Kevin Smith @ Sundance '11

So yesterday at Sundance, Kevin Smith pretty much pooped on the promotional aspect of the cinema industry, and then vomited on it.



Every movie blog talked about it, so I guess you all know what I’m talking about. But if you don’t, I advise you to read it from /Film as they are the only ones I know that told the facts in a neutral manner.



Now, I want to state clearly that I am 100% supportive of his idea and that I think every aspiring director, writer, actor or anybody -really- who wants to be a part of the cinema industry should be.

Do I agree about HOW he announced it? Not really, but I guess that’s what he had to do to make an impact, and that was some pretty smart free advertising when you think about it.

I watched the video of his rant, I read all of his tweets since then, and I have a lot of respect for him. Newfound respect I’d say, given that I’ve never been a fan of his to begin with. But this is totally different. This is a guy trying to make things better and easier for indie flicks to get released.

I’m also firmly against the fact that, today, the actual value of a movie doesn’t come from how good it actually is, but how good it was marketed and how well tailored for the targeted public it was in the first place. And I firmly believe that if Kevin Smith achieves to prove that you can make a movie work without all that promotion, maybe people are going to change the way they see cinema, the way they chose what films they want to see, and maybe the industry itself may change with time.

It’s a bit of an idealistic point of view, but I don’t see any harm in what Kevin Smith is trying to do, even potentially. Maybe I just do see it, maybe I’m just blinded by how passionate he is about the whole thing. Maybe I’m also pissed at how badly he got bashed by the blogs everywhere. Maybe you agree with me? Maybe you don’t! Anyway, I want to know what you guys think.

Well said. I am a long-time Kevin Smith fan, so this just made me feel so much more pride to say it. I love that guy!

Nothing Smith is saying is wrong. It’s not something a lot of people in the industry will say, because it probably made a lot of buyers and studio execs mad. But he’s not wrong at all.

Yeah, I liked when he said he was burning the bridge as he crossed it. He’s a smart guy. He knew what the ramifications were.

Hit Somebody will be his last film anyway, so I think he’s past the point of giving a shit. Good on him.

Oh no, he most definitely gives a shit. He just cares more about his movies than he does about advertising it . My only hope is that he still cares about helping others, as he said he would in his Sundance speech, after his career as a director is over. Heh, it’s a long shot put if he’s passionate enough about what he’s starting now, it could happen.

I like Kevin Smith alot, but it’s funny that someone in his position would say that. If he was making good enough movies to be a success in Hollywood, he would still be sucking that D. Plus sadly he has went down hill ever since Clerks in terms of films, so it was kind of like a last F you since he had chance after chance with Hollywood anyway.



Sometimes you just got to remove your fanboy crap and call a spade a spade. Hollywood gave him more chances than many directors would ever dream.



Making for the most part crap movies with Hollywood’s money put behind them and wasting it, then later tell them to F off for some stunt like you don’t NEED them anymore, because you stop making movies. Why think Kevin Smith is cool doing that again? You are either Anti-Hollywood from the start or Pro-Hollywood. Don’t get rich off of them and tell them to suck it. There is a word for that.

kevin Smith is a piece of shit, the guy keeps crying like some little fag because not everyone likes his stupid fucking movies. He should grow some balls and stick to stand up comedy, the guy’s no filmmaker.

[quote=“RatQuiRit”]So yesterday at Sundance, Kevin Smith pretty much pooped on the promotional aspect of the cinema industry, and then vomited on it.



Every movie blog talked about it, so I guess you all know what I’m talking about. But if you don’t, I advise you to read it from /Film as they are the only ones I know that told the facts in a neutral manner.



Now, I want to state clearly that I am 100% supportive of his idea and that I think every aspiring director, writer, actor or anybody -really- who wants to be a part of the cinema industry should be.

Do I agree about HOW he announced it? Not really, but I guess that’s what he had to do to make an impact, and that was some pretty smart free advertising when you think about it.

I watched the video of his rant, I read all of his tweets since then, and I have a lot of respect for him. Newfound respect I’d say, given that I’ve never been a fan of his to begin with. But this is totally different. This is a guy trying to make things better and easier for indie flicks to get released.

I’m also firmly against the fact that, today, the actual value of a movie doesn’t come from how good it actually is, but how good it was marketed and how well tailored for the targeted public it was in the first place. And I firmly believe that if Kevin Smith achieves to prove that you can make a movie work without all that promotion, maybe people are going to change the way they see cinema, the way they chose what films they want to see, and maybe the industry itself may change with time.

It’s a bit of an idealistic point of view, but I don’t see any harm in what Kevin Smith is trying to do, even potentially. Maybe I just do see it, maybe I’m just blinded by how passionate he is about the whole thing. Maybe I’m also pissed at how badly he got bashed by the blogs everywhere. Maybe you agree with me? Maybe you don’t! Anyway, I want to know what you guys think.[/quote]

That’s not how that shit works, okay. Once you make a film you make it for the whole world to see. If you’re going to be a little bitch about it then make the movie and screen it to yourself in a dark room. The guy thinks he’s William Randolph Hearst because he has 2 million followers on Twitter. That fat fuck is insane, he needs to play the game how it’s been played since the advent of cinema. You make a film for the whole world, despite if they like it or not.

http://theredstatements.com/



So what this fuck head is saying is that he can sell a movie just by his name. “Oh guys don’t bother spending 20 million on P&A, once people hear the name of Kevin Smith - they’ll barge into the movie theaters!” I mean what is this guy trying to prove with this nonsense. A good film is discovered no matter what. Remember Million Dollar Baby? They spent as little money to advertise, the film had virtually no promotion. But through word of mouth the film was screened from city to city until it exploded near December. A great film is discovered despite how it is advertised.



