How Kevin Smith Parlayed $27,575 Into a Career Spanning Three Decades (original) (raw)

Kevin Smith as Silent Bob in Clerks

Published Mar 19, 2023, 9:00 PM EDT

Reid Goldberg is a features writer for Collider. Having grown up in the Midwest, he attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. While he's begrudingly accepted that a FIlm Studies degree wasn't his most viable option, his experience at UWM proved invaluable in further opening his eyes to world cinema and turning him on to an eclectic slew of films and filmmakers he otherwise may have never discovered.

Currently based in Madison, he lives with superhero fatigue, an unwavering appreciation for Tom Cruise, a gnarly and ever-growing case of Nolan-itis, and hopes of stumbling upon the next film that will haunt his imagination for weeks. While not writing and working in healthcare, Reid reads whatever he can get his hands on, gins up ideas for screenplays, and regularly forces family and friends to watch his favorite films against their will.

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Kevin Smith didn't always want to be a filmmaker. As a youngster in New Jersey, he was more enamored with the written word and had aspirations to work as a journalist or write for shows like Saturday Night Live. But that would change in the summer of 1991 when, on his 21st birthday, he saw Richard Linklater's Slacker. Viewing the $23,000-budgeted film about a day in the life of misfits in Austin, Texas was a formidable experience for Smith. Suddenly the notion of trying his own hand at filmmaking seemed accessible and appealing. The result of such a revelation would be Clerks, a seminal, beloved example of 1990s independent cinema that also served as the launch pad for its writer and director's decades-long filmmaking career. Taking Clerks from conception to screen, however, had its share of challenges for Smith and his team, and the idea of it being seen by anyone outside his immediate circle of friends and family was never a foregone conclusion.

Writing 'Clerks'

Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson in Clerks

Image via Miramax

Wasting no time after seeing Slacker, Smith traveled to Canada to attend the Vancouver Film School. While his time there would be short-lived, it proved fruitful in laying the foundation for what would become an essential partnership. It was there that he met Scott Mosier, who would become one of his closest friends and professional collaborators for decades. After a semester that saw Smith and Mosier work on an unfinished documentary, the former dropped out after learning he wouldn't have complete control over future projects. But before leaving Canada, Smith made a pact with his friend and suggested, "Look, let's make a deal. I'm gonna go home. Let's both write. If you finish first, I'll come out there and work on your movie. If I finish first, you come back to Jersey and work on mine." After returning to New Jersey, Smith began writing "feverishly." In scripting his first feature, he drew upon several sources of cinematic inspiration. Partial to the minimalist aesthetic of Jim Jarmusch, taken by the narrative structure of films like Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, and heeding Robert Rodriguez's advice about taking stock of what's accessible when making one's first film, Smith concocted a story about a day in the life of slackers working in convenience and video stores. Having worked alongside friends at QuickStop and RST Video in his hometown, the stores in which Clerks would be shot, he had an intimate knowledge of that particular world and sought to give audiences a glimpse into a niche corner of American society. "I wanted to make a movie about me and my friends essentially, because I hadn't really seen it represented like that," Smith recalled of crafting his film.

Casting 'Clerks'

By late 1992, the script for Clerks was complete and Smith began auditioning actors. Having initially intended to play Randal (Jeff Anderson), and with his high school friend, Ernie O'Donnell, earmarked for the part of Dante (Brian O'Halloran), Smith eventually backed off the idea of taking a lead role and ultimately replaced O'Donnell with local stage actor O'Halloran.After auditioning simply for the fun of it, another of Smith's high school friends, Jeff Anderson, was offered the role of Randal, and accepted with hesitance due to having never acted.

Rounding out the main cast were Marilyn Ghigliotti as Veronica, Lisa Spoonauer as Caitlyn, and Jason Mewes as Silent Bob's vulgar but hilarious counterpart, Jay. Ghigliotti, a local performer with stage experience, won her role after auditioning, and Spoonauer was discovered at a nearby acting class. Mewes, a close friend of the Smith's, was a character unto himself, and the filmmaker has been on record about specifically tailoring the role of Jay to his real-life idiosyncrasies. Ironically, after reading the script, Mewes was unsure of his ability to do the role justice, and Smith has said of his friend's initial reluctance, "He was like 'I don't know if I can do this.' And I'm like 'Dude, it's you!' So it took a month to rehearse with Mewes solo, away from everybody else, to teach him to be himself on camera."

Budgeting, Shooting, and Editing the Film

Clerk's Veronica

Image via Miramax

Referencing an article written for Filmmaker Magazine, in which Peter Broderick broke down the budgets of several independent films, Smith and Mosier capped costs for Clerks at $27,575. Having amassed a stack of credit cards, Smith famously funded much of his film by maxing them out and incurred a hefty debt. He remembers, "I worked a five buck an hour job, so you know, in retrospect it was quite a risk." His mother recollects, "He was selling some of his comic book collection, statuettes and everything. And he was just hoping from there that he'd have enough money to start."

With a cast and crew (mostly friends) assembled, a slew of filmmaking equipment rented from New York City, and after a month of rehearsals, Clerks began filming in the spring of 1993. Working with a limited number of production days, it was primarily shot at night while Quickstop and RST Video were closed, leading to a grueling third-shift schedule for those involved, many of whom were also working day jobs. To further complicate the shoot, operating on a shoestring budget meant that Smith and his team could only afford so much film stock, requiring the largely inexperienced cast to nail their scenes (often including lots of dialogue) in only one or two takes.

