Despite a triumphant world premiere at Cannes last May, the politically unsparing Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice was stuck in cinematic limbo. Distributors had snapped up rights in Canada, Japan, Germany, and several other countries, but after a cease-and-desist letter from Trump himself, domestic distributors opted to pass. Lacking any better options to promote the movie and prove public demand, The Apprentice team turned to Kickstarter. 

The filmmakers’ campaign hit its $100,000 target in just 12 hours—and ultimately raised four times that amount. (The campaign eventually quadrupled it.) That grassroots support not only funded marketing and screening opportunities, it raised the film’s........

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