Kevin Smith should just come to the realization that he just isn’t a great filmmaker, he’s mediocre at best.

[quote=“RatQuiRit”]Oh no, he most definitely gives a shit. He just cares more about his movies than he does about advertising it . My only hope is that he still cares about helping others, as he said he would in his Sundance speech, after his career as a director is over. Heh, it’s a long shot put if he’s passionate enough about what he’s starting now, it could happen.[/quote]

I didn’t mean that he doesn’t give a shit about his films. I meant that he doesn’t give a shit about offending people in the industry, cause he’s only got one more film in him and the rest is all independent distribution.

[quote=“P.T. Anderson”]kevin Smith is a piece of shit, the guy keeps crying like some little fag because not everyone likes his stupid fucking movies. He should grow some balls and stick to stand up comedy, the guy’s no filmmaker.[/quote]

It’s fair of him to complain about the distribution model. A lot of independent filmmakers are thinking the same thing. In the nineties, Hollywood came in and tried to apply the studio method of releasing to the small indie films they picked up. It doesn’t work. They have smaller audiences and they don’t do huge 3-day business, they have a slow burn.



I wouldn’t say that Smith keeps crying that no one likes his movies. He constantly refers to himself as a fat guy with a small penis and makes about three jokes at the expense of Cop Out in that speech. He’s not at all full of himself. He’s one of the most self-deprecating people in Hollywood.

[quote=“Angel”][quote=“RatQuiRit”]Oh no, he most definitely gives a shit. He just cares more about his movies than he does about advertising it . My only hope is that he still cares about helping others, as he said he would in his Sundance speech, after his career as a director is over. Heh, it’s a long shot put if he’s passionate enough about what he’s starting now, it could happen.[/quote]

I didn’t mean that he doesn’t give a shit about his films. I meant that he doesn’t give a shit about offending people in the industry, cause he’s only got one more film in him and the rest is all independent distribution.

[quote=“P.T. Anderson”]kevin Smith is a piece of shit, the guy keeps crying like some little fag because not everyone likes his stupid fucking movies. He should grow some balls and stick to stand up comedy, the guy’s no filmmaker.[/quote]

It’s fair of him to complain about the distribution model. A lot of independent filmmakers are thinking the same thing. In the nineties, Hollywood came in and tried to apply the studio method of releasing to the small indie films they picked up. It doesn’t work. They have smaller audiences and they don’t do huge 3-day business, they have a slow burn.



I wouldn’t say that Smith keeps crying that no one likes his movies. He constantly refers to himself as a fat guy with a small penis and makes about three jokes at the expense of Cop Out in that speech. He’s not at all full of himself. He’s one of the most self-deprecating people in Hollywood.[/quote]

But he says that he doesn’t need the P&A film that every distributor puts up to advertise and generate interest in an audience. Basically he’s going to campaign the movie as if it were some Vaudeville troupe performing their thing. It doesn’t make sense at all, he’s just afraid of handling the press and their reviews. Either way you’d have to be a millionaire to pay the exhibitors so they can screen your movie.

[quote=“P.T. Anderson”]
But he says that he doesn’t need the P&A film that every distributor puts up to advertise and generate interest in an audience. Basically he’s going to campaign the movie as if it were some Vaudeville troupe performing their thing. It doesn’t make sense at all, he’s just afraid of handling the press and their reviews. Either way you’d have to be a millionaire to pay the exhibitors so they can screen your movie.[/quote]

He has a guaranteed audience. Especially now with his SModcast audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands.



It’s a common misconception that Smith is a box office failure. You may think he’s shit and no one watches his films, but every one of his films has made its money back. They don’t cost very much and he has a group of loyal fans who watch all his films. This distribution model is perfect for him.



Lots of indies and exploitations used to do this exact thing in the past.

who gives a fuck about money? If the film is shit, then it’s shit. It’s a waste of time and energy. The guy should concentrate on delivering a good film instead of creating this whole fiasco. He’s just trying to prove a point to critics, they hate his films, so he says fuck you guys I’ll do this shit my way and make a movie for my dumbass audience who still think fart jokes are funny.



A true artist is never afraid to fail, they put their fucking necks on the line for a film they believe in. Kevin Smith is a clown, he still gets final cut on his stupid shit movies. What’s he got to complain about?



Sorry if critics hate Mall Rats and every other movie starring that retard called Ben Affleck.

Film may be an artform, but it’s also a business and a job. The people who work on these films do it for a living and need to get paid. The studios that finance its production or distribution need to turn profit.



The fact that all his films turn a profit is important because he’s not having a cry and going off to do his own thing. It’s not like it’s his last resort because he can’t get a job in Hollywood. The studios will keep giving directors like Smith and the Coens money because they shoot on low budgets and always make their money back.



Say a studio is going to release ten films a year. They can expect a few of them to be failures and about one or two of them are huge films they put tens of millions into marketing and are pretty much expected to cover the losses they amass on their failures. A Smith film is cheap and easy for them to make and it covers itself and then some.



I resent your simplistic analysis of Smith though. Chasing Amy is an excellent film and Clerks is a landmark early nineties indie film.

[quote=“P.T. Anderson”]
A true artist is never afraid to fail, they put their fucking necks on the line for a film they believe in.[/quote]

You just contradicted yourself. Smith isn’t afraid to fail. You think he’d choose self-distribution if he was afraid to fail? What he’s doing is risky to say the least.

[quote=“P.T. Anderson”]
Sorry if critics hate Mall Rats and every other movie starring that retard called Ben Affleck.[/quote]

The critics like/love a number of films that Affleck has starred in, written and/or directed.

Haha. Are you just trying to get a rise out of someone, Bio? Maybe you should lay off the crank for a while, bro.

I know that underneath the facade of incredible angst, Bio is a reasonable person.