.