Kevin Smith offers his two cents on filmmaking
Gavin Booth interviews American screenwriter, film producer, comic book scribe, and director Kevin Smith for Mimetic productions.
Kevin’s first film, ‘Clerks’, was shot for just $27,575 in the same convenience store where Smith worked. ‘Clerks’ was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker’s Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival’s end. It went on to the Cannes International Film Festival where recieved both the ‘Prix de la Jeunesse’ and the ‘International Critics’ Week Prize’. Released in November 1994 in just two cities, the film went on to play in fifty markets, never playing on more than fifty screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million.
He is also the co-founder, with Scott Mosier, of View Askew Productions and owner of ‘Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash’ comic and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. His films are often set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they do frequently feature crossover plot elements and character references. He has produced numerous films and television projects, including Clerks, Dogma, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