While in hindsight it's difficult to imagine Clerks in color, shooting the film in black and white was for budgetary and practical reasons. According to cinematographer Dave Klein, "I think the look of that movie was mainly decided by the dollar. It was just more cost-effective to shoot in black and white." Regarding the aesthetic benefits of avoiding color film, producer Scott Mosier has said, "This whole issue of color temperature -- if we shot in black and white, that was no longer something we'd even have to think about."

After 21 consecutive days, shooting on Clerks wrapped and the cast and crew went their separate ways. The filmmakers' rented editing equipment arrived at RST video, and Smith and Mosier alternated shifts in cutting the film together. Smith fondly remembers of his first official production, "I never really felt truly like an independent filmmaker except for that first time that I made Clerks. There was no expectation. We made it as a calling card movie."

The First 'Clerks' Screening

Taking a page out of Linklater's book, Smith and Mosier planned to screen Clerks at New York's Independent Feature Film Market from the get go. After the film was accepted, the duo spent a week advertising, and having secured a slot on the festival's final day, expected to have a great audience turnout based on the films that screened before theirs. When they entered the Angelika theater that Sunday, however, they were "crestfallen" to discover it was nearly empty.

During the disastrous public premiere of his first film, Smith suddenly had a sinking existential feeling. He recalls, "Sitting in a very empty movie theater, seeing it up on screen for the first time, that big, and finally I'm like, 'Oh my god. Everyone keeps cursing. What was I thinking? And I spent 28 grand on this. I'll never be able to pay that back. We're ruined.'" Mosier echoed the sentiment with, "It was like a reality moment. This could be it. This is the only time your movie is going to screen in public, and you will spend the rest of your life going like, 'That was the best it ever was.'"

Robert Hawk, John Pierson, and Miramax Films

Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran being themselves in Clerks.

Image via Miramax

As fate would have it, one of the few to attend that screening was Robert Hawk, a consultant to independent filmmakers. Having enjoyed the film, he recommended it to Peter Broderick, who would go on to tell local writer Amy Taubinabout it. After this series of fortunate events, which included Taubin writing about Clerks in her overview of the IFFM festival, independent cinema legend John Pierson was told to watch the film. As a producer's representative on the verge of retirement, he was lauded for assisting up-and-coming filmmakers with booking their films in festivals and selling them to distributors. Pierson soon found himself watching Clerks repeatedly and agreed to get involved with finding a distributor.

Before submission to the festival, however, Pierson made a crucial contribution to the film. Clerks' original ending featured Dante being shot dead by a burglar in the Quick Stop convenience store. In agreement with Robert Hawk, Pierson voiced his disapproval of such a downer ending and told Smith, "You gotta lop that ending off. You kill the dude at the end for no better reason than you just don't know how to end your movie. You can just end it without that. End it when Randal leaves the store."

Soon after the ending was revised, Robert Hawk came through in the clutch yet again. A member of the advisory selection committee for the Sundance Film Festival, he recommended Clerks to colleagues. While their reaction was largely positive, some were taken aback by the film's explicit language, and according to Hawk, "It was, for a while, rather iffy if Clerks would get into Sundance or not." But a short time later, the film was accepted into the 1994 festival.

Mr. Smith Goes to Sundance

Clerks was an immediate hit with audiences when it debuted in Park City, Utah in January 1994. Reading from his personal journal, Smith said of the first screening, "It went religiously. Everyone laughed loud and long at all the right times. Lines were lost in the laughter. It felt great. It felt that even if we never got picked up, the $27,000 was worth it alone." Major outlets including Variety and The New York Times published rave reviews, and a significant must-see buzz began building around the film. But it would be its final showing that sealed Smith's fate, catapulting him into the entertainment industry.

On Jan. 28, 1994, Clerks screened at the Egyptian Theater. Capitalizing on the hype surrounding the film, several Miramax employees did their best to get powerful and influential people within the company to attend. As John Pierson noted regarding the last ditch effort to acquire distribution for the film, "We get to that Friday show at the Egyptian. There was a lot riding. It was do or die." Then the lights went down, the film screened to a wildly enthusiastic audience, and Kevin Smith's life would be forever changed. He remembers, "The crowd eats it up. There is louder, longer laughter than in any previous screenings. When Silent Bob delivers his single line, there are cheers and claps. It ends. Big fucking applause." Following the screening, Smith and Mosier ventured across the street to a restaurant and made a deal to sell Clerks to Miramax.

Welcome to Hollywood

To say that Smith's risky investment of 27,575paidoffindrovesisanunderstatement.Clerksgrossednorthof27,575 paid off in droves is an understatement. Clerks grossed north of 27,575paidoffindrovesisanunderstatement.C​lerksg​rossednorthof3 million when released in theaters in late 1994, sending the filmmaker off and running on a career that's shown no signs of slowing down ever since. The discovery and distribution of his first feature would lead to his directing 13 more features (several of which are interconnected with the world of Clerks) and cultivating a level of iconic fanboy status in pop culture. With three decades behind and in front of the camera, he's maintained an admirable level of humility and gratitude regarding his good fortune, urging other aspiring artists to pursue their like-minded dreams. Known for pushing such encouragement, he's said, "Take the shot. The shot is always worth taking. Whether it's a thing like podcasting, writing a book, writing a blog. I'm here to tell you, man, give it a shot. Go out and try."