Spike Lee is defending his week-old Kickstarter campaign to fund his untitled film, asserting that he’s popularizing the fundraising technique.

“I’m bringing people to Kickstarter who never even heard of Kickstarter,” he said in an interview with FilmCourage.com. “I’m talking [about] a lot of people of color who’ve never heard of Kickstarter, who’ve never made a pledge on Kickstarter. I really think it’s a fallacy, it’s a misconception, and it’s just plain-out wrong, with a capital W, that because someone puts $5 on my film, that was $5 that a young filmmaker was going to get.”

As of 9 am PDT Monday, Lee’s campaign had received $356,388 from 1,848 pledges — about 29% of the $1.25 million goal for a new film that’s known for now as “The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint.”

About half the funds have come from 17 pledges of $10,000 in exchange for dinner and a courtside seat with Lee at a Knicks game, or $170,000. The campaign also generated $45,000 via nine pledges of $5,000 in exchange for being named an associate producer.

Lee has only described the film as being focused on human beings who are addicted to blood.